All dishes

Aloo Tikki

Mashed, spiced potato shaped into a flat patty and pan-fried until the outside turns a deep golden crust — North India's street-food potato cake, sold with chutney or piled into a chaat.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Baingan Bharta

Roasted eggplant, charred whole and mashed with onion, tomato and spices — a smoky North Indian classic that trades a wetter curry for something drier and deeper.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Bhel Puri

Puffed rice tossed at the last second with crispy sev, chopped onion, tamarind chutney and raw vegetables, so nothing has time to go soggy — Mumbai's crunchy chaat, mixed to order and eaten immediately.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Bhindi Masala

Okra pan-cooked dry with onion, tomato and spices until it just softens — a North Indian vegetable side built to avoid the vegetable's one real flaw.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Biryani

Basmati rice layered with spiced meat and slow-cooked until the grains take on the flavour of everything beneath them — India's great festival rice dish.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Butter Chicken

Tandoor-cooked chicken finished in a mild tomato, butter and cream sauce — Delhi's answer to leftover meat, and the gentlest curry on most menus.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Chana Masala

Chickpeas simmered in a tomato-and-onion sauce sharpened with amchoor and garam masala — a North Indian vegan curry sturdy enough to anchor a whole meal.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Chicken Tikka

Boneless chicken chunks marinated in yogurt and spices and grilled on skewers until charred at the edges — the starter that gave chicken tikka masala its name.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Chole Bhature

A spiced chickpea curry served with pillowy, deep-fried leavened bread — Punjab and Delhi's hearty weekend breakfast.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Dal Makhani

Whole black lentils simmered for hours then finished with butter and cream — the rich, slow-cooked centrepiece of a Punjabi table.

• Vegetarian
• Vegan option

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Dal Tadka

Yellow lentils simmered soft and finished with a hot tempering of cumin, garlic and ghee poured over just before serving — India's everyday lentil dish, light where dal makhani is rich.

• Vegetarian
• Vegan option

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Dhokla

A steamed, spongy gram-flour cake with a tangy edge, finished with a mustard-seed and curry-leaf tempering — Gujarat's everyday snack.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Gulab Jamun

Fried milk-dough balls soaked in a rose-and-cardamom sugar syrup until soft throughout — the sweet that closes almost any North Indian celebration meal.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Hyderabadi Haleem

Cracked wheat and lentils pounded for hours with slow-cooked meat until the whole pot turns into one smooth, dense paste — Hyderabad's Ramadan stew, its texture the entire point of the long, deliberate cooking.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Idli

Steamed, feather-light cakes of fermented rice-and-lentil batter — South India's everyday breakfast, eaten with sambar and chutney.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Jalebi

Fermented batter piped into spirals, deep-fried until crisp, then soaked in warm sugar syrup — a bright orange sweet eaten hot, syrup still dripping.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Jeera Rice

Basmati rice tempered with whole cumin seeds fried in ghee — the plainest rice on an Indian menu, built to sit quietly beside a rich curry.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Kachori

A round, flaky pastry filled with spiced lentils and deep-fried until it puffs hollow and crisp — India's round cousin to the triangular samosa, built on a shorter, flakier dough and a completely different filling.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Kadai Paneer

Paneer and bell pepper tossed through a coarse, freshly ground tomato-onion masala, cooked hard and fast in a kadai — a quick North Indian favourite.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Kathi Roll

Grilled, spiced meat wrapped inside a flaky paratha that's been fried together with a beaten egg cracked straight onto it — Kolkata's skewer-born wrap, sealed in flatbread instead of served on the stick.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Kheer

Rice simmered slowly in milk with sugar and cardamom until it thickens into a pudding — the sweet that appears at almost every Indian festival and family meal.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Korma

Chicken braised in a mild, creamy sauce of yogurt, cashew paste and warm spices — one of the gentlest curries to come out of the Mughal kitchen.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose) · Tree nuts

Kulfi

Milk reduced slowly until thick, sweetened, scented with cardamom, then frozen solid without churning — India's dense answer to ice cream.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Malai Kofta

Fried paneer-and-potato dumplings served in a rich, creamy cashew-tomato sauce — a vegetarian centrepiece built to rival any meat curry on the table.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose) · Tree nuts

Masala Dosa

A thin, crisp fermented rice-and-lentil crepe folded around spiced mashed potato — South India's breakfast icon, served with sambar and coconut chutney.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Misal Pav

A fiery curry of sprouted lentils topped with crunchy sev, onion and lime, eaten with a soft bread roll for scooping — Maharashtra's spicy breakfast, built on sprouts rather than pav bhaji's mashed vegetables.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Modak

A rice-flour dumpling shaped into a pinched, teardrop point and filled with coconut and jaggery, steamed until soft — Maharashtra's festival sweet, made specifically as an offering during Ganesh Chaturthi.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Pakora

Vegetable pieces dipped in a spiced gram-flour batter and deep-fried until the coating turns crisp and irregular — India's fritter, made from whatever vegetable is on hand and eaten hot with chutney.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Palak Paneer

Fresh cheese cubes simmered in a smooth, spiced spinach purée — one of North India's most-ordered vegetarian curries.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Pani Puri

Crisp hollow semolina shells cracked open and filled with spiced tamarind water, potato and chickpea — India's most theatrical street snack, eaten in one bite.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Paratha

Layered, pan-fried wheat flatbread, often stuffed with spiced potato — North India's everyday griddle bread, brushed with ghee.

• Vegetarian
• Vegan option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Pav Bhaji

A thick mashed-vegetable curry spiced with pav bhaji masala, served with a buttered, griddle-toasted bread roll — Mumbai's street-food classic.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Poha

Flattened rice stir-fried with mustard seed, curry leaf, turmeric, peanuts and onion — a light, everyday breakfast across much of India.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Peanuts

Poori

Small discs of unleavened wheat dough, deep-fried until they puff into a golden, airy ball — India's everyday fried bread.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Pulao

Basmati rice simmered with whole spices, vegetables and stock until the grains take on the pot's flavour — the everyday middle ground between plain rice and biryani.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Rajma

Red kidney beans simmered in a thick onion-tomato gravy with ginger and garam masala — Punjab's everyday bean curry, always eaten with rice.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Rasam

A thin, peppery tamarind broth simmered until sharp and clear, often drunk straight from a cup rather than eaten with a spoon — South India's digestive soup, the lighter, soupier counterpart to sambar.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Rasgulla

Fresh, unpressed cheese kneaded smooth and rolled into balls, boiled in sugar syrup until they turn spongy and swell to twice their size — Bengal's syrup-soaked sweet, distinct from both gulab jamun and rasmalai.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Rasmalai

Soft, flattened cheese dumplings simmered in sweetened, cardamom-scented milk — a cooler, lighter counterpart to gulab jamun from the same milk-sweet family.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Rogan Josh

Lamb braised low and slow in a deep red, aromatic Kashmiri sauce — one of the great curries of the Kashmir Valley, coloured by chilli, not heat alone.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Sambar

Lentils simmered thick with vegetables, tamarind and a distinct spice blend until the whole pot turns hearty enough to eat as a meal — South India's everyday lentil stew, poured generously over rice, idli or dosa.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Sarson ka Saag

Mustard greens simmered down for hours with spinach until they collapse into a thick, dark, coarsely blended purée, finished with a well of ghee — Punjab's winter greens dish, always paired with corn flatbread.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Shahi Paneer

Paneer cubes in a rich, mildly sweet cashew-and-cream tomato sauce — the "royal" Mughlai paneer dish, built for richness over heat.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose) · Tree nuts

Tandoori Chicken

Chicken marinated in yogurt and spices, roasted whole or in pieces at fierce heat until the skin blisters and chars — North India's signature roast.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Uttapam

A thick, savoury rice-and-lentil pancake with onion, tomato and chilli worked into the batter before it hits the pan — the South Indian breakfast that stays soft throughout, never crisping the way its thinner dosa cousin does.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Vada

Deep-fried urad dal doughnuts with a crisp shell and a fluffy, tangy interior — South India's savoury fritter, a classic partner to idli.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Vada Pav

A spiced, deep-fried potato ball tucked whole into a soft bread roll with a smear of chutney and a fried green chilli on the side — Mumbai's everyday snack, eaten standing at a street cart.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Vindaloo

Pork simmered in a fiery, vinegar-sharp chilli sauce — Goa's Portuguese-descended curry, hotter and more sour than almost anything else on the menu.

Contains: Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites

Bœuf Bourguignon

Beef braised for hours in red Burgundy wine with bacon, carrots and mushrooms — the dish that taught a generation to cook a cheap cut slowly.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites

Bouillabaisse

The Marseille fish stew — rockfish simmered with saffron, fennel and orange peel, served as broth first and fish second, with rouille and croutons.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Fish · Milk (including Lactose)

Brioche

A rich, buttery yeast bread, egg-heavy and lightly sweet, baked into a domed loaf or individual rolls — France's everyday bread that reads more like cake.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Canard à l'Orange

A whole roasted duck glazed and sauced with bitter orange, sugar and vinegar reduced to a glossy, sweet-sharp finish — the dish that defined French fine dining for much of the 20th century.

No typical allergens

Cassoulet

A slow-baked casserole of white beans with duck confit, pork and sausage under a broken-and-reformed breadcrumb crust — the signature dish of France's south-west.

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Choucroute Garnie

Sauerkraut slow-simmered in white wine and piled with an assortment of pork and sausages — Alsace's border-country platter, built on the shared French-German pickled-cabbage tradition of the Rhine.

Contains: Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites

Clafoutis

Whole cherries baked into a thick, custardy batter until the top puffs and sets like a firm flan — a Limousin farmhouse dessert traditionally made without pitting the fruit.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Confit de Canard

Duck legs salted, then slowly cooked and preserved in their own rendered fat until the meat falls apart and the skin crisps under a final blast of heat — Gascony's centuries-old way of keeping duck through the winter.

No typical allergens

Coq au Vin

Chicken braised slowly in red wine with bacon, mushrooms and small onions — the Burgundian answer to a bird too tough to roast.

Contains: Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites

Coquilles Saint-Jacques

Scallops seared and finished in a white wine and cream sauce, served back in their own fan-shaped shell — France's bistro scallop dish, named for the shell it's presented in.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose) · Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites · Molluscs

Crème Brûlée

A silky baked custard chilled until set, topped with a thin layer of sugar burnt to a hard, glass-like crust just before serving — the dessert that lives or dies on the crack of a spoon.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Crème de Champignons

French cream of mushroom soup — mushrooms sweated in butter, bound with a roux, simmered in stock and finished with cream.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Crêpe

Brittany's thin pancake — sweet ones from wheat flour, savoury galettes from buckwheat, spread paper-thin on a hot griddle.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Croissant

Laminated, butter-layered yeast dough rolled and folded dozens of times, shaped into a crescent and baked until it shatters — the pastry France perfected even though the idea first came from Vienna.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Croque Monsieur

A hot French ham-and-cheese sandwich, coated in béchamel and cheese and grilled until bubbling; add a fried egg and it becomes a Croque Madame.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Escargots à la Bourguignonne

Snails baked in their shells under a filling of garlic-parsley butter until it bubbles — Burgundy's classic starter, eaten straight from the shell with a tiny two-pronged fork.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose) · Molluscs

Gougères

Small choux pastry puffs made with cheese folded straight into the dough, baked until they crisp on the outside and stay hollow inside — Burgundy's savoury bite, served instead of bread with an apéritif.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Gratin Dauphinois

Thin potato slices layered with cream and garlic, baked slowly until the top browns and the inside turns completely soft — the Dauphiné region's potato gratin, famously made without cheese.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Île Flottante

Whipped egg whites poached into a soft cloud and set afloat on a pool of vanilla custard, finished with a thread of caramel — a dessert built entirely around contrast in texture.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Kouign-amann

Laminated dough folded with butter and sugar and baked until the outside caramelizes into a hard, sticky crust — Brittany's butter cake, distinct from a croissant specifically because the sugar is folded into the layers, not added afterward.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Madeleine

A small, shell-shaped sponge cake with a distinctive humped back, batter rested overnight before baking — the cake immortalized by Proust and baked in a scallop-shell mould.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Moules Marinières

Mussels steamed open in white wine with shallots, garlic and parsley — France's classic bistro pot, eaten with the shells as the only cutlery you need.

