I ranked my top 10 favorite food after visiting the 48 contiguous United States. There were 3 that were memorable in a bad way.

The shrimp fajitas from Güero's Taco Bar in Austin, TX was genuinely the best Mexican dish I had in America. The dish had an authentic Mexican taste with fresh salsa and beans. The rice was moist, and the shrimp was chargrilled perfectly with subtle hints of lime and lemon.

I love Mexican food, but unfortunately, there aren't many Mexican food options in the UK. Even though Taco Bell has started springing up across the country, the variety is not the same as in America.

I was told my two options for cheesesteaks when visiting Philadelphia, PA were from Pat's or Geno's. Both stores are literally across the street from each other, and this rivalry felt intense. After trying both, I personally preferred Pat's.

The cheese sauce is fantastically American, and the addition of peppers and mushrooms was simple but so effective. They don't hold back on the steak, either. Many local Philadelphians told me to avoid both Pat's and Geno's and to try their local shops for the Philly specialty, but it's just like fish and chips here in the UK — everyone has their own personal favorite store, so you can never win.

We don't have cheesesteak here in the UK — maybe the odd store makes it in certain places. I've tried to mimic this dish at home myself, but I just can't match the real deal.

I'm a big fan of American bagel stores simply because of the many options they have. Bagels in the UK can be pretty basic with basic toppings. We do have New York-style bagels here, but it's just not as fresh or as tasty.

Hidden Bagel in Spokane, Washington is a hidden gem. I had a bagel sandwich called the "Grinder Bagel Sammy," which comes with melted provolone, salami, pepperoni, tomato, shredded lettuce, red onion, pepperoncini, and a grinder dressing. Everything about this bagel tasted fresh, and the grinder dressing added such a great flavor.

While the UK has breakfast wraps and burritos, it's more of the baked beans, sausage, and cheese variety as opposed to avocado, bell peppers, or anything healthy for that matter. I ate this breakfast wrap at a popular spot in San Francisco called Hollywood Cafe.

I chose the morning wrap because I was curious about the tomato tortilla it's wrapped with. I was not disappointed: the flavor was rich and complimented the egg, bacon, and avocado. The wrap also had beans, roasted bell peppers, cheddar cheese, and lettuce. Also, the fruit and salsa that came on the side were super fresh, vibrant in color, and rich in flavor.

I'm quite particular when it comes to seafood and it's a curse. For example, I like salmon, but only when it's smoked. I wish I could eat seafood happily like I eat most things, but when I was in Seattle, I had to try seafood. I spent quite some time searching for the right spot and settled on The Crab Pot, a popular tourist spot on the pier.

This dish was fantastic and the shrimp were big, fresh, and plentiful. The sauce was tomato-based with hints of spices like garlic. It was rich and really complimented the red potatoes and corn that came with the shrimp.

The UK obviously has prawns, but in my experience they're smaller or usually come already peeled. Our seafood options where I grew up in Sheffield, England are extremely limited compared to say, London, which has more seafood options, but still, seafood isn't as big a deal as it is in America.

I'm biased towards American breakfast food options. This is because they are done so well, in my opinion. I went to Farmer's Daughters Kitchen in Blue Earth, Minnesota, and ordered the breakfast bowl.

The food was sensational: classic American breakfast taters smothered in sausage gravy and cheese, served with ham and toast. It tasted very different from a full English breakfast which is traditionally a couple slices of toast, baked beans, eggs (how you like), bacon and sausage with black pudding, mushrooms, and a grilled tomato. It's a hefty dish and not very subtle, but I think it's unbeatable. This bowl was a close second to my home dish!

In-N-Out is easily my most frequented restaurant in the States, I love this place. The vibe is great and it's a classic — it just feels so American to me. The Double-Double is my perfect fast-food burger. It's juicy, with big onions and rich sauce. I always order a strawberry milkshake, too.

