Thread: Worst Cuisine you've ever had?

On Aug 19, 6:58*pm, Omelet <ompome...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Cuban. Hands down. At a rather fancy place in Miami Florida.
> It was compliments of Coulter Electronics when I was there for a
> training seminar. *It got bad reviews by our entire class so they
> decided to not use that place any more.
>
> The service was fantastic but the food was awful...
>
Gosh. Cuban food is wonderful, and Miami has the biggest Cuban
population, so go figure. No doubt much better food was available at
many lower priced places. You must have got steered to a classic
tourist trap. Too bad, but I hope it doesn't put you off from trying
Cuban food again. -aem

On Aug 19, 9:58*pm, Omelet <ompome...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Cuban. Hands down. At a rather fancy place in Miami Florida.
> It was compliments of Coulter Electronics when I was there for a
> training seminar. *It got bad reviews by our entire class so they
> decided to not use that place any more.
>
> The service was fantastic but the food was awful...
> --
> Peace! Om
>
> "Human nature seems to be to control other people until they put their foot down."
> --Steve Rothstein
>
> recfoodreci...@yahoogroups.com
> Subscribe: recfoodrecipes-subscr...@yahoogroups.com

Cuban is hit-and-miss for me too.

But I'd have to say bad Chinese. You know, the kind that tastes like
meat and vegetables in beef gravy. *shudder*

I do, however, really enjoy Chinese if done correctly.

Just my two cents,
Kris

"Omelet" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news[email protected]..
> Cuban. Hands down. At a rather fancy place in Miami Florida.
> It was compliments of Coulter Electronics when I was there for a
> training seminar. It got bad reviews by our entire class so they
> decided to not use that place any more.
>
> The service was fantastic but the food was awful...


Give another place a try. Cuban food is very good, especially if you like
pork and seafood.

As far as cuisines, hmmm ... Russian food never did anything for me. We had
a Russian cafe at one time and the food was very bland. Oddly, Hungarian
food was very good. No influence between those national cuisines that I
could tell even though they are ion the same part of the world.

Paul

"Kris" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>
> recfoodreci...@yahoogroups.com
> Subscribe: recfoodrecipes-subscr...@yahoogroups.com


>But I'd have to say bad Chinese. You know, the kind that tastes like
>meat and vegetables in beef gravy. *shudder*


Ohhh noooooo. German. some kind of finely ground sausages that are long and
thick and white. More white than grey. Fatty and oozing grease from the
inside. Horrendous. In an authentic German restaurant, according to my
hosts.

Om wrote:

> Cuban. Hands down. At a rather fancy place in Miami Florida.
> It was compliments of Coulter Electronics when I was there for a
> training seminar. It got bad reviews by our entire class so they
> decided to not use that place any more.
>
> The service was fantastic but the food was awful...

Hold on a minute! You're denouncing an entire CUISINE based on your one-time
restaurant experience? That's pretty unfair. I suggest you seek out some
Cuban recipes to make in your own kitchen, and when you've tried twenty or
thirty things from that cuisine, THEN you can make an informed judgment
about it.

I think Cuban cuisine is VERY good. The cuisines which I find unappealing
are Filipino (too plain) and non-Indonesian Dutch (too weird -- think
bananas with endive). I probably wouldn't like Eskimo, Maasai, or Bantu
cuisine much either, but I haven't tried them.

ObFood: Here is a recipe to get Om started, America's Test Kitchen's version
of "arroz con pollo," a pan-Caribbean chicken and rice:

Latino-Style Chicken and Rice, a.k.a. Arroz con Pollo

To keep the dish from becoming greasy, it is important to remove excess fat
from the chicken thighs and trim the skin. To use long-grain rice instead of
medium-grain, increase the water to 3/4 cup in step 2.

