• ramble81@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    Rule of traveling: never eat anywhere you can back home (which is pretty much any chain restaurant)

    • gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      I ate at the first ever Carl’s Jr in Japan right after it opened because it’d been 3 weeks since I’d been home and was dying for some home food

      Walk in and it’s themed after LA and SACRAMENTO (home) of all places, and there was a California expat family eating there so we sat next to them and raced about how the food tasted just like home but s little better

      Then the news can say and interviewed the lady and her son

      Sometimes it’s worth visiting those places lol

      • bitwaba@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        I moved to London in 2011. When Five Guys opened here in 2013, I think I ate there at least once a week for 2 months.

        Also, what the fuck. It was expensive back then, and it’s just absurdly priced now. Also I don’t eat hamburgers as often which is definitely a good thing…

      • RedditRefugee69@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Can confirm food in Japan is just better even at the same fast food restaurants.

        McDonald’s is the one restaurant that I will eat at internationally because they have different menu items. It is interesting to see what is popular in that country and the local interpretation of American culture. But even then it’s one and done and only if I absolutely have to eat a quick meal to make a reservation or something

    • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 months ago

      Tbf, I want to go to Kuwait just for the Taco Bell (and then maybe swing by the Afghan/Pakistan border to check out the market and buy some cool hand engraved shit, but,) Kuwait is the only country that has Volcano Tacos still. I want to bring home, portion out, and freeze an entire bag of that fucking sauce and then I can turn taco bell here into Volcano Tacos (without the red shell but who cares, the secret’s in the sauce.)

      • wieson@feddit.org
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        3 months ago

        Kuwait is not near Afghanistan or Pakistan. You’re mixing up two different US wars ;)

        It has borders with Iraq, Saudi Arabia and almost Iran.

        • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          3 months ago

          I assume it’s closer together than the US is to either, so “while I’m in the neighborhood” I may as well pop over. Flight has to be cheaper and I could probably get away with making Kuwait a 14hr layover.

    • HomerianSymphony@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I dunno, I got a kick out of visiting Tim Hortons in Saudi Arabia. My Canadian friends on facebook were amused by it.

        • denshirenji@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          I was in the US Navy and you would be surprised at how many people will say things like that and eat at chili’s or whatever else when there is something perfectly good and new (to you) to try. Just never understood why some of the people I served with insulated themselves from seeing and experiencing new things.

          • HobbitFoot @thelemmy.club
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            3 months ago

            I feel like being a “picky eater” is something that a lot more people want to admit to. So, they get introduced to food they never experienced before, likely with novel tastes or textures that are not like what they eat at home.

            They treat kids for being picky eaters, but that generally requires parents to have the knowledge and finances to get their kid help.

        • redisdead@lemmy.world
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          3 months ago

          Only time I got food poisoning when traveling was in the US lol and I’ve eaten pretty sketchy places all over the world.

  • iflyspaceships@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    The first night my wife and I visited Tokyo, we went to a Burger King. Still ashamed of myself 14 years later.

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    I’ve been traveling for a long time. Easily one of the worst a things I’ve seen happening culturally is globalization of brands that “dumb down” local foods and crafts. Doesn’t matter where you go, particularly the westernized world, it’s the same shit everywhere. The same brands. Even some of the food is moving towards sameness. Want to find a local gift to bring home? Good luck. It’s all the same stuff made in China, each store has the same stuff on the shelves.

    You’ll have better luck outside the metro areas, but usually if you’re traveling to see the sights they are often in more metro/touristy areas.

  • _stranger_@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    China’s home grown Starbucks is called Luckin and their logo is a buck backlit by the moon.

    I find that hilarious.

  • caseyweederman@lemmy.ca
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    3 months ago

    McDonald’s owned the WcDonald’s title a few months back. They printed manga on every takeout bag.
    I’m not a fan of huge chain restaurants but that was pretty funny.

  • atro_city@fedia.io
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    3 months ago

    Some people when they travel: go to a new place to eat the same shit as at home, and if that isn’t possible, complain about “how everything is different here”. If you wanted more of the same, why did you travel?

    • bitwaba@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      I landed at Domodedovo in Moscow in 2013. Ready to see this incredible new place I’ve never experienced before, I walked out into the main arrivals area, and right there was a Cinnabon.

      I believe my exact words were “We did it. We beat communism…”

      • baltakatei@sopuli.xyz
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        3 months ago

        I landed at Domodedovo in Moscow in 2013. Ready to see this incredible new place I’ve never experienced before, I walked out into the main arrivals area, and right there was a Cinnabon.

        Reminds me of the penultimate verse of the Complete History Of The Soviet Union, Arranged To The Melody Of Tetris (2010) by Pig With The Face Of A Boy.

        And now the wall is down, the Marxists frown
        There’s foreign shops all over town
        When in Red Square, well don’t despair
        There’s Levi’s and McDonald’s there
        The US gave us crystal meth
        And Yeltsin drank himself to death
        But now that Putin’s put the boot in,
        Who’ll get in our way?
        
    • boonhet@lemm.ee
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      3 months ago

      That sauce was actually good though. The WcNuggets may have been your regular ol’ McNuggets, but damn that sauce was good

      • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        3 months ago

        I wouldn’t know, I tried to get it 3 separate times and they were consistently out. Guess that does say something about how good it is or it says something about false scarcity being good advertising.

  • molave@reddthat.com
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    3 months ago

    I would just so I can try their localized menu. I take joy in how their system works there vs. at home.

  • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
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    3 months ago

    When I’ve visited Lisbon last year, within five days we’ve eaten lunch or dinner at least once per day at McDonald’s. Why? It was early May and it was one of the only places accommodating to our accessibility needs in an air conditioned environment, free of cigarette smoke. Because that’s what you need when you have two children and a stroller, and McDonald’s is consistent.

    Plus some of the localized menu items were pretty amazing and the staff was super friendly.

    • Flax@feddit.uk
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      3 months ago

      TIL smoking indoors in public is still allowed in Portugal

      • dubyakay@lemmy.ca
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        3 months ago

        I’m not sure about that. But most restaurants downtown were semi-open, with some seating indoors, some outdoors along the streets. There doesn’t seem to be a law against smoking at the table outdoors, and the smoke just goes everywhere. If it’s not the people at the table, it’s the passersby or the staff on their break. Really bad experience in multiple places.