It's very different from a burger in the UK, which has a thicker patty and relish, cheddar cheese, onions, and one big piece of lettuce that people remove. I wish they would open an In-N-Out in the UK, but a man can only dream.

I understand there's a big debate in the States about the best burger. I've tried Shake Shack too, and In-N-Out wins hands down. There's a great burger joint in Seattle called Dick's Burger, and I even rank Dick's over Shake Shack.

I'm a huge fried chicken guy. In the UK, we generally only have KFC and it's just not that great. So, when visiting the States, I felt like I was in heaven. I tried many different fried chicken shops, and Hattie B's Hot Chicken in Memphis, TN is at the top of that list. I ordered the fried chicken sandwich and the chicken was extremely juicy and tender. The bread is sweet and soft, and the sauce is truly special. If you ever visit Tennessee, this place is a must-eat.

The "Cappone" sandwich from Cappone's Italian Sandwich Shop and Salumeria is the best sandwich I had while traveling to all 48 contiguous US states. The sandwich is extremely simple and super fresh with an explosion of flavor. The sandwich has capicola, soppressata, salami with provolone, arugula, mozzarella, and hot peppers. The olive oil and balsamic they put on the sandwich are rich but don't drown out the other flavors. I visit this shop every time I return to New York City. To me, it feels like that classic Italian-American experience.

I love barbeque, it's my weakness. We have some barbeque restaurants in the UK, but they just don't smoke it as good and it's never as tender as the American style.

I had the best barbeque experience at Terry Black's BBQ. A word of advice: get there early because there is always a line, but it's well worth the wait. The meat selection is pretty standard, with brisket, sausage, pulled pork, and ribs, but each one was cooked to perfection. You can tell it was smoked perfectly. The famous Texas brisket was tender and juicy. The ribs were tender and fell off the bone, the sausages were juicy and had cheese and jalapenos within.

My favorite of the lot was definitely the Rib, it was huge, the size of my arm. Some may think it's unnecessary, but I had to tackle it. The meat on the rib was so tender but the ends of the rib cooked fantastically with a nice change of shades from black to pink.

The mac and cheese also blew me away. Mac and cheese in the UK usually comes in cans or ready meals, it's not as flavorful and lacks that extra bit of flavor.

Country fried steak: Look, I know fried steak is an American thing, but it just feels wrong. I ate it at the American restaurant chain Denny's, and they really went all in with this one. Not everything can be deep fried or should be deep fried, America!

Pittsburgh cone: I ate this abomination out of pure curiosity when I went to a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game at PNC Park. I'm not sure what was going on in terms of taste. For the record, I love Pittsburgh. But maybe I should have stuck with nachos or a hotdog. This is a waffle cone stuffed with kielbasa, pierogies, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Russian dressing. It's also impossible to eat and genuinely not pleasant to look at. I'd love to see Gordon Ramsay's reaction to eating this.

KFC: I was so excited to have KFC in its birthplace, Kentucky. The hype my mate and I built up toward this moment was crazy. Being able to say that we ate KFC in Kentucky was huge and would impress most of my friends in the UK. On arrival, the menu was different. As it added more than the UK one such as biscuits, which is similar to a scone here in the UK. not to mention the different side selection such as mashed potatoes and a bigger version of coleslaw. The chicken lacked spice or flavor compared to the UK counterpart which shocked me, and the gravy tasted bland. Maybe we got a bad batch that day, but it still felt wrong. The only positive was the poster on the wall showing us the Kentucky state is shaped like a KFC chicken leg.

The USA is truly the kingdom of food. The food options are genuinely limitless, and there is every food you can imagine here.

One thing I learned is that local businesses always seem to offer more, and their service genuinely seems better than the bigger chains. While chain restaurants do offer decent options, you can't beat the individuality of independent shops. As I've gotten older, I find myself branching out from chain restaurants and trying independent businesses because the service and quality are so much better.

Chris Tollerfield is a student anesthesia associate for the UK's National Health Service from Sheffield, England.