Contains: Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites · Molluscs

Pain au Chocolat

The same laminated croissant dough wrapped around two batons of dark chocolate and folded into a rectangle — France's other essential breakfast viennoiserie.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Pain perdu

Stale bread soaked in egg and milk and fried in butter — the French dish whose name means "lost bread", because it exists to rescue a loaf gone dry.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Paris-Brest

A ring of choux pastry split and filled with hazelnut praline cream — a dessert shaped after a bicycle wheel, invented for a Paris-to-Brest cycling race.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose) · Tree nuts

Pissaladière

A thin bread base spread with deeply caramelized onions and topped with anchovy fillets and black olives — Nice's answer to pizza, built entirely without tomato or cheese.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Fish

Pot-au-Feu

A pot of beef simmered for hours with carrot, leek and turnip until the broth runs clear and rich — the dish that taught France what a good stock is.

No typical allergens

Profiterole

A small choux pastry ball split and filled with ice cream or cream, stacked into a pyramid and drenched in warm chocolate sauce — France's ice-cream éclair.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Quiche Lorraine

A savoury open tart from the Lorraine region — a buttery pastry shell filled with a set custard of eggs, cream and smoky bacon (lardons).

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Ratatouille

A Provençal stew of summer vegetables — aubergine, courgette, peppers and tomato, cooked with garlic and herbs; naturally vegan.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Rillettes

Pork slow-cooked in its own fat until it falls apart, then shredded and potted to set as a coarse, spreadable paste — France's other way of keeping meat in fat, meant for a knife and a piece of bread rather than a plate.

No typical allergens

Salade Lyonnaise

Frisée lettuce tossed with warm bacon lardons and a sharp mustard vinaigrette, topped with a poached egg that breaks over the leaves at the table — Lyon's bistro salad, built to be eaten immediately while the egg is still runny.

Contains: Egg · Mustard

Salade Niçoise

A composed salad from Nice — tomato, hard-boiled egg, tuna or anchovy, black olives and green beans, dressed simply in olive oil — with a strict, and strictly argued, list of what belongs in it.

Contains: Egg · Fish · Mustard

Soupe à l'Oignon

French onion soup — onions cooked down for an hour into sweetness, simmered in broth, then gratinated under bread and melted Gruyère.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose) · Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites

Steak Tartare

Finely chopped raw beef seasoned with capers, onion and mustard, bound with a raw egg yolk and mixed tableside — a French bistro classic served entirely uncooked.

Contains: Egg

Tarte Tatin

Apples caramelized in butter and sugar, baked under a pastry lid, then turned out upside down — invented, the story goes, by accident.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Tartiflette

Sliced potatoes baked with bacon, onion and a whole wheel of reblochon melted over the top — Savoie's ski-country potato bake, built specifically around that one washed-rind cheese.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Vichyssoise

Leek and potato soup, cooked then puréed smooth and chilled before serving — a French-style soup most likely created in a New York hotel kitchen, and served cold specifically because of it.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Arancini

Sicilian fried rice balls with a filling of ragù and peas or ham and mozzarella — crisp outside, saffron rice within, eaten with the hands.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Bistecca alla Fiorentina

A thick T-bone steak from Chianina cattle, grilled hard over wood coals and served rare, seasoned with nothing but salt, pepper and olive oil — Florence's steak, and famously never well done.

No typical allergens

Bruschetta

Grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with chopped tomato, basil and olive oil — served straight away, before the toast has any chance to soften under the topping.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Bucatini all'Amatriciana

Bucatini in a tomato sauce built on rendered guanciale and finished with Pecorino Romano — a Roman-area pasta that shares its cured-pork base with carbonara and gricia, but never touches egg or cream.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Cacio e Pepe

Pasta tossed with Pecorino cheese and black pepper until they melt into a glossy, peppery sauce — Rome's proof that three ingredients can be harder to get right than twenty.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Cannoli

Crisp fried pastry tubes filled with sweetened ricotta and studded with candied fruit or chocolate — Sicily's signature fried dessert, filled only at the last moment.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Caponata

Fried aubergine, celery and olives pulled together in a sweet-and-sour vinegar-and-sugar dressing — Sicily's agrodolce vegetable dish, served cold or at room temperature rather than hot.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Caprese Salad

Sliced tomato and fresh mozzarella layered with basil leaves and olive oil — nothing cooked, nothing added, the colours doing the work of the Italian flag.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Cotoletta alla Milanese

A veal cutlet on the bone, pounded thin, breaded and fried in butter until the crust puffs away from the meat — Milan's cutlet, and older than the Austrian schnitzel it's often compared to.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Focaccia

Olive-oil-rich flatbread dimpled by fingers and baked until golden, often finished with rosemary and coarse salt — Liguria's everyday bread, eaten plain or split for a sandwich.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Frittata

A thick, open-faced omelette started on the stove and finished under the broiler, sliced into wedges rather than folded — Italy's answer to a Spanish tortilla.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Gelato

Dense, slow-churned Italian ice cream made with more milk than cream and far less air beaten in than its American cousin, served softer and warmer than a standard scoop.

• Vegetarian
• Vegan option

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Gnocchi

Small Italian potato dumplings — floury potato bound with as little flour as possible, boiled until they float, dressed simply.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Lasagne

Layers of flat pasta baked with ragù (meat sauce), béchamel and cheese — the classic version comes from Bologna.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Minestrone

A thick vegetable soup built on whatever's in season, bulked out with beans and a small pasta or rice — Italy's everyday soup, defined by its method more than any fixed list of vegetables.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Celery

Orecchiette alle Cime di Rapa

Ear-shaped pasta tossed with bitter turnip tops, anchovy and garlic in olive oil — Puglia's pasta, the bitterness of the greens left in rather than cooked out.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Fish

Ossobuco

Cross-cut veal shank braised until it gives, finished with lemony gremolata — Milan's great slow dish, and the marrow is the prize.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose) · Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites

Panettone

A dome-shaped, slow-leavened sweet bread studded with candied fruit and raisins — Milan's Christmas loaf, famous for taking days to make properly.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Panna Cotta

Sweetened cream set with a small amount of gelatin until it barely holds its shape, turned out of its mould to wobble on the plate — the name simply means "cooked cream."

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Panzanella

Stale bread torn and soaked, tossed with tomato, cucumber and red onion in a sharp vinegar dressing — Tuscany's way of never wasting a loaf.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Parmigiana di Melanzane

Layers of fried eggplant baked with tomato sauce, mozzarella and parmesan until the whole dish sets into a single sliceable block — southern Italy's eggplant bake.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Pasta alla Norma

Pasta tossed with a tomato sauce, fried aubergine and a shower of dried, salted ricotta salata — Catania's dish, named after an opera rather than any person who cooked it.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Pesto alla Genovese

Basil, pine nuts, garlic, parmesan and olive oil pounded together raw into a bright green sauce — traditionally worked by hand with a mortar and pestle, never cooked.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Pizza Margherita

The original Neapolitan pizza — a thin base with tomato, mozzarella and fresh basil, in the red, white and green of the Italian flag.

• Vegetarian
• Vegan option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Ravioli

Small stuffed pasta pockets sealed at the edges and boiled, the filling — cheese, meat or vegetable — doing more to define the dish than whatever sauce it's dressed with.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Ribollita

Cannellini beans and kale simmered with stale bread until it thickens into something between a soup and a stew — Tuscany's peasant dish, named for being reboiled the next day.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Risotto ai Funghi

Northern Italy's mushroom risotto — short-grain rice toasted in butter and cooked slowly with broth, carried by porcini and finished with Parmigiano off the heat.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Milk (including Lactose) · Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites

Risotto alla Milanese

Milan's saffron risotto — rice toasted in butter, cooked slowly with broth, turned gold with saffron and finished with Parmigiano off the heat.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Saltimbocca alla Romana

Thin veal escalopes topped with sage and prosciutto, pan-fried and finished in a butter-and-white-wine sauce — a Roman dish whose name means "jump in the mouth."

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites

Sfogliatelle

A shell-shaped pastry of paper-thin, crackling layers around a filling of sweetened semolina and ricotta scented with candied citrus — Naples' pastry, its name meaning "many small leaves."

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

The Roman pasta of guanciale, egg yolk, Pecorino Romano and black pepper — creamy from the emulsion, never from cream.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Spaghetti alle Vongole

Spaghetti tossed with small clams in their own briny liquid, white wine, garlic and chilli — a Neapolitan pasta built entirely without cheese or cream, the clam liquor doing all the work.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites · Molluscs

Tiramisù

Coffee-soaked sponge fingers layered with a sweet mascarpone cream and dusted with bitter cocoa — Italy's best-known dessert.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Tortellini

Small ring-shaped stuffed pasta from Emilia-Romagna, folded around a filling of pork, mortadella and parmesan and traditionally served afloat in a clear broth.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Vitello Tonnato

Thin-sliced cold roast veal draped in a creamy tuna-and-caper sauce — Piedmont's cold starter, built on a sauce that tastes nothing like a standard mayonnaise.

Contains: Egg · Fish

Berliner

A yeasted dough ball deep-fried without a hole, filled with jam through a hidden slit and dusted with sugar — the doughnut that gave New Year's Eve its prank.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Bienenstich

A yeasted cake split and filled with vanilla custard cream, topped with a crisp layer of caramelized honey and almonds — Germany's "bee sting" cake, named for a topping bees would actually go after.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose) · Tree nuts

Birnen, Bohnen und Speck

Green beans simmered with bacon until tender, sweetened with whole cooked pears added at the very end — a Hamburg dish whose name simply lists its three ingredients in order.

No typical allergens

Bratwurst

A grilled or pan-fried German sausage of minced pork (or veal), typically served in a crusty roll with mustard.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Mustard

Brezel

The knot-shaped German lye pretzel — dark, glossy and salted outside, soft inside; served plain, buttered, or alongside a Weisswurst.

• Vegetarian
• Vegan option

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Currywurst

A Berlin street-food classic — a fried pork sausage sliced and smothered in a spiced curry-ketchup sauce, dusted with curry powder.

No typical allergens

Eisbein

A cured pork knuckle boiled until tender and served with sauerkraut and pea purée — Berlin's winter classic, named for the bone once used to make ice skates.

No typical allergens

Falscher Hase

A large oval loaf of minced meat, egg and breadcrumb baked until the crust browns deeply — German home cooking's meatloaf, whose name literally means "fake hare."

