Journey to the East Awards – The Best in Food

What are the flavours and food moments you remember most from your travels? Usually it comes down to the very good and the very very bad.

There was so much excitement, so much hope when we saw that sign for Chinese food shining in the dark at a crossroad in Mandalay. Oh it was delicious, MSG-laden stir-fried squid, succulent choi sum and deep-fried crispy salt and pepper pork. We left happy, content to have found comfort in familiar flavours after a month of more adventurous Burmese food. But the happiness was short-lived when the rest of our body decided that this was all wrong. The pain was longer-lived.

A few days later, soon on our way back to carefree bowels, we were sitting at a street-side café in Mawlamyine, Myanmar trying to down some plain rice with stir-fried morning glory. And the pain became funny. Bad events survived usually morph into funny stories and we could remember our ecstatic faces so well as we ran towards that Chinese restaurant, only to be beaten into submission by a nasty slippery squid. So our memory of the very very bad was very very clear indeed. But what about the good? The Best?

What were the dishes we would climb over a mountain for, if only to taste them one more time? What were the meals we would never forget and never be able to recreate for they were special in that moment, shared with near-strangers that felt like family? What are the ingredients that we will now hunt down for our own kitchen, chasing that once-new flavour now permanently ingrained in our minds?

We started compiling a list then and there for the most memorable food in our Journey to the East. From Brussels to Hong Kong, over 20 000 km by land, what were our culinary highlights? The lamb in Greece, the rice in Iran, the dumplings in Central Asia or the bread in Turkey? What about the noodles in China?

We did get side-tracked. A couple of months later, we got lost in the eating frenzy that is street food in Vietnam and after 306 days, upon arriving in Hong Kong we got distracted by the food orgy that the city engulfs you in. But we continued travelling and we continued eating. With five more kilos under our belts, we set off to hike in New Zealand for a month, living on granola bars and some simple salad ideas.

Now arriving on the Pacific island of New Caledonia, a year has gone by since we left Brussels and we are ready to complete the list. It would not be fair to include Brussels or Hong Kong in the running, the latter would honestly make the job impossible anyway, so we have limited it to all the places in between, the 20 countries that we crossed on the Eurasian continent.

Before sharing our favourites though, we want to share some exciting news with you. Just over a week ago, we were still in New Zealand when we woke up in our tiny tent in Picton, a small marina town at the tip of the South Island and saw an email from Saveur Magazine pop into our inbox. We could not believe that it said The Funnelogy Channel had made it into the top six finalists in the Saveur Blog Awards for Best Culinary Travel Coverage!

We never thought we would make it into the final round. We are told that over 50 000 submissions were received this year, making it even less credible, especially when we feel like babies in this blogging world. We are over-the-moon excited and extremely thankful to everyone who nominated us. I remember going through Saveur’s list every time it came out for the past few years whenever I was looking for inspiration or to be honest, procrastinating and discovering some of my favourite blogs that I still follow today. Never did I once think that one day we would be blogging ourselves and end up on it. It is the best present we could have received for our one year on the road.

If you would like to vote for us in this final round under “Best Culinary Travel Coverage”, we would be madly grateful, it only takes a few minutes to register and vote. If you also happen to be looking for some gorgeous and delicious distraction, this would do it as there are many stunning blogs in the 13 categories this year. So head on over and get voting! Polls close on April 30, thank you so much for the support!

Click to Vote Here – 

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE FOOD

It’s impossible to single out the one best dish and this is not a guide for where to eat. Some meals are special for the moment, some are unforgettable for the setting, some are just plain mind-blowingly delicious. Of course, this is our very subjective and personal list, but aren’t food favourites always so?

1. COLD DRINK

Winner: The Gaziantep Atom Smoothie, Turkey

First Runner-Up: Tamarind Peanut Juice in Vientiane, Laos

Second Runner-Up: Spritz in the hills of San Daniele, Italy

Top: Atom Smoothie from Gaziantep, Turkey  Bottom: Spritz in San Daniele, Italy

2. HOT DRINK

Winner: Menengic Coffee in Gaziantep, Turkey

First Runner-Up: Coconut Coffee in Hanoi, Vietnam

Second Runner-Up: Buckwheat Tea in Shangrila, China

Coconut Coffee in Hanoi, Vietnam

3. BREAKFAST

Winner: Breakfast in a Burmese teahouse in Mandalay with strong sweet tea, coconut buns and thousand layer naan