Serve 4 to 6

6 medium cloves garlic , minced or pressed through garlic press (about 2
tablespoons)
Table salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar plus 2 additional teaspoons
Ground black pepper
8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (3 1/2 to 4 pounds), trimmed of excess
skin and fat
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion , chopped fine (about 1 cup)
1 small green bell pepper , stemmed, seeded, and chopped fine (about 3/4
cup)
1/4 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1 3/4 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup water
3 cups medium-grain rice (see note above)
1/2 cup green olives (manzanilla), pitted and halved
1 tablespoon capers
1/2 cup jarred pimentos , cut into 1/4 by 2-inch strips
Lemon wedges , for serving

1. Place garlic and 1 teaspoon salt in large bowl; using rubber spatula, mix
to make smooth paste. Add oregano, 1 tablespoon vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon
black pepper to garlic-salt mixture; stir to combine. Place chicken in bowl
with marinade. Coat chicken pieces evenly with marinade; set aside for 15
minutes.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering.
Add onion, green pepper, and pepper flakes; cook, stirring occasionally,
until vegetables begin to soften, 4 to 8 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons
cilantro; stir to combine. Push vegetables to sides of pot and increase heat
to medium-high. Add chicken to clearing in center of pot, skin side down, in
even layer. Cook, without moving chicken, until outer layer of meat becomes
opaque, 2 to 4 minutes. (If chicken begins to brown, reduce heat to medium.)
Using tongs, flip chicken and cook on second side until opaque, 2 to 4
minutes more. Add tomato sauce, broth, and water; stir to combine. Bring to
simmer; cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for 20 minutes. Adjust
oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees.

3. Add rice, olives, capers, and 3/4 teaspoon salt; stir well. Bring to
simmer, cover, and place pot in oven. After 10 minutes, remove pot from oven
and stir chicken and rice once from bottom up. Return pot to oven. After
another 10 minutes, stir once more, adding 1/4 cup water if rice appears dry
and bottom of pot is beginning to burn. Cover and return pot to oven; cook
until rice has absorbed all liquid and is tender but still holds its shape
and temperature of chicken registers 175 degrees on instant-read
thermometer, about 10 minutes longer.

4. Using tongs, remove chicken from pot; replace lid and set pot aside.
Remove and discard chicken skin; using 2 spoons, pull meat off bones into
large chunks. Using fingers, remove remaining fat or dark veins from chicken
pieces. Place chicken in large bowl and toss with remaining tablespoon olive
oil, remaining 2 teaspoons vinegar, remaining 2 tablespoons cilantro, and
pimentos; season with salt and pepper to taste. Place chicken on top of
rice, cover, and let stand until warmed through, about 5 minutes. Serve,
passing lemon wedges separately.

Bob

"Omelet" ha scritto nel messaggio

> Cuban. Hands down. At a rather fancy place in Miami Florida> The service
> was fantastic but the food was awful...

Bad restaurant, because Cuban food is very good.

My worst was specific to the highest part of Ecuadorean Andes. It's a poor
area, mostly goats and cactus, and all they sell to eat is a strange form of
hominy that resembles wet popcorn and cubes of fried pork coated in lard to
keep it from spoiling without refrigeration. I lived on Scotch and
cholcolate until we went down the mountain.

On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:22:26 -0700, "Bob Terwilliger"
<virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz> wrote:

>The cuisines which I find unappealing are Filipino (too plain)

Filipino food court type food isn't too plain - it's too greasy. In
fact, it's just plain awful! Good Filipino food is home cooking and
although they often cook for a crowd at home, it just doesn't
translate well to food for the masses (held in a chafing dish at a
food court). Ugh.

I have many fond memories of a Filipino friend in HS whose home I was
always welcome to. We headed to her home after school and there was
always be something yummy simmering on the stove for us to eat.

--
I love cooking with wine.
Sometimes I even put it in the food.

Omelet wrote:

> Cuban. Hands down. At a rather fancy place in Miami Florida.
> It was compliments of Coulter Electronics when I was there for a
> training seminar. It got bad reviews by our entire class so they
> decided to not use that place any more.
>
> The service was fantastic but the food was awful...

Nepalese: dry, overcooked, almost incinerated buffalo bits with a green bell
pepper which, at the first bite, revealed itself as a giant very hot green
jalapeno, rockin' hot, unbearable by a cayenne die-hard fan as me.
In another occasion I ordered a "meat spring roll" and got a giant omelette
with some veggies and (again) overcooked dry mutton bits that were to chew
for half an hour each.

But then, they have wonderful cheeses, from yak to smoked goat. And there's
a shop run by an english in Freak Street, Kathmandu, which sells all these
cheeses and white bread for an european fix now and then.
I even got to taste some "nepali-parmesan", a perfect copy of... aged
pecorino sardo (from Sardinia), ROTFL
--
Vilco
Mai guardare Trailer park Boys senza
qualcosa da bere a portata di mano

Omelet wrote:
> Cuban. Hands down. At a rather fancy place in Miami Florida.
> It was compliments of Coulter Electronics when I was there for a
> training seminar. It got bad reviews by our entire class so they
> decided to not use that place any more.
>
> The service was fantastic but the food was awful...