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Frikadellen

Flattened patties of ground pork and beef bound with soaked bread roll and egg, pan-fried until deeply browned — Germany's everyday meat patty, eaten hot or cold.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Grünkohl mit Pinkel

Kale slow-cooked down with bacon fat until dark and soft, served with Pinkel, a coarse smoked-groat sausage — Northern Germany's winter dish, distinct from the apple-and-potato mash of Himmel und Erde.

No typical allergens

Handkäse mit Musik

A small round of tangy, low-fat sour-milk cheese marinated in vinegar, oil, onion and caraway — Hesse's pub snack, whose name literally means "hand cheese with music."

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Himmel und Erde

Mashed potato folded together with stewed apple and topped with fried blood sausage and onions — a Rhineland dish whose name means "heaven and earth."

No typical allergens

Kartoffelpuffer

Grated potato bound with egg and a little flour, pan-fried until the edges turn lacy and dark — Germany's everyday potato pancake, always served with something sweet or sour.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Kartoffelsalat

German potato salad — creamy with mayonnaise in the north, dressed with warm broth and vinegar in the south. The country is genuinely split.

• Vegetarian option
• Vegan option

Contains: Egg · Mustard

Käsespätzle

Soft German egg noodles layered with melted cheese and topped with crispy fried onions — a Swabian comfort-food classic, and vegetarian.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Kasseler

Lightly cured and smoked pork loin, roasted and sliced thick over sauerkraut and mustard sauce — a German classic named after a butcher, not the city most guests assume.

No typical allergens

Kohlrouladen

Whole cabbage leaves wrapped around minced meat and rice, braised slowly in a savoury broth — Germany's version of a stuffed-cabbage tradition shared with much of Central and Eastern Europe.

No typical allergens

Königsberger Klopse

Veal-and-pork meatballs simmered gently in broth, served in a pale caper-and-cream sauce — a German classic named for a city that no longer bears its name.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Leberkäse

A dense loaf of finely ground pork, beef and back fat baked until the crust browns, sliced thick and pan-fried to order — Bavaria's butcher-counter classic, despite the misleading name.

No typical allergens

Maultaschen

Large Swabian pasta pockets filled with minced meat, spinach and herbs — served in broth, pan-fried, or sliced with browned onions.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Milchreis

Rice simmered slowly in milk and sugar until soft and just barely thickened — Germany's everyday rice pudding, eaten warm with fruit or cinnamon sugar rather than chilled.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Obatzda

Ripe Camembert mashed with butter, paprika and onion into a spreadable orange dip — Bavaria's beer garden staple, built to use up cheese that's gone a little too soft.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Pichelsteiner

A layered stew of three meats and whatever root vegetables are on hand, simmered together without any single dominant flavour — Bavaria's use-it-up dish, built to stretch a small amount of meat a long way.

No typical allergens

Rote Grütze

Mixed red berries simmered with sugar and lightly thickened with starch until they just barely hold together — Northern Germany's summer pudding, named for its colour rather than any single fruit.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Rouladen

Thin slices of beef rolled around bacon, onion and a pickle, browned and braised in a dark gravy — a Sunday classic that turns a cheap cut into something worth carving.

Contains: Mustard · Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites

Sauerbraten

Germany's Sunday pot roast — beef marinated for days in vinegar and wine, then braised slowly into a sweet-sour sauce, with dumplings and red cabbage.

Contains: Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites

Schupfnudeln

Potato dough rolled and tapered by hand into short, spindle- shaped noodles, boiled then pan-fried until golden — a South German side that shows up savoury with sauerkraut or sweet with cinnamon sugar.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte

Black Forest gateau — chocolate sponge, whipped cream and sour cherries, soaked with Kirschwasser and finished in chocolate shavings.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Schweinshaxe

A whole pork knuckle roasted until the skin turns dark and crackling and the meat falls off the bone — Bavaria's beer hall centrepiece, built for sharing.

No typical allergens

Senfeier

Hard-boiled eggs halved and bathed in a sharp mustard-cream sauce — Berlin's home-cooking staple, built to turn a few eggs into a full plate.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose) · Mustard

Spargel mit Hollandaise

Thick white asparagus spears boiled just tender and draped in warm, buttery hollandaise — Germany's spring obsession, with its own dedicated season most menus build entirely around.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Stollen

A dense, buttery fruit bread wrapped around a hidden core of marzipan and dusted heavily in icing sugar — Germany's Christmas loaf, meant to be sliced thin over several weeks.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose) · Tree nuts

Weißwurst

A pale veal-and-pork sausage poached gently in water and never browned, peeled from its casing at the table and dipped in sweet mustard — Bavaria's breakfast sausage, eaten before noon.

No typical allergens

Zwiebelkuchen

A savoury tart of softened onion set in an egg-and-cream custard over a yeast or shortcrust base — Germany's onion cake, eaten alongside the season's cloudy young wine.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Baklava

Dozens of paper-thin pastry layers with ground pistachio or walnut, baked in butter and soaked in sugar syrup while still hot.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose) · Tree nuts

Börek

Layers of thin yufka pastry around cheese, meat or spinach — baked or fried, sold by the slice in Turkish börekçi shops from early morning.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Çerkez Tavuğu

Shredded poached chicken bound in a walnut-and-bread sauce and drizzled with red paprika oil — a Circassian dish absorbed so thoroughly into Turkish tables it's now a standard meze.

Contains: Tree nuts

Çılbır

Poached eggs set over garlicky yoghurt and finished with a sizzle of paprika butter — an Ottoman breakfast dish that's quietly taken over brunch menus far beyond Turkey.

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Döner Kebab

Seasoned meat stacked on a vertical rotisserie and shaved off in thin slices, served in flatbread, a wrap or on a plate with salad and sauce.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Gözleme

Thin hand-rolled dough folded around a filling and cooked flat on a griddle until it blisters — Turkey's fast street-food flatbread, eaten hot, straight off the sac.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Hünkarbeğendi

Braised lamb stew spooned over a smoky, cheese-enriched eggplant purée — the Ottoman palace dish known as "the sultan's delight."

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

İmam Bayıldı

Whole eggplants split and braised in olive oil with onion, tomato and garlic, served cold — the Ottoman dish whose name means "the imam fainted."

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

İşkembe Çorbası

Tripe simmered for hours into a thick, pale, garlicky soup — a late-night Turkish standby, traditionally eaten to settle the stomach after drinking.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

İskender Kebap

Döner meat laid over cubed flatbread with hot tomato sauce, melted butter poured at the table, and a spoonful of yoghurt on the side.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Karnıyarık

A whole fried aubergine split down the middle and packed with a minced-meat filling, baked until it browns — served hot, unlike its meatless, cold-served relative imam bayıldı.

No typical allergens

Kısır

Fine bulgur bound with tomato paste, pepper paste and pomegranate molasses into a deep red salad — Gaziantep's sharper, spicier answer to tabbouleh.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Kokoreç

Seasoned lamb intestines wound around a spit, grilled and chopped fine, then stuffed into a crusty roll — Istanbul's late-night street food, not for the squeamish.

No typical allergens

Künefe

Shredded pastry baked around melted cheese, soaked in sugar syrup while still hot — Turkey's dessert built on the contrast between a crisp shell and a stretchy, salty-sweet centre.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Kuru Fasulye

White beans slow-simmered in a tomato-and-onion sauce with a little meat for richness — often called Turkey's national dish, usually served with rice and pickled vegetables.

No typical allergens

Lahmacun

A very thin, crisp flatbread baked with a spiced minced-meat topping — often called "Turkish pizza", though it has no cheese and is meant to be rolled, not sliced.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Mantı

Tiny Turkish dumplings of spiced minced meat, boiled and served under garlic yoghurt with butter infused with red pepper and dried mint.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Menemen

The Turkish breakfast of eggs folded softly into tomatoes and green peppers, cooked and served in the same pan, eaten with bread.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg

Mercimek Çorbası

Red lentils simmered with onion and carrot until smooth, finished with a sizzle of butter and dried mint — Turkey's everyday soup, on every lokanta menu.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Mercimek Köftesi

Red lentils and fine bulgur worked with sautéed onion and tomato paste into small, hand-shaped patties, eaten raw in a lettuce leaf — a Turkish mezze that needs no stove at the end.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Midye Dolma

Mussels stuffed with spiced rice, closed back around it and steamed in their own shells — Istanbul's street food, eaten standing up with a squeeze of lemon.

Contains: Molluscs

Mıhlama

Cornmeal stirred into melted butter and cheese until it forms long, stretching strings — a Black Sea specialty served straight from the pot it's cooked in, eaten while the cheese is still pulling.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Pide

A boat-shaped Turkish flatbread with the edges folded up around a filling — cheese, minced meat, sucuk or egg — and baked in a stone oven.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Şakşuka

Fried aubergine, courgette and pepper tossed in a tomato-garlic sauce and topped with yoghurt, served at room temperature — not to be confused with menemen's hot, egg-based pan.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Şiş Kebap

Cubes of marinated meat threaded onto a skewer and grilled over charcoal — the cubed-meat kebab, genuinely different from Adana's hand-minced version despite both being called kebab.

No typical allergens

Sütlaç

Rice pudding baked until the top browns into a caramelized shell — Turkey's version of a rice-milk dessert found across many cuisines, the oven-browned top its own defining touch.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Tavuk Göğsü

Shredded chicken breast cooked into a sweet milk pudding until it disappears into the texture entirely — an Ottoman dessert built on the idea that the chicken should never be tasted.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Backhendl

A young chicken cut into pieces, breaded and deep-fried until deep gold, served with a wedge of lemon and parsley — Vienna's fried chicken, older than the American kind.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Beuschel

Finely sliced lung and heart simmered into a tangy, caper-and-cream sauce — Vienna's classic offal ragout, the kind of dish that never wastes what a proper roast leaves behind.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Bosna

A grilled sausage in a split roll, topped with curry powder, mustard and chopped onion — Austrian street food named after Bosnia despite being invented in Austria, not imported from it.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Mustard

Buchteln

Sweet yeast buns filled with apricot jam, baked packed tightly in a buttered dish and dusted with icing sugar — Austria's soft, pull-apart bun.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Erdäpfelsalat

Thin-sliced potato marinated warm in a vinegar-and-broth dressing rather than mayonnaise — Austria's potato salad, sharp rather than creamy.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Mustard

Frittatensuppe

Clear beef broth with thin ribbons of savoury pancake floating through it — Austria's everyday starter soup, built from almost nothing.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Grammelknödel

A large dumpling studded through with crisp pork cracklings, boiled and often pan-fried after, savoury in a way most Austrian dumplings aren't — since most of that family lean sweet.

