Favorite Asian Cuisine

I chose Thai but I love Korean, Vietnamese, and Chinese too. Japanese is the only one I'm not crazy about, but it may be because my only exposure to it is sushi, sashimi, and the guy with the flying cleavers.

Vietnamese for me. I could eat Vietnamese a few times a week, particularly when it's hot outside.

Thai -- combines sweetness, acidity, salt, heat, and texture very well.

Singapore-Indo-Malay

Roti canai followed by mee goreng!

I love them all. I'm a foodie. I haven't had Filipino food though.

Filipino food is trash. The only one I really don't like.

Theres nothin wrong with meat and potatoes. Exotic food gives you gas.

[quote]Theres nothin wrong with meat and potatoes. Exotic food gives you gas.

R7 and Option 7 in the poll - synchronicity.

Chicken Basil and Riesling😋

Burmese cuisine is a mix of Thaim Chinese, and Indian and it's great.

Vietnamese (not on your list) followed by Thai.

Filipino food can be interesting. Sadly, the one time I patronized Jollibee, they messed up my order.

You haven't listed 'Vietnamese', OP, therefore your poll is invalid.

When I lived in Honolulu a lifetime ago, there was a little hole-in-the-wall Thai restaurant on the edge of Chinatown. It was run by a husband and wife. There was a counter at the back where you would choose your food. If an item was running out, the wife would tell you to wait a minute, run back into the kitchen and make it as quickly as possible. Once you had your food (one main and two sides for $7.99) you could either eat in the front of the restaurant or walk through the kitchen to a beautiful little tropical courtyard garden.

The food was delicious, the hosts were wonderful and the entire experience was inspirational.

Sometimes I can't remember why I ever left Honolulu.

I like Vietnamese, but Thai > Vietnamese.

My mistake R13 and R11. I absolutely love Vietnamese food. Can't remember it being the "in cuisine" at any particular time though. However, I have sweet memories of having it with my folks. I remember after fasting and going to a colonoscopy and having polyps removed, my mom took me to a Pho place. Later, when my partner was very sick, I remember he would always be able to hold down at last the broth and noodles.

I enjoy all Asian food equally, but like any other food, I eat it when I have a craving for it. I didn't vote, since I don't really have a single favorite.

R16 - I'm sorry your partner was so sick and I'm not making light of it with this post.

That said, pho is the best hangover food ever. If it doesn't put you back on the map, just go home because you're not gonna feel any better that day.

Vietnamese of course

Also, I listed baby tastes to account for our bland queens and some of our more rustic Flyoverstan queens, but I forgot to take the DL elder contingency and list "mother's shrimp aspic" as an option.

I said Thai because I only cook a couple of Thai things and it's my favorite order-in food.

I make Indian dishes all the time. I love it, though it seems too "everyday" for me to choose it in the poll.

Thai all the way. Easy to do at home and uses loads of veg and herbs. Larb Gai is my fav.

What is Laotian food?

Sichuan Hot Pot. It will give you the shits though.

Agree with R3….but Chinese is a close second.

Wait, no Indian is second, then Chinese. Oh hell, give them all to me.

Korean BBQ is good too. I love all the "banchan" side dishes.

You forgot Vietnamese - as in Pho

Hmong - as in Green Papaya Salad

Korean food is great. I also love watching Maangchi's youtube videos. Her Dwaejibulgogi - Spicy pork BBQ recipe is outrageously good.

Viet > Thai. It has that al fresco feeling to it comparing to Thai. Thai just has so much oil, flavor, and processing. Viet food are typically a deconstructed thrown together mix. That is why you see them gives you a plate of different basils every time you order something. I think it is healthier.

Typical Viet family dinner is rice, a meaty or tofu entree, a stir-fried veggie side, and a bowl of bone broth soup of gourd or leafy green. Dessert is some fruits. This feels super healthy and should be the ideal standard for daily meal.

Most people who say they like thai food really only mean Pad thai. Ask about thai curries and they look at you like you're crazy. As if Pad thai is the only thai food.

Mmm Thai red and green curries are fantastic.

Massaman beef is probably my favorite.

Massamam curry is my favorite. Now sure I’ve ever had pad Thai, but I probably have.

There appears to be a widespread misconception that Vietnamese cuisine = Pho (soup). There’s SO MUCH more to it . . .

Indian food.