I must offer two as I can not choose between them.
Tied for worst would be South African and Burmese. Evey meal I ate
(three times a day in restaurants supposedly of good quality) of local
dishes was worse than the dishes before it. At least in South Africa
there were other cuisines readily available. In Myanmar I could only
find eatable meals (Western, Chinese, Thai, etc.,) in large business hotels.

sf wrote:

> Filipino food court type food isn't too plain - it's too greasy. In
> fact, it's just plain awful! Good Filipino food is home cooking and
> although they often cook for a crowd at home, it just doesn't
> translate well to food for the masses (held in a chafing dish at a
> food court). Ugh.
>
> I have many fond memories of a Filipino friend in HS whose home I was
> always welcome to. We headed to her home after school and there was
> always be something yummy simmering on the stove for us to eat.

Back in my Navy days, I had some senior enlisted Filipinos working for me
who were *very* enthusiastic about their own cooking. I always praised it
(because good working relationships require that kind of sacrifice), but I
found it plain. For example, Filipino fried rice was leftover white rice
heated in oil with garlic. Period. Pancit was okay, but I liked Thai,
Chinese, and Vietnamese noodle dishes much more. Lumpia were okay, but I
liked spring rolls and summer rolls better. Filipino pork adobo was simply
pork cooked in vinegar with bay leaf and pepper. Again, it was okay, but I
liked carnitas better. (I was living in San Diego at the time.) I tried
patronizing a Filipino restaurant in my neighborhood, trying some kind of
goat cocido and the oxtail soup which makes so many Filipinos misty-eyed,
but still found nothing which interested me culinarily. After leaving the
Navy, I found myself working in Kuwait, and sharing an apartment with one of
my coworkers and his Filipina wife, who volunteered to cook for all of us.
It was not OFFENSIVE in any way, but quite plain, e.g., boiled beef chunks
with potatoes and soy sauce.

When I say the food is plain, I don't mean it's BAD. It's just not as
interesting to me as the food of other cuisines.

Bob

MtnTraveler wrote:

> I must offer two as I can not choose between them.
> Tied for worst would be South African and Burmese. Evey meal I ate (three
> times a day in restaurants supposedly of good quality) of local dishes was
> worse than the dishes before it. At least in South Africa there were other
> cuisines readily available. In Myanmar I could only find eatable meals
> (Western, Chinese, Thai, etc.,) in large business hotels.

I've wondered about Burmese cuisine. I've looked over several dozen Burmese
recipes, and none of them captured my attention as something I'd like to
try, but hell! they've got some great *ingredients* at their disposal; how
could they not be good at cooking? That's too bad.

I'm rather surprised by the South African comment. I was under the
impression that South Africa might be something like Australia has become, a
nation which freely mingles the cuisines of the inhabitants to good effect.
In Australia, you can see culinary fusion influenced by British, Indonesian,
Greek, Italian, German, and Chinese cuisines, as well as its own "bush
tucker." I would *hope* that culinary fusion could occur between the
English, Dutch, Portuguese, Cape Malay, Indian, and indigenous cuisines in
South Africa. I'm a bit saddened and puzzled to hear otherwise.

Bob

Omelet <[email protected]> wrote in
news[email protected]:

> Cuban. Hands down. At a rather fancy place in Miami Florida.
> It was compliments of Coulter Electronics when I was there for
> a training seminar. It got bad reviews by our entire class so
> they decided to not use that place any more.
>
> The service was fantastic but the food was awful...

First time there a few months ago. I tried a bit of everything
IIRC and would have rather had a 99 cent hamburger!

A restaurant named Yak and Yeti.
Cuisine of India and Nepal.

Omelet wrote:
> Cuban. Hands down. At a rather fancy place in Miami Florida.
> It was compliments of Coulter Electronics when I was there for a
> training seminar. It got bad reviews by our entire class so they
> decided to not use that place any more.
>
> The service was fantastic but the food was awful...


Sounds more like if everyone disliked the place it was likely the
restaurant and not the cuisine?