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Kaiserschmarrn

A thick pancake torn into fluffy shreds in the pan, dusted with icing sugar and served with stewed fruit — Austria's dessert built for sharing, straight from the skillet.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Kasnocken

Soft spätzle dumplings tossed in a hot pan with melted mountain cheese and topped with crisp fried onions — Tyrol's cheese spätzle.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Kaspressknödel

Bread dumplings packed with melting mountain cheese, pressed flat and pan-fried until the crust turns crisp, usually served floating in broth — Tyrol's fried cheese dumpling, a different format from the pan-tossed spätzle of Kasnocken.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Krautfleckerl

Small square pasta tossed with cabbage caramelized dark and sweet in butter — Austria's humble pasta-and-cabbage dish, built from almost nothing but turning genuinely rich through slow caramelization.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Linzer Torte

A short, spiced pastry of ground hazelnuts and butter filled with redcurrant jam and finished with a lattice top — often called the oldest cake known by name.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose) · Tree nuts

Marillenknödel

A whole apricot wrapped in potato dough, boiled, then rolled in butter-toasted breadcrumbs and sugar — Austria's fruit dumpling, a whole season in one bite.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Mozartkugel

A round praline of pistachio marzipan and nougat cream dipped in dark chocolate — Salzburg's confection, named for the city's most famous composer.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose) · Tree nuts

Palatschinken

Thin, tender crepes rolled around apricot jam and dusted with icing sugar — Austria's crepe, part of a thin-pancake tradition found across much of Central Europe under different names.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Powidltascherl

Small potato-dough pockets folded around a dense, unsweetened plum butter, boiled or fried and rolled in poppy seeds and sugar — Austria's plum pocket, a different fruit dumpling from the whole apricot inside Marillenknödel.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Sachertorte

A dense chocolate sponge split and coated with apricot jam, sealed under a dark chocolate glaze — Vienna's most argued-about cake.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Salzburger Nockerl

Whipped egg-white batter mounded into three soft peaks and baked until golden outside and barely set within — Salzburg's soufflé dessert, shaped to echo the city's own hills.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Schnitzel

A thin cutlet of meat, breaded and pan-fried until golden and crisp — pork in most German kitchens; veal for the Austrian Wiener Schnitzel.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Semmelknödel

Stale bread rolls bound with egg and milk into a large, dense dumpling, boiled and sliced — Austria's savoury bread dumpling, a very different use of old bread from the sweet fruit dumplings on the same menu.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Tafelspitz

Prime beef simmered slowly in broth with root vegetables, served in two courses with apple-horseradish and chive sauce — Vienna's great boiled beef.

Contains: Celery

Tiroler Gröstl

Boiled potato and leftover roast beef fried hard in a pan with onion until it catches at the edges, topped with a fried egg — Tyrol's farmhouse hash.

Contains: Egg

Topfenstrudel

Paper-thin strudel dough rolled around a sweetened quark filling studded with raisins, baked until golden — apfelstrudel's cheese-filled cousin.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Vanillekipferl

Crescent-shaped shortbread of ground almonds, butter and vanilla, baked pale and rolled warm in vanilla sugar — Austria's classic Christmas cookie.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose) · Tree nuts

Wiener Saftgulasch

Beef cubes braised for hours with a mountain of onion until the sauce turns dark and glossy, no other vegetables added — Vienna's goulash, a smoother, meat-and-onion-only relative of its Hungarian namesake.

No typical allergens

Char Siu

Pork shoulder marinated in honey, soy and hoisin, then roasted until the edges char and the glaze turns sticky — Cantonese barbecue at its most iconic.

Contains: Soybeans

Chow Mein

Wheat egg noodles stir-fried over high heat with vegetables and usually chicken, pork or prawns — a Cantonese dish that became a fixture of Chinese restaurant menus worldwide.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Soybeans · Sesame Seeds

Congee

Rice simmered for hours in plenty of water until smooth and creamy — a plain bowl eaten across China for breakfast, when unwell, or topped with century egg and pork floss.

• Vegan option
• Vegetarian option

Contains: Egg

Dan Dan Noodles

Thin wheat noodles tossed through a fiery, numbing sauce of chilli oil and Sichuan pepper, topped with a little minced pork — Chengdu's street-vendor classic.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Soybeans · Sesame Seeds

Hong Kong Egg Tart

A small pastry shell filled with a wobbly, lightly sweetened egg custard and baked until just set — Hong Kong's teahouse tart, a dish with genuine Portuguese roots via Macau rather than a purely local invention.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Hongshao Rou

Pork belly cubes braised slowly in soy sauce, sugar and warm spices until the fat turns glassy and the sauce reduces to a dark, sticky glaze — red-braised pork, a foundational technique across Chinese home cooking.

Contains: Soybeans

Hot and Sour Soup

A tangy, peppery broth thickened just enough to carry tofu and silky ribbons of egg — Sichuan and Beijing's answer to a cold day.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg · Soybeans

Jiaozi

Boiled dumplings filled with minced pork and cabbage, folded by hand and dipped in vinegar and soy — the dumpling that built a thousand family gatherings.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Soybeans

Kung Pao Chicken

Diced chicken stir-fried in a scorching wok with roasted peanuts, dried chillies and a doubanjiang sauce that is sweet, sour, salty and numbing all at once — a Sichuan classic that travelled the world.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Peanuts · Soybeans

Liangpi

Cold, wide wheat-starch noodles tossed with chilli oil, vinegar and shredded vegetables — Shaanxi's cold noodle dish, served chilled rather than hot even in the depths of winter.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Mala Xiangguo

A build-your-own mix of meat and vegetables dry-fried together in a numbing, chilli-hot Sichuan pepper oil — a "dry pot" stir-fry, built around whatever the diner picks rather than a fixed recipe.

No typical allergens

Mapo Tofu

Soft tofu simmered in a red, oily sauce of fermented chilli bean paste and ground Sichuan pepper — a Chengdu dish that is numbing as well as hot, and is eaten with rice.

• Vegetarian option
• Vegan option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Soybeans

Mooncake

A dense, small pastry with a thin baked crust wrapped around a sweet filling — the centrepiece of the Mid-Autumn Festival, cut into wedges and shared.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Peking Duck

A whole duck, air-dried and roasted to a lacquered, crackling skin, carved and rolled with spring onion, cucumber and hoisin sauce in thin wheat pancakes — Beijing's signature dish, and one of China's best-known abroad.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Soybeans

Scallion Pancake

A flaky, laminated flatbread folded through with scallion and pan-fried until crisp outside and chewy within — street food built from almost nothing.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Sesame Seeds

Spring Rolls

Vegetables rolled tight in a thin wheat wrapper and deep-fried until the shell turns brittle and golden — the starter that opens a hundred Chinese menus.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Soybeans

Sweet and Sour Pork

Battered pork fried until crisp, then tossed in a glossy sauce balanced between sugar and vinegar — the dish that shaped how the West first tasted Chinese food.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Soybeans

Wonton Soup

Thin dumplings of pork and shrimp poached in a clear broth — the light, delicate cousin to a bowl of noodle soup.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Crustaceans · Soybeans

Xiaolongbao

Delicate steamed dumplings that hold a mouthful of hot broth inside a thin, pleated wrapper — Shanghai's most technically demanding dim sum classic.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Soybeans

Youtiao

A long strip of leavened dough twisted and deep-fried until hollow and crisp outside, soft within — the fried dough stick eaten with congee or soy milk, breakfast's crunch against the porridge's softness.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Zhajiangmian

Thick wheat noodles tossed with a fried, salty-sweet soybean-paste sauce and minced pork — Beijing's noodle dish, built on a completely different sauce base from dan dan noodles' sesame-and-chilli-oil mix.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Soybeans

Zongzi

Glutinous rice packed with a savoury or sweet filling, wrapped tightly in bamboo leaves and boiled for hours — the Dragon Boat Festival dumpling, eaten specifically to mark that one holiday.

No typical allergens

Bakso

Springy beef meatballs in a clear broth with noodles, tofu and boiled egg — a Chinese-Indonesian dish born from immigrant cooks that turned into one of the country's most-eaten street foods.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Soybeans

Chicken Satay

Chicken marinated in turmeric, garlic and kecap manis, threaded onto skewers and grilled over charcoal, served with a thick peanut sauce — sold from carts and warungs across Indonesia and its best-known dish abroad.

Contains: Peanuts · Soybeans

Es Teler

Shaved ice piled with avocado, young coconut, jackfruit and coconut milk, sweetened with condensed milk — an Indonesian iced dessert invented for a 1980s Jakarta cooking contest and now sold everywhere.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Gado-Gado

Blanched vegetables, boiled egg, tofu and tempeh arranged over rice cakes and drenched in a thick peanut sauce — Jakarta's own vegetable salad, invented in the Betawi kitchens of the capital.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg · Peanuts · Soybeans

Gudeg

Young jackfruit stewed for hours in coconut milk and palm sugar until it turns sweet and brown, served with rice, chicken and a hard-boiled egg — Yogyakarta's signature dish, so tied to the city it's nicknamed after it.

Contains: Egg

Klepon

Chewy glutinous rice balls filled with liquid palm sugar and rolled in grated coconut, designed to burst with syrup the moment they're bitten into — a small Javanese sweet built entirely around that one surprise.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Martabak

A thick, folded pancake stuffed with either a spiced minced-meat-and-egg filling or a sweet chocolate-and-cheese one — a dish Yemeni and Indian settlers in Indonesia are credited with introducing, then reshaped into two distinct national favourites.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Martabak Manis

A thick, yeasted batter cooked slow in a lidded pan until the surface turns honeycombed with holes, folded around melted butter, condensed milk and a filling of chocolate, crushed peanuts or grated cheese — the sweet pancake sold from night carts under a different name in nearly every Indonesian city.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Peanuts · Milk (including Lactose)

Nasi Goreng

Day-old rice stir-fried hard and fast with garlic, shallot, sambal and kecap manis, usually crowned with a fried egg — Indonesia's everyday dish and the one most guests abroad can already name.

• Vegetarian
• Vegan option

Contains: Egg · Soybeans

Pempek

Fish and tapioca starch pounded into a dense dough, shaped and boiled, then fried and served with a sharp, dark vinegar-and-palm-sugar sauce — Palembang's answer to a fish cake, built to be dunked, not dipped.

Contains: Egg · Fish

Pepes Ikan

A whole fish rubbed with ground turmeric, chile and candlenut, wrapped in banana leaf with lemongrass and tomato, and steamed until the parcel is fragrant enough to open at the table — West Java's way of cooking fish that seals the aroma in rather than letting it escape into a pan.

Contains: Fish

Rendang

Beef simmered for hours in coconut milk and a ground spice paste until the liquid cooks away and the meat is left coated in a thick, near-black paste — the Minangkabau dish from West Sumatra sometimes called the world's driest curry.

No typical allergens

Rujak

Sliced unripe fruit and raw vegetables tossed in a spicy, sweet-and-sour palm sugar and tamarind dressing — Indonesia's answer to a fruit salad, built to be sharp and pungent rather than sweet.

No typical allergens

Soto Ayam

A turmeric-yellow chicken broth with shredded chicken, glass noodles and boiled egg, finished with lime and fried shallot — the everyday soup found under a different name in nearly every Indonesian region.

Contains: Egg

Cholent

Beef, potato, barley and beans left to simmer overnight on a low flame from before sundown until lunchtime the next day — an Ashkenazi Sabbath stew built specifically to cook without anyone lighting a fire on the holy day itself.

No typical allergens

Chraime

Fish fillets simmered in a fiery, cumin-heavy tomato and chilli sauce — a North African Jewish dish, most closely tied to Libya and Tunisia, that Sephardic immigrants carried into Israel and made a fixture of the Friday table.

Contains: Fish

Israeli Couscous

Toasted wheat pasta pearls, larger and chewier than regular couscous, developed in Israel in the 1950s as a homegrown rice substitute during a period of food rationing.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Israeli Salad

Cucumber, tomato and onion cut down to a fine, even dice and dressed simply with lemon and olive oil — the salad that opens nearly every Israeli meal, from the breakfast table to the falafel stand.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Jerusalem Mixed Grill

Chicken thigh, heart, spleen and liver, cut small and pan-seared with onion and a dark spice blend — a Machane Yehuda market dish built from the cheapest cuts a butcher had left at closing time.

