LONDON DIVISION:
#1: Pho Bo, Hanoi
With small, irrelevant exceptions (Canada, Bahamas), landing in Vietnam was my first time outside of the US. And Hanoi is about as different from Chicago as you can get. Buildings are tall and deep, but thin to work around ancient tax laws. Children play barefoot in the street. Unfamiliar smells come from every kitchen. The best meals, though, don't even come from kitchens. Tanned and wrinkled women stir massive metal pots with wooden spoons. I sit down nearby, at a knee-high plastic table, on a shin-high plastic stool. She brings me a big bowl full of steaming soup, with soft vermicelli noodles and thin, rare beef, which cooks in the soup, and a handful of spices and herbs mixed in. On the side, to be tossed in at will, chili peppers, mint leaves, sprouts, red chili paste, brown hoi sin sauce. It's hot, and Hanoi usually is too, so pretty soon I'm sweating, but it feels clean and clear. It costs about 25 cents. It's the best meal I've ever had.
#8: Iberico and Melon, Spain
My first visit to Spain was to Ibiza, which is so different from what people mean when they talk about Spain that it shouldn't count. When they talk about Ibiza, they're talking about something else completely, and it's easy to forget that the town has beautiful white-sand beaches, dotted with sandwich shops. After a late, late night, breakfast usually takes place at one of these shops around 4 PM. The sweetness of the melon matches the richness of the thin-sliced ham, which literally melts. Whoever thought this up had a pretty nice idea.
Winner: At the risk of riling up the Ham-fans, Pho Bo changed my life. Pho Bo.
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