Meals you have enjoyed but not your day to day meals

Oh in the past Mick.

My Mum used to make what she termed a "top and bottomer" basically a meat, onion and potato pie which was always delicious. She is a good pastry maker.

I used to love saffron cake.

The very first Chinese meal when I was a young teenager.

And come to the first Indian meal
I can't remember the names of the dishes but can remember the flavours

Always enjoy a nursery type pudding. I would never bother to make one at home.

Thinking back to new tastes, I remember the first curry I tasted was a packet one, a died Vesta curry which was re-hydrated with boiling water

At the time we thought we were being very daring but I seem to remember it always had dried crunchy bits in it and wasn't very nice at all.

My biggest food surprise was going on honeymoon to France in the 1970s and being presented with a bowl full of mixed salad leaves - just a huge bowl of lettuce really. We were a bit flummoxed but on digging in we realised the dressing - oil and vinegar when all we had at home back then was salad cream - was delicious. It was also sprinkled with pine nuts for a bit of bite. it was crunchy and tasty. We ate the lot and surprised ourselves. It was all so very 'continental'.

We have bought Nasi Goreng (or something with a similar name) in Lidl. It's delicious.

Years ago I had an Indonesian-style chicken satay with a spicy peanut coating, delicious. I have never found the recipe to recreate it at home.

We have a nasi goreng-style stirfry very often, Mick; Tesco do a jar of nasi-goreng sauce (we only use a dessertspoonful) but they may have discontinued it - as they do.
It's not quite the same as one you can get in Singapore but quite good.

Proper croissants

Syrup sponge and custard (not eaten any for years)

I always thought my taste buds were lying dormant until I was introduced to Indian food, it was a culinary wow moment, although as much as I love it, my guts couldn't cope with Indian food every day. Half my family are southern European so I was brought up with garlic and olive oil at a time when seasoning in England seem to comprise of an Oxo cube, according to my father anyway, who would always say the English only know how to cook one thing (roast beef) and they still manage to ruin it by overcooking it and the accompanying veg. that should be al dente!

Other dishes I have had but years ago , I used to go to the Swiss centre in the 70`s in London when in the RAF, and they had a soup starter prior to having the steak tartar and that was raw egg soup the egg yolk in a chicken clear soup consommé without white ,and just the egg yolk , how they did it made me think.
Mick

Mick Nash Goreng used to be a great favourite of DH's when we were stationed in Singapore. I have made it for him but he says it's not the same! We also used to go to a restaurant that served Fillet Steak Yokohama, which came on a cast iron plate, spitting (they gave you a sort of bib!) with the most delicious sauce I have ever tasted, but I could never wheedle out of them what was in it. There was a lot of garlic in it!
A dish of carrot and coriander that was served as an appetiser in Spain. We couldn't get enough of it.

Nasi!!!! Bloomin' spellchecker!

Discovered calamari on a holiday in the South of France when I was 19. I don't generally like seafood and didn't know what I was ordering, but it was delicious.

Also on a fishy theme, DS2 is a chef and cooked me dinner on my last birthday. He didn't ask about likes/dislikes in advance and the start was mackerel pate - again delicious and have looked for it and ordered it when we have gone out for a meal since then.

I remember my first chowmein it was a vesta felt very oriental??loved the crispy noodles that came with it .

I once had a delicious starter at a posh New Year's Eve dinner and haven't forgotten it to this day. A totally sinful, savoury crême brûlée with real truffles in it.

And whilst in California recently, our son took us to a vegan Thai restaurant (they always make a point of taking Texans to it from work!). We had some kind of rice, rolled up in lettuce, and there were mint leaves in there somewhere, too. Served cold, but quite amazing on the old taste buds. I still get cravings for them now!

My first visit to Amsterdam, went to a cafe and somebody ordered chicken sate which I had never had before, I still remember the taste and telling my parents about the chicken on small skewers, and dipped in hot peanut butter!

The Dutch seem to be good at making chicken satay, we were on a Dutch ship when we ate it years ago, not in Indonesia.
I suppose it is a legacy of the Dutch East Indies.

I was 18 before I ate spaghetti bolognaise at a friend's house (her parents were away and she was cooking).

I remember the first curry we bought with friends in an Indian restaurant. We naively ordered 4 x rice, 4 x onion bhaji, 4 x mushroom bhaji, 4 x cauliflower bhaji - 4 of everything and the waiters had to bring out another table to put alongside ours just to get all the dishes on! Fortunately, the restaurant took a lot back so we didn't have to pay a fortune for the meal!

Many years ago we went to an Amish restaurant in America. We had a thick braised beef sandwich with peas,and all covered in dark brown gravy.
I can still remember the taste and smell. Wonderful

A Chinese restaurant in Golders Green, opposite the Hippodrome, which served the most heavenly sweet and sour fish. I've eaten it many times in many places but never as nice as that. And wonderful sausages, with mustard and a pint of Guinness in the Old Bull And Bush on Hampstead Hill. I gather it has gone all starry eyed now and would turn up its nose at serving a humble sausage with mustard!

I remember those Vesta meals too, loved the crispy noodles with the chow mein.
I had an omelette fine herbes in Belgium, delicious and fresh sardines by the sea in Gran Canaria must be the ambience and being relaxed on holiday as they were such simple dishes.

L loved vesta chow mein.

50s and possibly 60s just loved Chicken Maryland.

I know I will probably be shot down in flames for this, but long before Colonel Sanders invaded the UK, we were stationed on a large NATO base with a substantial American presence, that had the first KFC concession I ever saw, and I thought it was one of the most delicious things I had ever eaten! Quite unlike anything you could get elsewhere at the time. I haven't eaten it for years except that my Grandson had some once and I purloined a bit of his. It was not the same as I remember, but then, is anything?

Many years ago I worked with some Armenian colleagues who were having a family celebration and they very kindly invited us. The food I tasted there was like nothing I'd had before, or since. I can remember something called piroshki (sp?) which was served warm and dolma, which I think was vine leaves and also Byorek, which was another type of pastry, filed with cheese. And then warm and sticky baklava. None of it "health conscious but all of it delicious.

Fresh fish with some type of potatoes done in garlic and oil on a boat in Croatia, washed down with local wine.
Grilled sardines with similar potatoes and a carafe of local wine in Portugal.
Sardines and potatoes never seem the same when done at home.

The first time I ate in a Chinese restaurant I had some kind of clear soup - it looked like water but was absolutely delicious.

Croatian food is amazing ,we've visited friends a few times and they innsist on feeding us every night( we always take fab gifts for when we leave because we feel bad about it) succulent beef stews ,wonderful potato dishes layered with swiss chard ,fantastic home cured meats ,I can honestly say I've never had a bad meal with them...we also go south from their home outside Zagreb to Istria and the food there is to die for,mixed grills of tender meat ,beautiful fresh whole fish deboned at the table fantastic pizza and orzo style homemade pasta and lovely wines..anyone remember when it was Yugoslavia and the wine was fantastic..well it still is and you can take a container to the local shop and fill it for the .equivalent of around a £ .I'd recommend it to anyone