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Krembo

A whipped foam filling set on a small biscuit base and coated entirely in a thin chocolate shell — an Israeli winter treat invented in the early 20th century and sold only in the colder months.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Kubaneh

A rich, buttery yeasted bread baked overnight at a low temperature until it turns deep golden-brown — a Yemenite Jewish Sabbath bread, its slow bake designed around the same no-fire rule that shaped cholent.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Kubbeh Soup

Semolina dumplings stuffed with spiced minced beef, poached whole in a sour beetroot broth until the shell turns translucent — the Friday-night centerpiece Iraqi and Kurdish Jewish families brought to Israel.

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Malabi

A silky, chilled milk pudding thickened with cornstarch, scattered with chopped pistachios and drizzled with rose water syrup — a dessert with roots across the old Ottoman world that became a fixture of Israeli street food.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose) · Tree nuts

Malawach

A flaky, pan-fried Yemenite flatbread laminated in oil and cooked in stacked layers — the centerpiece of the Israeli Saturday-morning breakfast, eaten with grated tomato, hard-boiled egg and schug.

• Vegetarian
• Vegan option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Matbucha

Tomatoes and peppers cooked down for hours into a thick, jammy, garlicky relish — a Moroccan Jewish dish carried into Israel and now a standard part of the mezze table.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Pashtida

A savoury baked egg-and-vegetable pie, closer to a crustless quiche than a classic pastry, that grew into an Israeli home-cooking staple for the Shavuot holiday and everyday dairy meals alike.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Sabich

Pita stuffed with fried eggplant, hard-boiled egg, hummus, chopped salad and amba — a sandwich invented by Iraqi Jewish immigrants in Ramat Gan in the 1950s and now a fixture of Israeli street food.

• Vegetarian
• Vegan option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Mustard · Sesame Seeds

Sufganiyot

Deep-fried, jam-filled yeast doughnuts dusted with icing sugar — a treat that traces back to Ashkenazi European Jewish communities and has become Israel's own national Hanukkah dish.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Argentine Beef Empanadas

Hand-sized pastry turnovers filled with hand-chopped beef, onion, hard-boiled egg and a whole green olive, baked or fried until the crust is crisp.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Asado

Argentina's communal beef-and-offal barbecue, grilled slowly over wood coals on a parrilla and seasoned with little more than coarse salt.

No typical allergens

Bife de Chorizo

A thick-cut sirloin steak grilled slowly over wood coals and seasoned with little more than coarse salt — the classic cut ordered by name at any Argentine parrilla.

No typical allergens

Choripán

A grilled chorizo sausage split and pressed into crusty bread with chimichurri — the sandwich sold at every Argentine parrilla and football match.

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Locro

A thick stew of hominy, pumpkin, beans and mixed meats, simmered for hours until it turns almost porridge-thick — Argentina's official dish for its Independence Day celebrations.

No typical allergens

Matambre Arrollado

A thin sheet of flank steak rolled around hard-boiled egg, carrot and spinach, tied and poached or braised, then sliced into pinwheels — an Argentine dish built for the cold table.

Contains: Egg

Medialunas

Small, sweet, glazed crescent pastries eaten for breakfast with coffee — Argentina's own take on the croissant, smaller and sweeter than the French original it grew from.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Milanesa

A thin beef or veal cutlet coated in egg and breadcrumbs, fried until crisp — Argentina's most-eaten everyday dish, adapted from Italian immigrants' cotoletta into something entirely its own.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Milanesa a la Napolitana

A breaded beef cutlet pan-fried until the crust sets, then finished under the grill with tomato sauce, ham and melted cheese — invented in Buenos Aires in 1948 and now the default milanesa on half the city's menus.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Pastelitos

Small, diamond-shaped fried or baked pastries filled with quince or sweet potato paste and glazed with sugar syrup — Argentina's dish for its May and July Independence Day celebrations.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Provoleta

A thick disc of provolone cheese grilled directly on the parrilla until the outside chars and the inside turns molten — the starter that opens most Argentine asados.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Sorrentinos

Large, round stuffed pasta filled with ham, mozzarella and ricotta, served in a cream or tomato sauce — an Argentine pasta invented by Italian immigrants that doesn't exist under this name in Italy itself.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Vitel Toné

Thin-sliced cold veal draped in a creamy tuna-and-caper sauce — Argentina's essential Christmas and New Year's dish, adapted by Italian immigrants from vitello tonnato.

Contains: Egg · Fish

Carbonnade Flamande

Beef braised for hours in Belgian brown ale with onions and a slice of mustard-smeared bread stirred in to thicken it — Flanders' beer-built answer to the wine stews across the French border.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Mustard

Chicons au Gratin

Belgian endive braised until tender, wrapped in ham, covered in béchamel and cheese and baked until it browns — built around a vegetable Belgian growers invented by accident.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Croquettes de Crevettes Grises

A thick béchamel studded with tiny North Sea grey shrimp, breaded and fried until the shell shatters around a molten centre — the coastal Belgian version of a dish found in many cuisines.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Crustaceans · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Dame Blanche

Scoops of vanilla ice cream topped with whipped cream and drenched in hot melted dark chocolate at the table — Belgium's own invention, built to prove its chocolate deserved centre stage.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Filet Américain

Raw minced beef mixed with mayonnaise, mustard, onion and capers — a Belgian invention whose name has nothing to do with America, despite what visitors always assume.

Contains: Egg · Mustard

Frites

Potatoes cut thick, fried twice in beef fat or oil until the outside shatters and the inside stays fluffy — the fries Belgium claims to have invented, sold from a frietkot on nearly every corner.

• Vegetarian option

No typical allergens

Gaufre de Liège

A small, dense waffle of rich yeasted dough studded with pearl sugar, baked in a hot iron until the sugar caramelizes into a crackling amber crust — Wallonia's street-cart classic, eaten plain and warm, no fork required.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Moules-Frites

Mussels steamed in white wine, butter, celery and onion, served with a cone of double-fried chips and a bowl of mayonnaise — the meal every Belgian city has built at least one restaurant around.

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose) · Celery · Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites · Molluscs

Speculoos

A thin, deeply spiced brown-sugar biscuit, pressed with a decorative pattern before baking until it snaps crisp — a Low Countries tradition that Belgium made into a global export.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Stoemp

Mashed potato worked together with a vegetable — carrot, leek or cabbage — until the two mash into one dense side dish, usually served under a sausage.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Vol-au-Vent

A puffed pastry case filled with chicken and mushrooms bound in a light cream sauce, sharpened with lemon and a swirl of egg yolk — the Friday lunch of Belgian brasseries from Antwerp to Liège, always plated with fries.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Vol-au-Vent à la Bruxelloise

A puff pastry shell filled with chicken, meatballs and mushrooms in a creamy sauce — France gave Belgium the pastry, and Brussels turned it into a substantial national comfort dish of its own.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Waterzooi

Chicken or fish simmered with carrot, leek and cream into a pale, silky stew — Ghent's signature dish, thick enough to eat with a spoon and fork together.

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Ash-e Reshteh

A thick noodle soup of herbs, kidney beans and chickpeas, finished with a drizzle of kashk and fried mint — the dish Iranians eat for the Persian New Year to wish for long, tangled threads of good fortune.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Baghali Polo

Basmati rice steamed with dill and fava beans until the whole pot turns fragrant and speckled green, traditionally served alongside braised lamb shank.

• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Faloodeh

Frozen, thin rice-starch noodles in a tart rose water and lime syrup — a Persian iced dessert with roots stretching back centuries, among the oldest frozen desserts still eaten today.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Fesenjan

Chicken braised for hours in a thick sauce of ground walnuts and tart pomegranate molasses until it turns deep brick-brown — the khoresh built around the sweet-tart balance of pomegranate season, ladled over rice for Yalda and winter gatherings.

Contains: Tree nuts

Ghormeh Sabzi

A dark green herb stew of parsley, coriander and fenugreek simmered for hours with kidney beans, dried lime and lamb — the dish most Iranians name first when asked for their national favourite.

No typical allergens

Joojeh Kabab

Chicken marinated in saffron, yogurt and lemon, threaded onto skewers and grilled until charred at the edges — the bright, tangy counterpart to the grill house's ground-lamb koobideh.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Kabab Koobideh

Ground lamb worked with grated onion and salt, pressed onto flat skewers and grilled over charcoal until charred outside and juicy within — the everyday kebab that anchors every Persian grill house, always served with steamed rice and a whole grilled tomato.

No typical allergens

Kashk-e Bademjan

Fried eggplant mashed with garlic and walnuts, finished with a drizzle of tangy kashk and crisp fried mint — a Persian starter built on the same fried-and-mashed eggplant idea found across the region, given its own distinct sour, nutty character.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose) · Tree nuts

Kuku Sabzi

A thick baked herb frittata, packed so densely with parsley, dill and chives that the egg is almost a binder rather than the main event — a Persian New Year staple that also turns up on tables year-round.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg · Tree nuts

Sholeh Zard

Rice cooked down slowly with sugar, saffron and rose water into a smooth, bright yellow pudding, traditionally made in large batches to give away rather than kept for the household alone.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Tree nuts

Tahchin

Saffron rice layered with chicken and a yogurt-egg binding, baked in a mould until it turns out as one solid golden cake with a crisp crust — Persian rice technique built into a single sliceable dish.

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Tahdig

The crisp, golden crust that forms at the bottom of the rice pot, saved and served as its own course — the piece of every Persian rice dish people compete over first.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Zereshk Polo ba Morgh

Saffron basmati rice steamed until the base sets into a crisp golden crust, studded with tart dried barberries and served with a piece of saffron-braised chicken — the dish that puts Persian rice technique on full display.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Bobó de Camarão

Shrimp simmered into a creamy purée of cassava root, coconut milk and dendê oil — Bahia's other great shrimp dish, thicker and starchier than its cousin vatapá.

Contains: Crustaceans

Brigadeiro

Condensed milk, butter and cocoa powder cooked down into a thick fudge, rolled into balls and coated in chocolate sprinkles — the sweet at the centre of every Brazilian birthday party.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Churrasco

A rotating parade of skewered cuts grilled over open flame and carved tableside, one after another, at a churrascaria — Brazil's whole-meal answer to barbecue.

No typical allergens

Coxinha

Shredded chicken and cream cheese wrapped in a dough shaped like a drumstick, breaded and fried until crisp — Brazil's most-ordered savoury snack.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Feijoada

Black beans simmered for hours with pork ribs, bacon and sausage, served with rice, collard greens, farofa and orange — Brazil's Saturday stew, most closely tied to Rio de Janeiro.

No typical allergens

Moqueca

A Bahian fish stew simmered in coconut milk, dendê palm oil, tomatoes and peppers, served bubbling in the clay pot it's cooked in — the dish that carries Bahia's Afro-Brazilian cooking to the rest of the country.

Contains: Fish

Pão de Queijo

Small, chewy cheese rolls made from tapioca starch instead of wheat, baked until the outside crisps and the inside pulls into stretchy strings — Minas Gerais' everyday bread, naturally gluten-free.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Pastel

A thin, blistered pastry pocket deep-fried until it puffs and crackles, filled with minced beef or cheese — a São Paulo street food born from Chinese immigrant cooks and Portuguese pastry tradition meeting in one fryer.

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Picanha

Beef rump cap seasoned with nothing but coarse salt and grilled slowly over charcoal until the fat cap turns crisp — the cut a Brazilian churrascaria builds its whole menu around, carved tableside straight off the skewer.