Chicken/Lamb Biryani, Chicken Tandoori, Roti, Gulab Jamun, Kulfi, Dosa, Chicken Curry, Rasmalai. Wow.

There is nothing better for lunch on a hot day than a vermicelli salad: cool noodles, lots of vegetables, marinated and intensively flavored Vietnamese pork or beef barbecue, and nuoc cham.

I've tried Cambodian food a couple of times, sadly underwhelmed.

R37 - we make this at home a lot. It's really quite simple and delicious.

Another vote for Vietnamese!

OP, you forgot Vietnamese on your list. I should have married a Vietnamese woman so she could cook me Vietnamese food every day.

Honestly, I LOVE it all. But there is nothing like authentic, home-style Korean food. I'm hooked for life.

I would think Japanese is the hardest to cook. Spare, clean, precise, elegant flavors.

I like good authentic Thai, but cheap Americanized Chinese

Apart from bahn mi, I find Vietnamese too sophisticated for my palate. I like bold flavors, as in Thai food.

Indonesian Rijsttafel

Vietnamese - by a mile.

Thai is good but it tends to taste the same due to the similar flavorings in each dish.

Japanese is excellent.

Chinese is ok, but if given a choice, I'll take pretty much any other Asian food over Chinese. US American restaurants need to up their game.

Chinese/Singaporean for the variety, Japanese for the refinement, Vietnamese for the freshness.

Isn't rijstaffel Dutch food, along the lines of General Tso's chicken as Chinese?

R10, Burmese food has lots of good salads.

Tonight's Korean Dinner - Top row: Rice, Spicy soft tofu stew with seafood (Haemul-sundubu-jjigae), Spicy pork BBQ (Dwaejibulgogi) Second row: Spicy cucumber side dish (Oi-muchim), Rolled omelette (Gyeran-mari ) Last: Mung bean sprout side dish (Sukjunamul-muchim)

It was kind of a slog but it was really tasty.

That's wonderful r51, but I'd have just gone with the spicy pork, rice and cucumber salad. I'm lazy.

Tonight's dinner - Sichuan chicken & broccoli in garlic sauce and a red blend😋. Tried a suggested Chardonnay with it earlier, nope!😖

Speaking of which, any favorite wine pairings that you like personally? Websites suck

Personally, I like cheap Portuguese rosé with Asian food.

Weird that you'd include Indian (really Bangladeshi) food in Asian?

I'm not sure that most of Europe includes the Sub- continent as the foods available have such a Western influence. Nepalese food is better in any case.

Another Vietnamese lover, here.

Thai has become as westernized near me as mediocre Chinese places became in days of yore. My favorite original Thai places here either closed or changed management. I can't get those delicious seafood salads, or sauteed meat over a big bed of cabbage. It's all a bunch of lukewarm, sloppy, overly sweet, coconut pablum. Such a shame.I

The upshot is, though I am not generally a Chinese restaurant food lover, our humble little burg got a Michelin-plate-recognized Chinesebplace. Their food is delicious!

OP, "Chinese" and "Indian" are not "cuisines," any more than there's an "American" cuisine. Do you think of Texas-style brisket, Creole gumbo, a boiled dinner and a Pennsylvania Pepper Pot as part of the same cuisine?

Try "nationality," maybe, although Tibetans, Uyghurs, the Hui, the people of Hong Kong and others may question its appropriate use in the case of "Chinese."

Thanks R55! I will try that next time👍

There was a donut shop in SF that made the best bahn mi I have ever had. It was sone nondescript hole in the wall but I've spent the last decade trying to find one as good in NY. There are some contenders here but nothing as inexpensive and fresh.

I love Korean food. For those who've never tried, try bibimbap. Sounds weird, but it's a personal-sized pot of rice with a nice crust of browned rice (the part that touches the pot). Then, an assortment of vegetables and meat (beef, IME) on top. You can have it without meat. I like it when they replace the meat with something "meaty" like eggplant. Oh yeah, and an egg.

Vietnamese food that's easy for beginners: banh mi. We just called it "Vietnamese sandwich." If you hate cilantro, leave it out. But do get the pickled carrot and radish. So good. Not sure what "Vietnamese mayonnaise" (in photo below) is. It's just regular mayo, IME. I usually get a lemon grass tofu banh mi.