First Runner-Up: Banana flower Orlam in the village of Sopsinh during Luang Namtha trek, Laos

Second Runner-Up: Breakfast at high altitude with congee, corn bread, steamed mantou, scrambled eggs & corn on the cob in Shangrila, China

Top: Burmese breakfast in Mandalay, Myanmar Bottom: Breakfast in Shangrila, China

4. LUNCH

Winner: Lasagna with radicchio di Treviso and Salsiccia in a Venice osteria, Italy

First Runner-Up: Steamed jiaozi dumplings in Chengdu, every day everywhere, in China

Second Runner-Up: Rich Musakka from a locantasi in Mardin, Turkey

Steamed jiaozi, everywhere in China

5. DINNER

Winner: Deep-fried calamari and chilli butter shrimps fresh from Fethiye’s fish market, Turkey

First Runner-Up: Khorezm specialty Shuvit Oshi – lamb stew with dill pasta and stunning appetisers of carrot salad, manti and aubergine tomato discs in Khiva, Uzbekistan

Second Runner-Up: A hotpot purely celebrating the variety of chinese mushrooms in Chengdu, China

Top:Butter and dill shrimps in the Fethiye fish market, Turkey Bottom: Shuvit Oshi in Khiva, Uzbekistan 

6. SNACK

Winner: The fun of eating and pounding your own Dizi from Tabriz, Iran

First Runner-Up: Spinach and cheese Gözleme on the Lycian Way, Turkey

Second Runner-Up: Sembusek in Mardin, Turkey

Top: Dizi in Tabriz, Iran  Bottom: Sembusek from Mardin, Turkey

7. SWEET

Winner: Glutinous rice flour Bein Mont pancakes on the streets of Yangon, Myanmar

First Runner-Up: The paradise of Lokum “Turkish Delight” in Safranbolu, Turkey

Second Runner-Up: Xôi Chè, sticky rice desserts, everywhere in Vietnam

Top: Bein Mont on the streets of Yangon, Myanmar  Bottom: Lokum from Safranbolu, Turkey 

8. “SALAD”

Winner: Samosa Thoke, Yangon, Myanmar

First Runner-Up: Bánh Tran Tron, Hanoi Vietnam

Second Runner-Up: Jungle Papaya Salad, Laos

Top: Samosa Thoke on the streets of Yangon, Myanmar Bottom: Bánh Tran Tron on the streets of Hanoi, Vietnam

9. NOODLES

Winner: 刀削面 Knife Sliced Noodles at a Halal place in Chengdu, China

First Runner-Up: Laghman in Samarkand, Uzbekistan

Second Runner-Up: Cao Lau in Hoi An, Vietnam

Top: 刀削面 Knife Sliced Noodles in Chengdu, China  Bottom: Cao Lau noodles from Hoi An, Vietnam

10. RICE

Winner: Tahdig, crispy “bottom of the pan rice” in Shiraz, Iran

First Runner-Up : Plain & Simple Khao Niaow – Sticky Rice in Laos

Second Runner-Up: Plov in the Fann Mountains, Tajikistan

Top: Tahdig in Shiraz, Iran  Bottom: Plov in the Fann Mountains, Tajikistan

11. BREAD

Winner: Noon, Lavash, Sengak, all Iranian bread, Yadz, Iran

First Runner-Up: Baguette and croissants, Vientiane, Laos

Second Runner-Up: Naan fresh from the firin, Gaziantep, Turkey

Naan bread fresh from the oven in Yazd, Iran

12. FRUIT

Winner: Zardolu – yellow plum apricots fresh from the tree in the Fann Mountains, Tajikistan

First Runner-Up: Watermelon at an impromptu BBQ in Pidnei, Turkey

Second Runner-Up: Pomelo from Guilin, China

Zardolu – yellow plum apricots, picked straight from the trees in the Fann mountains of Tajikistan

13. VEGETABLE

Winner: Choi Sum, everywhere in China

First Runner-Up: Green beans with black olive paste and mouth-numbing mala in Sichuan, China

Second Runner-Up: Morning Glory, Laos & Thailand

14. THE SHARED TABLE

Winner: The Feast that is Greek Easter

First Runner-Up: Being invited to a family dinner in Esfahan, Iran

Second Runner-Up: Being invited into a Tibetan Castle for a simple lunch in Jiyi, Daocheng, China

Eating trout by the Louros river for Greek Easter, Ioannina, Greece 

Coming up next, the Best in Travel!