No typical allergens

Quindim

Egg yolk, sugar and grated coconut baked into a small, glossy yellow custard that unmolds shiny as glass — a Portuguese colonial technique that became one of Brazil's most distinctive desserts.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg

Tapioca

Tapioca starch dry-fried into a thin, rubbery crepe and folded around a filling — Brazil's Northeast breakfast staple, gluten-free by nature.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Vatapá

Bread, shrimp, coconut milk, cashews and dendê oil blended into a thick, bright orange paste — one of Bahia's foundational Afro-Brazilian dishes, eaten on its own or as acarajé's filling.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Crustaceans · Tree nuts

Fasolada

White beans simmered slowly with tomato, carrot, celery and olive oil until the broth turns thick and the beans hold their shape — the everyday bean soup Greeks half-jokingly call their national dish.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Galaktoboureko

A thick semolina custard baked inside layers of buttered phyllo until the top turns deep golden, then soaked through with a cold sugar syrup the moment it leaves the oven — Greece's custard-and-pastry dessert.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Greek Salad

Tomato, cucumber, green pepper and red onion tossed in olive oil and topped with a slab of feta and black olives — the villagers' salad, no lettuce in sight.

• Vegetarian
• Vegan option

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Gyros

Shaved rotisserie pork stacked into warm pita with tomato, onion and a spoon of tzatziki, often with fries tucked inside the wrap itself — Greece's everyday grilled sandwich, sliced straight off a vertical spit.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Loukoumades

Small balls of yeasted dough deep-fried until they puff round and golden, then drenched in warm honey syrup and dusted with cinnamon — Greece's honey doughnuts, sold hot from fairground and market stalls.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Moussaka

Layers of fried aubergine, potato and spiced minced lamb baked under a golden bechamel crust — Greece's great baked casserole, better the day after it's made.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Pastitsio

Tube pasta layered with cinnamon-spiced minced beef in tomato sauce and baked under a thick bechamel crust until it sets firm enough to cut into clean squares — Greece's baked pasta casserole.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Saganaki

A thick slab of firm cheese dusted in flour and fried in a small pan until the outside turns crisp and golden while the centre stays soft, finished with a squeeze of lemon — Greece's fried-cheese starter.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Souvlaki

Cubes of marinated pork skewered and grilled hard over charcoal, served with pita, a squeeze of lemon and a spoon of tzatziki — Greece's everyday grilled meat.

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Spanakopita

Spinach and feta wrapped in layers of crisp phyllo and baked until golden — Greece's savoury pie, sliced into wedges or twisted into hand-sized triangles.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Stuffed Mushrooms

Mushroom caps filled with feta, garlic and herbs and baked until the top colours — a Greek meze plate eaten warm with lemon and bread.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Tzatziki

Strained yogurt beaten with grated cucumber, garlic, dill and olive oil — Greece's cooling sauce, spooned over grilled meat or scooped up with bread.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Chawanmushi

A savoury egg custard steamed in its own cup with dashi, mushroom and shrimp suspended inside — Japan's quietest starter, eaten with a spoon.

Contains: Egg · Fish

Gyoza

Thin-skinned dumplings of pork and cabbage, fried on one side and steamed on the other — crisp base, soft top, served with vinegar and soy.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Soybeans

Katsu Curry

A breaded, deep-fried pork or chicken cutlet, sliced and served over rice under a mild, thick Japanese curry sauce — Japan's most popular way to eat curry.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Miso Soup

Fermented soybean paste dissolved into hot dashi with tofu and seaweed — the small bowl that accompanies almost every set meal in Japan without ever being the meal itself.

• Vegan option
• Vegetarian option

Contains: Fish · Soybeans

Okonomiyaki

A savoury cabbage pancake griddled in a wheat-and-egg batter, finished with a sweet-savoury sauce, mayonnaise and bonito flakes — Osaka's answer to "anything goes."

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Fish · Soybeans

Onigiri

A hand-pressed triangle or ball of seasoned rice wrapped in a strip of nori, built around a small savoury filling — Japan's everyday portable rice snack.

• Vegetarian option
• Vegan option

Contains: Egg · Fish

Ramen

Wheat noodles in a long-simmered broth, with pork, egg and seaweed on top — a Japanese bowl defined by its stock and its tare, not its toppings.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Soybeans

Sushi

Vinegared rice hand-pressed into a small oblong and topped with a slice of raw fish, a dab of wasabi tucked between the two — Japan's nigirizushi, built entirely on the contrast between warm rice and cold fish.

Contains: Fish

Takoyaki

Ball-shaped batter fritters filled with diced octopus, cooked in a special molded pan until crisp outside and molten inside — Osaka's iconic street snack.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Fish · Soybeans

Tempura

Vegetables and seafood dipped in a light, cold batter and deep-fried until pale and crisp — Japan's lightest fried food, judged on the batter's crunch, not its colour.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Crustaceans · Egg

Tofu Katsu

A slab of firm tofu breaded in panko and deep-fried until crisp — the vegetarian version of tonkatsu, served with rice, shredded cabbage and a dark sauce.

• Vegetarian
• Vegan option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Soybeans

Udon

Thick, soft wheat noodles in a dashi broth seasoned with soy sauce and mirin — a Japanese bowl judged on the chew of the noodle, not on what sits on top.

• Vegan option
• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Fish · Soybeans

Fattoush

A Levantine salad of chopped vegetables and toasted pita, tossed in a sumac-sharp lemon dressing — the salad built around using up yesterday's bread.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Ful Medames

Fava beans simmered until they soften into a coarse mash, dressed with olive oil, lemon and garlic and eaten with flatbread — Lebanon's everyday breakfast stew, one of the oldest dishes still eaten in the region.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Hummus

Chickpeas blended smooth with tahini, lemon and garlic, spread in a shallow bowl with a well of olive oil — eaten warm, with flatbread.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Sesame Seeds

Kafta bil Saniyeh

Spiced minced lamb patties baked in a tray with potato and tomato until everything browns together — a Lebanese home dinner built entirely around one dish going into the oven.

No typical allergens

Kibbeh

Levantine torpedoes of bulgur and finely ground meat, stuffed with spiced mince and pine nuts and deep-fried — Lebanon and Syria's signature dish.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Maamoul

Semolina shortbread pressed by hand around a date or walnut filling, shaped in a carved wooden mould that stamps a pattern into the top before baking — Lebanon's Eid and Easter cookie, made in batches for visiting family.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Manakish

Flatbread dough topped with za'atar and olive oil, or with cheese or ground meat, then baked hot and fast — Lebanon's everyday breakfast bread.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Sesame Seeds

Mujaddara

Lentils and rice simmered together until soft, topped with a deep pile of caramelized onions — a Levantine dish old enough to appear in the Bible.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Sfiha

Small rounds of dough topped with spiced minced lamb, tomato and pomegranate molasses and baked open-faced — Lebanon's bakery-counter answer to a meat pie.

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Shawarma

Marinated chicken stacked on a vertical spit and shaved into thin strips, wrapped in flatbread with garlic sauce, pickles and tomato — Lebanon's everyday spit-roasted sandwich, sold from stalls at any hour.

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Tabbouleh

A Levantine herb salad — overwhelmingly parsley, with a little fine bulgur, tomato and mint, dressed in lemon juice and olive oil.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Warak Enab

Grape leaves rolled tight around rice, tomato and herbs, simmered until tender and served with a squeeze of lemon — a Levantine mezze staple, one leaf at a time.

• Vegan option
• Vegetarian option

No typical allergens

Chilaquiles

Fried tortilla chips simmered briefly in red or green salsa until softened at the edges but still crisp in the centre, topped with crema, cheese and often a fried egg — Mexico's breakfast answer to yesterday's stale tortillas.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Chile en Nogada

A roasted poblano pepper stuffed with a sweet-savoury beef and pork picadillo, draped in a fresh walnut cream sauce and finished with a scatter of pomegranate seeds — Puebla's patriotic dish, coloured green, white and red.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose) · Tree nuts

Chiles Rellenos

Roasted poblano peppers stuffed with melting cheese, dipped in whipped egg batter and fried until puffed, then served in a light tomato sauce — Puebla's stuffed-pepper classic.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Cochinita Pibil

Pork marinated in achiote paste and sour orange, wrapped in banana leaf and slow-roasted until it shreds apart on its own — the Yucatán's pit-roasted pork, its deep red-orange colour coming entirely from the achiote.

No typical allergens

Enchiladas

Corn tortillas rolled around a filling, baked under red or green chile sauce and melted cheese — Mexico's everyday way to use up last night's meat.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Esquites

Corn kernels boiled in their own cooking liquid, then tossed with mayonnaise, cheese, lime and chile and served warm in a cup — Mexico's off-the-cob version of grilled street corn, eaten with a spoon rather than by hand.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Guacamole

Ripe avocado crushed with lime, onion, coriander and chilli — a Mexican table sauce older than the country, and naturally vegan.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Mole Poblano

Chicken simmered in a dark sauce of dried chiles, chocolate and ground spices — Puebla's signature mole, said to have been invented by accident in a convent kitchen.

Contains: Peanuts · Sesame Seeds

Pozole

A hominy and pork stew simmered until the corn blooms open, topped at the table with shredded cabbage, radish, lime and chile — Mexico's festival soup.

No typical allergens

Tacos al Pastor

Marinated pork shaved from a vertical spit into corn tortillas, with pineapple, onion and coriander — Lebanese technique, Mexican seasoning.

No typical allergens

Tamales

Corn masa steamed in a corn husk around a savoury or sweet filling — Mexico's portable, wrapped answer to what to do with dough and no oven.

• Vegetarian option
• Vegan option

No typical allergens

Tres Leches Cake

A light sponge cake soaked through with a mixture of three milks until it turns soft and custardy, finished with a layer of whipped cream — Mexico's milk-soaked birthday cake, eaten cold with a spoon rather than sliced dry.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Chebakia

Sesame-and-spice dough shaped into a flower-like knot, deep-fried and soaked in warm honey — the sweet Moroccan households make in large batches specifically for breaking the Ramadan fast.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Sesame Seeds

Chicken Tagine

Chicken braised low and slow in a conical clay pot with preserved lemon, green olives, ginger and saffron — the dish that defines Moroccan tagine cookery for most people outside Morocco, and a fixture of Friday tables in Fez.

No typical allergens

Couscous

Fine semolina grain steamed fluffy in a couscoussier set above a simmering stew of lamb and seven vegetables, the two combined on one large shared platter — Morocco's Friday family meal, and the dish outsiders use as shorthand for the whole cuisine.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Harcha

A dense, golden semolina griddle bread with a distinctive gritty crust, split open and buttered while still warm — a simple Moroccan breakfast staple with almost no rise time needed.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Harira

A tomato soup thick with lentils, chickpeas and shredded lamb, finished with a flour-and-water paste that gives it body — the soup that breaks the day's fast at iftar across Morocco during Ramadan, though it's eaten year-round too.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Celery

Mechoui

A whole lamb, seasoned simply with cumin and salt, roasted slowly over an open pit or in a traditional underground oven until the meat falls off the bone — the centrepiece of Moroccan celebration feasts.

No typical allergens

Msemen

A square, layered flatbread folded from oiled dough and pan-fried until flaky and golden — Morocco's everyday breakfast bread, eaten plain with honey or as a base for savoury toppings.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Pastilla

Spiced chicken and almonds wrapped in paper-thin warqa pastry, baked until crisp and dusted with cinnamon and icing sugar — a Fez specialty that mixes savoury meat with sweet spice in the same bite.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Tree nuts

Rfissa

Shredded chicken and lentils in a fenugreek-heavy sauce, ladled over torn, crisped msemen or shredded warqa — traditionally the dish made for a new mother in the days after childbirth.