I most enjoy eating the bubble ass of a muscular Korean-American man.

Vietnamese for sure. I can’t believe it wasn’t included in this poll?! WTF. Summer rolls, vermicelli bowl, banh mi… all better than pho, by the way (and pho’s not bad, either).

Thai comes in at a close second, but it’s very hard to find a restaurant that doesn’t overdo the sugar and salt. There’s one in Jackson Heights, Queens, that I love. That’s a schlep though. Generally I feel sluggish and bloated after eating Thai, but man is it heaven when I’m wolfing it down.

Mongolian -- hard to beat those yak noodles

A friend's wife is from the Laos/Thailand border. Her meals are similar to Thai food with some regional differences, including sticky rice at every meal (taken from a communal bowl by hand) and ice-cold lettuce leaves as a sort of palate cleanser when a bite is too hot.

Green papaya salad is a staple, as is a hot pot of clear soup with vegetables and sometimes seafood.

OP is sentenced to a lifetime of Filipino food for a poll with two Japanese entries and none for the write in winner, Vietnamese (or Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore).

I think we can all agree the OP *really* blew it.

Indonesian/Malaysian food is garbage compared to anything else mentioned.

R26, you're my kind of lardass. Have you ever had Indian-Chinese?

Come over this weekend, I'll order hakka noodles, Indian fried rice and chili baby corn, and, we can get high, eat, and watch criterion.

Hakka noodles (Indian Chinese)

Really, R69? Oh well...

During my Trip From Hell to Chennai*, I made the faux pas of ordering a side of bread with my bisi belle bath lunch ("It's a rice dish!")

*almost everything that could go wrong, did so.

OP, you forgot "Japanese EXCEPT sushi".

I like sushi, but not sashimi.

Some sushi is made with raw fish, raw shellfish, etc. Sashimi is raw stuff.

Sushi includes rice, sashimi is just cuts of fish.

I answered "Korean," but I don't mean barbecue.

Indian is a close second.

I enjoy Cambodian/Khmer food. Kind of a mix between Viet/Thai. And as for Thai I prefer the Isaan region dishes. Haven’t had Laotian any clues as what to expect if I try it.

Had a bowl of laksa at the local vegan joint today. Unfortunately, I suspect what I received was re-heated leftover inventory.

Local Korean restaurant has great staff, but the food... I don't think bulgogi is supposed to be gloppy, but dry.

I'd like to try laksa at some point. Maybe I'll order a couple of packs (instant) from Amazon.

[quote] Korean BBQ is good too. I love all the "banchan" side dishes.

I would actually expect a good portion of Korean food to be most palatable for American tastes -- lots of grilled and BBQed pork and beef dishes.

Took me a long time to appreciate fiery Korean soup. My ex liked their spicy squid, which wasn't for me. Also not a fan of their "rice cake" dishes that seem more like tough ziti to me. But, yes, anyone who likes fried rice will be okay with bibimbap. Bulgogi should be fine for anyone OK with stir fry dishes in general.

Anything from the Far East is nothing short of exquisite - light, fragrant, delicious and often, both light and healthy. It's impossible to choose: Chinese cuisine has the richest flavours, Thai cuisine is the most delicate and the lightest and Korean cuisine, the most varied; Japanese cuisine is the most refined and subtle, Vietnamese is a delicious blend of Chinese and Thai and Filipino, very unique and elaborate.

All I can say is that most countries have very impressive culinary traditions, but the Far East is the very pinnacle of human development in terms of cooking techniques and flavour combinations.

[quote] I would actually expect a good portion of Korean food to be most palatable for American tastes -- lots of grilled and BBQed pork and beef dishes.

Agree, if you're a meat-eater, Korean BBQ should not be challenging at all.

I like them all and cannot choose. Each one has something to offer!

If I can fake my way through chopsticks, so can you!

My first exposure to Japanese food was beef negimaki... which is a western invention it seems!

[quote]Agree, if you're a meat-eater, Korean BBQ should not be challenging at all.

"You say puppies, I say Korean BBQ!"

I was underwhelmed with Laotian and Cambodian food. Love most other Asian cuisines. I have to be in a mood for sushi and usually can only do about half of what is served/packaged.

R87 is that you?

Thanks, R70. I’m comin! Can you make me vegan ramen? That’s my favorite.

Another vote for Vietnamese food, the best Asian food imho.