Cubans have some great dishes. Nothing to be found in my area but there
is a large Cuban population out near Jersey City. I had an old friend
who was the classic American success story. He came here with nothing
and built a successful business. He took us to some places out there
that made really great food.

Omelet wrote:
> Cuban. Hands down. At a rather fancy place in Miami Florida.
> It was compliments of Coulter Electronics when I was there for a
> training seminar. It got bad reviews by our entire class so they
> decided to not use that place any more.
>
> The service was fantastic but the food was awful...
Nepalese cuisine. Went to a festival being held in Bangkok one time. The
Nepalese folks looked like Navaho's to me, braided hair, velveteen
skirts, heavy silver and turquoise jewelry. They were wonderful. The
food was like the worse food ever exported from India. Gag! I'm almost
certain it wasn't indicative of the whole nations food.

Amsterdam's cuisine is entirely too dull. Of course there were remedies for
that!

Andy

Omelet wrote:
> Cuban. Hands down. At a rather fancy place in Miami Florida.
> It was compliments of Coulter Electronics when I was there for a
> training seminar. It got bad reviews by our entire class so they
> decided to not use that place any more.
>
> The service was fantastic but the food was awful...

But is that indicative of the cuisine, or is it just that
restaurant (fancy doesn't necessarily mean good)--or the choices
made there?

The worst food I have had was Bangladeshi, but I think that was
the restaurant's fault. They were probably catering to what they
perceive as American tastes, since it was excruciatingly bland.

--
Jean B.

sf wrote:
> On Wed, 19 Aug 2009 22:22:26 -0700, "Bob Terwilliger"
> <virtualgoth@die_spammer.biz> wrote:
>
>> The cuisines which I find unappealing are Filipino (too plain)
>
> Filipino food court type food isn't too plain - it's too greasy. In
> fact, it's just plain awful! Good Filipino food is home cooking and
> although they often cook for a crowd at home, it just doesn't
> translate well to food for the masses (held in a chafing dish at a
> food court). Ugh.
>
> I have many fond memories of a Filipino friend in HS whose home I was
> always welcome to. We headed to her home after school and there was
> always be something yummy simmering on the stove for us to eat.
>
I had a Filipino neighbor and friend many years ago, and her food
was quite good. By now my memory of her beef tongue has faded,
but even much closer to the time, I never managed to re-create
that. It was sublime.

--
Jean B.

MtnTraveler wrote:
> Omelet wrote:
>> Cuban. Hands down. At a rather fancy place in Miami Florida.
>> It was compliments of Coulter Electronics when I was there for a
>> training seminar. It got bad reviews by our entire class so they
>> decided to not use that place any more.
>>
>> The service was fantastic but the food was awful...
>
> I must offer two as I can not choose between them.
> Tied for worst would be South African and Burmese. Evey meal I ate
> (three times a day in restaurants supposedly of good quality) of local
> dishes was worse than the dishes before it. At least in South Africa
> there were other cuisines readily available. In Myanmar I could only
> find eatable meals (Western, Chinese, Thai, etc.,) in large business
> hotels.
>
BUT there are nice foods in both places. Mohinga springs to mind
as far as Burma/Myanmar goes.

This gets back to restaurants. What does "of good quality" mean?
That someone thinks this is what a foreigner wants to eat?

--
Jean B.

"aem" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]..
On Aug 19, 6:58 pm, Omelet <ompome...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Cuban. Hands down. At a rather fancy place in Miami Florida.
> It was compliments of Coulter Electronics when I was there for a
> training seminar. It got bad reviews by our entire class so they
> decided to not use that place any more.
>
> The service was fantastic but the food was awful...
>
Gosh. Cuban food is wonderful, and Miami has the biggest Cuban
population, so go figure. No doubt much better food was available at
many lower priced places. You must have got steered to a classic
tourist trap. Too bad, but I hope it doesn't put you off from trying
Cuban food again. -aem

There are plenty of fine Cuban eateries in NYC too, from street venders to 5
Star... Om, what was the dish you ate and what specifically didn't you like?
Cuban dishes contain a lot of roast pork, seared seafood, rice, beans, all
manner of vegetables/fruit, and rum... what's not to like?

If I had to choose the absolute worst cousine I don't need to think about
it, the worst I've ever eaten is Indian food... and I've tried quite a few
highly touted restaurants thinking it was poor luck of the draw, NOT!, they
all serve food that is literally greasy ****, it stinks like **** to boot.