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Sellou

Toasted flour, sesame and almonds ground together with sugar and spices into a rich, no-cook confection — a high-energy sweet Moroccan households prepare specifically for the physical demands of Ramadan.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Tree nuts · Sesame Seeds

Tanjia

Beef or lamb sealed in a clay urn with preserved lemon, garlic and spices, buried in the hot ash of a bathhouse furnace to cook for hours — Marrakech's own dish, born from working men with no kitchen of their own.

No typical allergens

Zaalouk

Eggplant and tomato cooked down together with garlic and cumin into a soft, chunky relish — a staple of the Moroccan mezze table, served warm rather than chilled.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Erwtensoep

Split peas simmered for hours with smoked sausage and vegetables until the soup turns thick enough to stand a spoon in — Dutch winter's defining dish, traditionally judged by exactly that test.

Contains: Celery

Haring

Raw herring fillets, lightly brined and matured until silky, served chilled with chopped onion and pickles — the Dutch street food eaten by the tail, straight from a fish stall.

Contains: Fish

Hutspot

Potato, carrot and onion mashed together into a simple, sweet-savoury dish — the meal Dutch tradition says the starving city of Leiden found abandoned in the enemy camp the night the 1574 siege broke.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Kibbeling

Bite-sized chunks of white fish, battered and deep-fried until crisp, served with a garlic or tartare-style sauce for dipping — the Dutch fish stall snack, originally made from cod cheeks.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Fish

Kroket

A thick beef ragout set firm, breaded and deep-fried into a cylinder with a shattering crust — the Dutch croquette, most often eaten as broodje kroket, tucked whole into a bread roll with mustard.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose) · Mustard

Oliebollen

Yeasted dough studded with raisins, deep-fried into rough, golden orbs and dusted heavily with icing sugar — the treat sold from street stalls across the Netherlands specifically for New Year's Eve.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Pannenkoeken

Large, thin batter cakes fried whole in a single pan, big enough to fill the plate and often loaded with bacon, cheese or apple baked right into the batter — the Dutch pancake, treated as a full meal.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Poffertjes

Small, fluffy mini pancakes cooked in a special dimpled pan, flipped with two forks and piled high with butter and icing sugar — a Dutch fairground and market treat, made from a batter lighter than regular pancakes.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Stamppot

Mashed potato worked together with kale until the two turn into one dense, everyday side, served with a smoked sausage sitting on top — the mash the Netherlands eats through the whole winter.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Stroopwafel

Two paper-thin waffles pressed from a yeasted dough, split while hot and sandwiched around a chewy caramel-syrup filling — Gouda's market treat, best eaten warm off a hot coffee cup.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Vla

A pourable, chilled milk custard sold in cartons and eaten straight from a bowl with a spoon — the Netherlands' own everyday dessert pudding, thinner than most custards found elsewhere.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Zeeuwse Bolus

A sticky, cinnamon-and-brown-sugar sweet roll twisted into a spiral and baked until the outside caramelizes dark — a Zeeland specialty best eaten while it's still warm and pulling apart in soft, sticky layers.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Arroz de Marisco

Rice simmered loose and soupy in a tomato-and-shellfish stock, packed with shrimp, mussels and clams — Portugal's answer to a seafood risotto, wetter than any risotto would allow.

Contains: Crustaceans · Molluscs

Bacalhau à Brás

Shredded salt cod pan-fried with straw potatoes and bound in soft scrambled egg, finished with black olives and parsley — one of Portugal's most-cooked bacalhau dishes.

Contains: Egg · Fish

Bacalhau à Gomes de Sá

Shredded salt cod baked with layers of thin-sliced potato and onion, finished with hard-boiled egg and black olives — a Porto classic named for the man who invented it.

Contains: Egg · Fish

Bifana

Thin pork steaks simmered in garlic, white wine and bay leaf, piled into a crusty roll and soaked with the pan juices — Portugal's most popular sandwich.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites

Caldeirada

Layers of white fish simmered slowly with potato, tomato and onion in a shallow pot — a fisherman's stew built to cook everything in the catch at once.

Contains: Fish · Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites

Caldo Verde

Portugal's kale and potato soup — a bright-green broth thickened with mashed potato, shredded kale and a slice of chouriço, finished with olive oil.

• Vegan option
• Vegetarian option

No typical allergens

Cozido à Portuguesa

A boiled dinner of beef, pork, sausages and vegetables simmered together in one pot — the dish that turns Sunday lunch into a two-course event.

Contains: Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites

Francesinha

Bread layered with ham, steak and sausage, smothered in melted cheese and a hot tomato-beer sauce — Porto's monumental answer to the croque monsieur.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose) · Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites

Pastéis de Bacalhau

Shredded salt cod and mashed potato bound with egg, shaped by hand into small ovals and deep-fried until golden — one of Portugal's most familiar fried snacks.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Fish

Pastel de nata

A small custard tart in flaky, laminated pastry, baked hot enough to blister and darken on top — Portugal's best-known sweet and a fixture of every pastelaria counter.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Polvo à Lagareiro

Octopus boiled tender, then finished under the grill and drenched in olive oil with smashed potatoes — named for the olive-press worker whose lunch it once was.

Contains: Molluscs

Sardinhas Assadas

Whole fresh sardines grilled hard and fast over charcoal until the skin blisters and chars — Portugal's simplest, most seasonal dish, built around a fish good for only a few months a year.

Contains: Fish

Bulgogi

Thin-sliced beef marinated in soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and garlic, then grilled or pan-seared over high heat — Korea's best-known grilled dish, sweet, savoury and quick to cook.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Soybeans · Sesame Seeds

Doenjang-jjigae

Fermented soybean paste simmered into a savoury, earthy stew with tofu and vegetables — the everyday stew that anchors most Korean home meals.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Soybeans

Gimbap

Seasoned rice and vegetables rolled tight in dried seaweed and sliced into rounds — Korea's everyday packed lunch, sold whole or by the piece.

Contains: Egg · Sesame Seeds

Hotteok

A yeasted pancake pan-fried until the outside crisps, hiding a molten pool of brown sugar and cinnamon inside — Korea's answer to a winter street snack.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Japchae

Sweet potato starch noodles stir-fried with vegetables and beef in sesame oil and soy — a glossy, chewy side dish built for celebrations and buffet tables.

Contains: Soybeans · Sesame Seeds

Kimchi

Napa cabbage salted, seasoned with gochugaru, garlic and fish sauce, then fermented — Korea's defining side dish, eaten with almost every meal.

• Vegetarian option
• Vegan option

Contains: Fish

Kimchi Jjigae

Aged kimchi simmered into a rich, sour-spicy stew with pork and tofu — the dish Korean cooks reach for when the kimchi jar has gone properly sour.

Contains: Fish · Soybeans

Korean Fried Chicken

Chicken double-fried until the crust turns glass-crisp, then tossed in a sticky, sweet-spicy glaze — fried chicken reinvented for a sauce that has to survive the drive home.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Soybeans

Naengmyeon

Chewy buckwheat noodles served ice-cold in a tangy broth or a spicy sauce — the dish Koreans reach for when it's too hot to want anything warm.

Contains: Egg

Samgyeopsal

Thick-cut, unmarinated pork belly grilled at the table and wrapped in lettuce with garlic and sauce — Korean barbecue at its most sociable.

No typical allergens

Sundubu-jjigae

Uncurdled, silky soft tofu simmered in a fiery seafood or pork broth until it barely holds its shape — one of the gentlest textures in Korean cooking hiding inside one of its spiciest broths.

Contains: Crustaceans · Soybeans

Tteokbokki

Cylindrical rice cakes simmered in a thick, sweet-spicy gochujang sauce until glossy and chewy — Korea's most iconic street food.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Soybeans

Cocido Madrileño

Chickpeas simmered for hours with beef, chicken and chorizo until the broth turns golden, then served in three separate courses — Madrid's Sunday stew.

No typical allergens

Croquetas

Spain's béchamel croquettes — thick white sauce flavoured with jamón or cod, chilled, breadcrumbed and fried until crisp outside and molten within.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Fabada Asturiana

A hearty Asturian stew of large white beans with pork shoulder, chorizo and morcilla — Spain's answer to cassoulet, from its rainiest corner.

No typical allergens

Gazpacho

An Andalusian cold soup of raw tomatoes, cucumber, pepper, garlic, olive oil and sherry vinegar — blended, chilled and served through the summer.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Sulfur Dioxide and Sulfites

Jamón Ibérico

Cured leg of black Iberian pig, sliced paper-thin by hand and eaten at room temperature, the marbled fat melting as it sits on the tongue — Spain's most prized ham, some of it aged for years before it's ever sold.

No typical allergens

Paella

A Valencian rice dish cooked in a wide, shallow pan and flavoured with saffron; versions range from the original rabbit-and-chicken to seafood.

• Vegetarian option
• Vegan option

Contains: Crustaceans · Fish · Molluscs

Patatas Bravas

Spain's best-known tapa — fried potato cubes under a smoky, lightly spicy tomato-and-paprika sauce, often with alioli alongside.

• Vegetarian
• Vegan option

Contains: Egg

Pisto

Tomato, pepper, zucchini and onion stewed slowly in olive oil until they collapse into one sauce — Spain's answer to ratatouille, often topped with a fried egg.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Pulpo a la Gallega

Galician octopus — boiled until tender, snipped into rounds over potato, and dressed with olive oil, coarse salt and pimentón. Served on wood.

Contains: Molluscs

Salmorejo

Ripe tomato blended with stale bread, garlic, olive oil and sherry vinegar until it turns thick and pale orange, served ice-cold with a scatter of jamón and hard-boiled egg — Córdoba's own cold soup, thicker and simpler than gazpacho.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Tarta de Santiago

A dense almond cake dusted with icing sugar in the shape of the Cross of Saint James — Galicia's pilgrimage-route dessert.

Contains: Egg · Tree nuts

Tortilla Española

The Spanish potato omelette — a thick, set cake of egg, slow-cooked potato and onion, served in wedges warm or cold.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg

Khao Pad

Day-old rice stir-fried hard and fast with egg, garlic and fish sauce — Thailand's everyday fried rice, plain enough to build around whatever protein is on hand.

Contains: Egg · Fish

Khao Soi

Egg noodles in a rich coconut curry broth, topped with a tangle of the same noodles fried crisp — Chiang Mai's signature bowl, carried south along Muslim trade routes.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Larb

Minced pork tossed warm with lime, fish sauce, chilli and toasted rice powder — the defining dish of the Isaan region shared across the Thai-Lao border.

Contains: Fish

Mango Sticky Rice

Steamed glutinous rice soaked in sweetened coconut milk, served beside ripe mango — Thailand's simplest dessert and one of its best-known abroad.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Massaman Curry

Beef simmered low and slow in a mild, warmly spiced coconut curry with potato and roasted peanuts — Thailand's gentlest curry, built on spices its neighbours brought by sea.

Contains: Peanuts

Moo Ping

Skewered pork marinated in coconut milk, coriander root and palm sugar, grilled over charcoal until caramelised — Thailand's everyday breakfast skewer.

Contains: Fish

Pad Kra Pao

Minced pork stir-fried hard and fast with garlic, chilli and holy basil, served over rice with a fried egg — Thailand's fastest, most everyday plate.

