Food Adventures

I love how many types of restaurants are here in Gothenburg.  I'm not familiar with Asian food, so when I find someone who raves about it I ask if they'll go with me or at least suggest what to order.  I'll try anything as long as I have an endorsement from someone I know. Recently Steve and I went to a Vietnamese restaurant half a block from our place.  My friend had suggested ordering spring rolls (the kind with the translucent wrappers), so we got those as an appetizer. Then based on the menu description I ordered Com Suon for my entree.  It's served in a bowl with separate piles of marinated grilled pork, fresh chopped veggies, and white rice, and then topped with a fried egg and served with some sort of fish sauce mixture on the side.  Loved it!

Not long after that I was at a sushi restaurant that probably backs up to the Vietnamese place.  I was with a group of friends with a much more international palate than I have, so I got sushi and they ordered things like Korean bibimbap.  I'd never heard of it, but believe me I was asking to taste their meat when it came out.  Sweet and tangy marinated beef, which Google tells me is called bulgogi, served in a bowl with rice and a crunchy salad (kimchi? I'm not sure) and a spicy sauce, then topped with a fried egg.  Same themes, different country.  So.  Y'all gotta try these things if you see them on a menu, okay?  They may look unpronounceable but a sweet marinade makes for from some tasty, crispy meat.  I taught jewelry-making classes for years at a bead store located next door to a Korean BBQ place. It smelled so good but I never ate there, and now I'm kicking myself.

Another food category I was never brave enough to get into was food trucks.  I mean, even 10 years ago they were pretty sketchy, but now food trucks are becoming popular all over thanks to reality shows and social media.  The first one I tried here was this adorable vintage orange Citroën H selling fish tacos, which had me at corn tortillas.

They were amazing, with grilled blackened fish, salsa verde (which is also not available in stores), and cilantro with wedges of lime to squeeze.  And pickled red onion which seems to be on everything in Sweden (but I like it).

It wasn't until I dragged my friends along the next week that I tried the homemade lemonade, which I think had rhubarb in it.  So good.  As uncultured as I had felt never having tried pho, I'm happy to talk Mexican/Texmex food with my Aussie and British girls.

The following week my friend Cari and I checked out another truck selling BBQ pork buns (Cha siu bao), a Chinese steamed roll with roasted pork that melts in your mouth.  It also has salty crunch from peanuts and freshly pickled cucumbers, plus magical sauce and their homemade ginger lemonade...  It was a rare sunny, warm day, my last free day before school let out.  I just wanted to freeze that moment in time.

If you're lucky enough to live in a city with food trucks I encourage you to try them out if you haven't already!