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What was the best dessert or meal you've ever eaten? And where were you when you ate it?

(114 Posts)
Orange123 Wed 31-Jan-18 23:08:52

The best dessert I've ever had was a pistachio canolli in a little cafe in Sicily. I'd gladly go back just to taste that luciousness one more time. Mmm...

acanthus Fri 02-Feb-18 10:18:48

On a family holiday over thirty years ago - a small restaurant in Gozo. It was quite a simple meal - fish, salad, probably chips for the children, and a wonderful house wine. The whole ambience was perfect - sun, sea and flowers. We loved the wine so much we asked if we could take some back to our apartment for later consumption; they happily obliged, but unfortunately poured it into an old Pernod bottle which rendered it undrinkable!

Sourcerer48 Fri 02-Feb-18 10:18:29

Peri-peri prawns cooked over a brazier on a pristine beach in Punta do Ora, Mozambique, just after their war ended.
Fresh oysters from the Fish Market in Auckland
Real French onion soup in Montmarte Paris
Pannacotta at the Lion & Rhino Reserve in Johannesburg

Farrsan2003 Fri 02-Feb-18 10:13:47

Scampi and chips in a basket. In 1969 in a country pub in Devon. It was delicious.

Kim19 Fri 02-Feb-18 10:10:53

Many years ago, on my own, I was pavement perusing the menu of a Parisian prestigious restuarant when the Maitre d' came out and invited me in. I was reluctant and said that all I wanted was a Creme Brûlée. He enthusiastically ushered me in and I ended up having two and a coffee. An absolutely unforgettable experience.

dizzygran Fri 02-Feb-18 10:10:41

Getting hungry reading this!! On holiday in Greece in a hilltop taverna some years ago I had freshly caught grilled red mullet and greek salad (and chips) and DH had lobster sat outside with home made ice cream and baklava after.

SunnySusie Fri 02-Feb-18 10:04:32

Pizza sandwich (I kid you not) from a gas station in British Colombia. We had arrived in Canada on an 11 hour trans-Atlantic flight, got lost three times getting out of Calgary in our hire car and then drove for about six hours without seeing anywhere to buy food. There is a lot of nothing in BC! No way would I normally have considered a pizza sandwich but that one was manna from heaven! Best dessert - Birds Eye original Artic Roll aged about ten. We were not allowed shop bought cakes and desserts, so perversely we wanted nothing else. Granny bought the Artic Roll and we were in heaven. Maybe I have very simple tastes because these are clearly not five star hotel meals! or perhaps its the context more than the food that makes it memorable?

Skweek1 Fri 02-Feb-18 09:54:49

I approve your choice, anniebach - I grew up in Malvern and still horribly homesick! But love Marmite and lettuce sarnies at any time of the day or night - that's something I still make as one of my comfort foods (sadly can't persuade my menfolk to join me. You couldn't believe how rude they can be about Marmite!

TwiceAsNice Fri 02-Feb-18 09:50:55

Best meal a 7 course tasting menu in a fabulous Sydney restaurant on a once in a lifetime holiday to Australia. Never to be repeated.

Best dessert large freshly made scone with loads of clotted cream and peach jam

Camelotclub Fri 02-Feb-18 09:45:39

Just remembered, it was called Tavola Calda.

Camelotclub Fri 02-Feb-18 09:43:10

Best meal was at the Connaught in London for a birthday meal, this was before they mucked it about with famous chefs. Asparagus with freshly made warm Hollandaise sauce.

Best pud. was in a long since closed Italian restaurant in Charlotte Street. It was self service and they did a plate of profiteroles over which they poured chocolate sauce, the consistency of thick custard, not the icing you get nowadays. They were wonderful and not seen them anywhere else.

Camelotclub Fri 02-Feb-18 09:39:30

Lindylo
That's a long way to go for dessert after your main!

lovebeigecardigans1955 Fri 02-Feb-18 09:34:05

In a restaurant in Cancale, Normandy I ate a fantastic Les Isles Flottante which was wonderfully light - just right after whatever else we ate - which I can't remember.

MissAdventure Thu 01-Feb-18 20:57:22

I'm a huge fan of roast dinners, and the best ever are home cooked ones, so, at mine, my mums, or my daughters. Been some delicious roasts over the years.

lemongrove Thu 01-Feb-18 20:45:10

Real Indian food (chicken curry and rice) in my best friend’s kitchen served with a cold beer and naan bread,being a vegetarian Hindu herself, she still happily cooks meat for family and friends, and her cooking skills are amazing.
Curries are fragrant and lightly spiced and made from scratch....no curry powder!

Best pud would be my own bread and butter pudding, made with choc brioche and oranges and served with clotted cream.

Menopaws Thu 01-Feb-18 20:28:23

No I've got the starter! Four enormous scallops with roe on delicate salad in Gorey in jersey Channel Islands , never tasted bigger or tastier and not covered in sauce, now that's really made me hungry but good thread thanks!

Menopaws Thu 01-Feb-18 20:25:53

Best steak at a very normal basic but pleasant restaurant in Port Campbell half way along Great Ocean Rd Melbourne, would not have usually had steak in a place like that, without sounding snobby but so often disappointed. It was brilliant, couldn't get it out of my mind, still can't four years later, I felt compelled to thank owner which I did.
Best dessert last year at Balmer Lawn hotel new forest, lemon cheesecake basically with delicate everything and flavour to die for in little spots of goodness knows what around the plate, still think of it. All I need is a starter and that would be my favourite ever meal

Day6 Thu 01-Feb-18 20:20:11

The most wonderful beef stroganoff made with cognac and flambéd at our table in a lovely old hotel dining room in Derbyshire. So memorable. It used to be our 'special restaurant', one we visited if we ever had an occasion to mark. Last we heard, it had been turned into a chain pub. sad

humptydumpty Thu 01-Feb-18 20:00:55

Brioche bread-and-butter pudding as part of Christmas lunch at La Strada in Center Parcs.

Morgana Thu 01-Feb-18 19:43:10

Fresh raspberries and cream in a Paris hotel. Forty plus years ago but still remember it well!

Chewbacca Thu 01-Feb-18 19:10:41

Best meal was a huge fresh seafood platter at Amble Fish Shack in Northumberland.

Best dessert was a lemon and blueberry millefeuille at The Druid in Pontblyyddyn.

Jane10 Thu 01-Feb-18 19:08:31

Crab and asparagus mille feille sitting outside a cafe on the Champs Elysee. Bliss.

Greyduster Thu 01-Feb-18 18:59:39

A Royal Seafood Salad at Cookie’s Crab Shack in Norfolk. A fantastic selection of fresh caught crab, prawns, cockles, hot smoked salmon and mackerel, samphire off the marsh across the road, and a beetroot and cucumber salad. Absolute heaven! It was some years ago, and the place was a bit chaotic but that’s part of its charm. It was so popular you couldn’t get in without a booking.

tiredoldwoman Thu 01-Feb-18 17:08:25

Bigos in Krakow.

Fennel Thu 01-Feb-18 15:31:52

When I was first married and having children I had a friend, at the same stage of life who was an excellent cook. She was a farmer's daughter.
She taught me how to make a variety of savoury casseroles, but the best thing she made was Sussex Pond Pudding. It's a made with a whole lemon, butter and sugar inside a suet crust. Then steamed for hours. The lemon dissolves and makes a delicious sauce.

wildswan16 Thu 01-Feb-18 13:40:17

I have no idea what it all was, but it was eaten in a street cafe in Sandakan with my son, his wife and some of their friends. A memory I treasure on these cold winter days.