Contains: Egg · Fish

Pad Thai

Rice noodles stir-fried with tamarind, fish sauce and palm sugar, tossed with egg, bean sprouts and peanuts — Thailand's best-known noodle plate, sour, salty and sweet at once.

• Vegetarian option
• Vegan option

Contains: Crustaceans · Egg · Fish · Peanuts · Soybeans

Panang Curry

Chicken simmered in a thick, peanut-enriched coconut curry until the sauce clings rather than pools — one of Thailand's richest, least watery curries.

Contains: Fish · Peanuts

Som Tam

Shredded green papaya pounded with lime, fish sauce, chilli and peanuts in a mortar — Isaan's sharp, sour salad, built by bruising rather than chopping.

Contains: Crustaceans · Fish · Peanuts

Tom Kha Gai

Chicken simmered in coconut milk with galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime leaf — tom yum's gentler coconut-based cousin.

Contains: Fish

Tom Yum Goong

Thailand's hot and sour shrimp soup, its broth built on lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime leaf and sharpened with lime juice and chilli — one of Thai cuisine's most internationally recognised dishes.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Crustaceans · Fish

Bombalouni

A yeasted dough deep-fried into a puffed, pillowy ring and rolled in sugar while still hot — Tunisia's boardwalk doughnut, sold from summer beachfront stalls.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Brik

A thin sheet of pastry folded around egg and tuna, then deep-fried until the outside is crisp and the yolk inside stays runny — a Tunisian classic judged almost entirely on that one detail.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Fish

Chorba Frik

Cracked green wheat simmered into a thick lamb soup with tomato and mint — the soup that opens the fast at Ramadan across Tunisian households.

No typical allergens

Kafteji

Fried potato, pepper and courgette chopped fine with scrambled egg and harissa into a warm, messy street-food mash — Tunisia's answer to using up whatever's in the fryer.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Egg

Lablabi

Chickpeas simmered in a cumin-and-harissa broth, poured over stale bread and topped with a soft egg — Tunis's breakfast soup, sold from street carts before sunrise.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Makroudh

A diamond-cut semolina cake wrapped around a date paste centre, fried and soaked in honey syrup — Tunisia's most iconic sweet, dense enough to share in tiny pieces.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Mechouia

Peppers and tomatoes grilled until their skins char, then peeled and chopped into a smoky, garlicky salad topped with tuna, egg and olives.

Contains: Egg · Fish

Merguez

A thin, spicy lamb-and-beef sausage coloured deep red with harissa and paprika — a Maghrebi staple that Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco all claim as their own.

No typical allergens

Ojja

Eggs cracked directly into a simmering, harissa-spiced tomato and pepper sauce with merguez, cooked just until the whites set and the yolks stay soft.

Contains: Egg

Salata Tounsia

Diced tomato, cucumber and pepper tossed raw with tuna, hard-boiled egg and olives — the everyday starter salad on almost any Tunisian table.

Contains: Egg · Fish

Shakshuka

Eggs poached whole in a spiced tomato and pepper sauce, cooked and served in the pan, with bread for scooping.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg

Tajine Tunisien

A dense, baked egg-and-cheese casserole studded with chicken or tuna and herbs, sliced into squares — not the stew its name suggests to anyone who's had Moroccan tajine.

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Beef Wellington

A beef fillet coated in a mushroom paste, wrapped in prosciutto and puff pastry, then roasted until the crust turns deep golden and the centre stays pink.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Bread and Butter Pudding

Buttered slices of day-old white bread layered with sultanas, soaked in a sweet egg custard and baked until the custard sets and the exposed edges crisp.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Chicken Tikka Masala

Grilled chicken tikka simmered in a creamy, mildly spiced tomato sauce — Britain's most-ordered curry, and by most accounts actually invented there, not in India.

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Cornish Pasty

Beef, potato, swede and onion sealed inside a thick shortcrust pastry and crimped along one edge — a miner's lunch designed to be eaten with dirty hands and no plate.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Eton Mess

Crushed meringue, whipped cream and strawberries folded together into a deliberately messy pile — a dessert that started as a genuine accident at an English school.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Fish and Chips

Battered white fish, deep-fried until crisp, served with thick-cut fried potatoes — Britain's best-known dish, sold from seaside kiosks to inland chip shops for well over a century.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Fish

Full English Breakfast

Bacon, sausage, eggs, baked beans, grilled tomato and toast on one plate — the breakfast built to carry a British guest clean through to lunch.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Scotch Egg

A boiled egg wrapped whole in sausage meat, coated in breadcrumbs and deep-fried — a picnic classic judged on how soft the yolk stays inside its meat shell.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg

Shepherd's Pie

Minced lamb in a rich gravy, topped with mashed potato and baked until the top browns — the British dish that takes its name from lamb, not beef.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Milk (including Lactose)

Steak and Kidney Pie

Beef and kidney braised into a dark, rich gravy and baked under a puff pastry lid — a pub classic that earns its name honestly, unlike its shepherd's-pie cousin.

Contains: Cereals (gluten)

Sticky Toffee Pudding

A dense date sponge baked and soaked in warm toffee sauce until it turns almost too soft to hold its shape — Britain's richest, most reliably ordered dessert.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Sunday Roast

Roasted beef carved thick, served with Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and gravy — the meal British families still build a whole afternoon around.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Chicago Deep-Dish Pizza

A thick, buttery crust baked in a deep round pan, cheese laid down first and chunky tomato sauce spooned over the top — Chicago's own pizza, invented at Pizzeria Uno in 1943.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Cobb Salad

Chopped lettuce topped with rows of grilled chicken, bacon, hard-boiled egg, avocado, tomato and blue cheese, dressed with a red wine vinaigrette — the composed salad of the American diner and lunch counter.

Contains: Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Cornbread

A quick bread of cornmeal, buttermilk and egg baked until the top browns and the inside stays moist and slightly grainy — the everyday bread of the American South, older than the country itself.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Gumbo

A dark, roux-thickened stew of shrimp and okra simmered with the Cajun "holy trinity," ladled over rice — Louisiana's defining dish, built on a slow-cooked flour-and-fat base found nowhere else.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Crustaceans

Jambalaya

Rice simmered in a single pot with sausage, chicken, shrimp and the Cajun "holy trinity" of onion, celery and bell pepper until every grain takes on the pot's colour — Louisiana's own rice dish.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Crustaceans

Key Lime Pie

A tart custard of key lime juice, condensed milk and egg yolk baked into a graham cracker crust — Florida's own pie, built around a lime too small and too sour to eat plain.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

New England Clam Chowder

A thick, creamy soup of clams, potatoes and salt pork, simmered with onion and milk — New England's own chowder, so thick a spoon nearly stands up in it.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose) · Celery · Molluscs

New York Cheesecake

A dense, rich cream cheese filling baked over a graham cracker crust until the top just browns — the thick, tangy cheesecake style that made New York's name synonymous with the dessert.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

Pastrami on Rye

Beef brisket cured, crusted with cracked pepper and coriander, smoked low and slow, then steamed until tender — piled high on rye bread with mustard, the signature sandwich of the New York Jewish deli.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Mustard

Philly Cheesesteak

Thin-sliced beef griddled with melted provolone and grilled onions, piled into a long roll — Philadelphia's own sandwich, born at a hot dog cart in the 1930s.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Reuben Sandwich

Corned beef, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Russian dressing grilled between slices of rye until the cheese melts and the bread crisps — the deli sandwich with a genuinely disputed birthplace.

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Milk (including Lactose)

S'mores

A toasted marshmallow and a square of chocolate pressed between two graham crackers until the chocolate softens — the campfire treat first printed in a 1927 Girl Scout guidebook.

• Vegetarian

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Bánh Khọt

Mini rice-flour and coconut-milk pancakes, cooked one at a time in the dimpled wells of a special cast pan until the edges crisp golden around a whole shrimp — the bite-sized coastal cousin of bánh xèo.

Contains: Crustaceans

Bánh Mì

A short, thin-crusted baguette split and filled with pork liver pâté, cold cuts, pickled carrot and radish, cucumber, chilli and coriander — Saigon street food built on a French loaf and a very Vietnamese sense of balance.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Egg · Soybeans

Bánh Xèo

A turmeric-yellow rice-flour crepe fried until the edges turn lace-thin and crackling, folded over shrimp, pork and bean sprout, torn by hand into a lettuce leaf with herbs before dipping — Vietnam's sizzling pancake.

Contains: Crustaceans

Bún Bò Huế

Round rice noodles in a beef-and-pork broth built on lemongrass, chilli oil and fermented shrimp paste until it turns deep red and sharply spiced — the fiery noodle soup that carries the former imperial city of Huế's name.

Contains: Crustaceans · Fish

Bún Chả

Grilled pork patties and pork belly slices dropped into a bowl of sweet-tart dipping broth, with cold rice vermicelli and a plate of herbs alongside to build each bite — Hanoi's defining lunch dish.

Contains: Fish

Bún Riêu

Rice noodles in a tomato-red broth built around a loose, curd-like crab-paste cake that breaks apart as it cooks, ladled over with tofu and fresh herbs on top — the freshwater-crab noodle soup found across Vietnam.

Contains: Crustaceans · Fish

Chả Cá

Turmeric-marinated white fish fried tableside with dill and spring onion until the herbs wilt into the oil, then folded with rice noodles, peanuts and herbs into each bowl — the Hanoi dish with a whole street named after it.

Contains: Fish · Peanuts

Chè Ba Màu

Mung bean paste, red bean and pandan jelly layered in a glass, coconut milk and crushed ice poured over just before eating — Vietnam's three-colour dessert, meant to be stirred together rather than eaten layer by layer.

• Vegan
• Vegetarian

No typical allergens

Cơm Tấm

Broken rice grains topped with a grilled pork chop, a fried egg and a shredded pork-and-egg cake, with pickled vegetables and a bowl of fish-sauce dressing alongside — Saigon's everyday rice plate.

Contains: Egg · Fish

Gỏi Cuốn

Rice paper wrapped around vermicelli, boiled shrimp and pork, lettuce and herbs, served cold with a peanut-hoisin or fish-sauce dip — the fresh, unfried counterpart to the spring roll, eaten across Vietnam as a starter.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Crustaceans · Fish · Peanuts · Soybeans

Mì Quảng

Turmeric-yellow noodles tossed with just enough pork-and-shrimp broth to coat rather than swim in, topped with a rice cracker, peanuts and herbs — the central Vietnamese noodle dish that refuses to be a soup.

Contains: Crustaceans · Fish · Peanuts

Phở

Rice noodles in a beef bone broth simmered for hours with charred ginger, onion and warm spices, poured over thin-sliced beef and finished with fresh herbs — Hanoi's noodle soup, now eaten across Vietnam at any hour.

Contains: Fish

Flammkuchen

A wafer-thin tart from the French–German border — bread dough spread with crème fraîche and topped with onions and bacon, baked fast in a fierce oven.

• Vegetarian option

Contains: Cereals (gluten) · Milk (including Lactose)

Labskaus

Corned beef mashed with potato, onion and pickled beetroot until pink, topped with a fried egg and a rollmop herring — a North Sea and Baltic sailor's plate claimed by more than one coast.

Contains: Egg · Fish

Samosa

A fried pastry triangle filled with spiced potato and peas — Central Asia's export and South Asia's most travelled snack, eaten with chutney and with the hands.

• Vegetarian
• Vegan option

Contains: Cereals (gluten)