Have you noticed that no matter how accomplished a chef you are, eating a regional dish in the region it calls home makes it taste better. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that you can’t make an excellent ethnic dish in your own home but it always seems to taste better in its place of origin.
Maybe it’s the ambiance, maybe it’s because you’re being served, or maybe it’s just in my head.
It might be a Mai Tais in Hawaii,
A beer at the Hofbrau Haus in Munich,
or a Flammekueche in Alsace, it always taste better in its own country.
When we hit Switzerland last June there was one thing I had to have and that was Rosti. It’s nothing more than coarse grated fried potatoes with a little onion but to me it’s heaven.
I’ve eaten fried potatoes all my life but tasting Rosti for the first time in a beer garden in Zurich seems to have solidified this notion of food in its place of origin.
No matter where you go, my advice is eat the local dishes in the local atmosphere. It’s just a little slice of heaven.
