Food is a great passion for many travelers, and the opportunity to enjoy new tastes and to explore ingredients and their uses is one of the main reasons that they enjoy visiting new places. Southeast Asia has a wide range of different foods and ingredients, and while it has some distinctive foods that are an acquired taste such as the smelly durian fruit and the fried silkworms that are sometimes eaten, the majority of street food in the region is very good.


The great thing about street food is that you will usually eat standing next to a few of the locals, and there is absolutely no stigma about eating alone which you may sometimes find if you ask for a table for one in a restaurant.

 

Bangkok, Thailand

Pad Thai is probably the most common of street foods across Thailand, and is a rice noodle dish where the noodles are friend in tamarind, fish sauce and chili, but there are plenty more treats on offer. The weekend markets are great places to try new dishes, with som tam being a salad of dried shrimp and papaya, while tom yum is a spicy soup that is hot enough to cure colds! Seafood is also great in Bangkok, with the spicy stir-fried crab served with rice being another popular street food dish, along with the green curry with fish balls which are nicely prepared and offer a wonderful variety of tastes.

 

Hanoi, Vietnam

This ancient city has perfected the art of preparing food that can be eaten on the go, and many of the dishes are priced so competitively that it can be possible to eat a meal for a very small amount of money.

Banh cuon is one of the typical dishes of the city, and is a combination of rice pancakes stuffed with pork and black mushrooms, which are then topped with lime juice and fried shallots. Bun cha is another dishes that is popular in the city, and is made with chunks of pork in a salty broth and served with noodles, while Banh Mi is a type of baguette stuffed with chilli, vegetables and cured meat, which is a legacy of the French occupation of the region.

 

Penang, Malaysia

Penang assam laksa is often considered to be the iconic street food of Penang, and is a spicy soup with a sour flavor provided by the tamarind in the broth. Poached mackerel and shrimp paste are key parts of this wonderful dish. While most foods in Penang are served with tasty sauces, Popiah is the local version of spring rolls which are made with vegetable and soybean curd, and usually dipped in black sauce or chilli sauce. It is also worth saving some space for dessert, with Tau sar peah being small biscuits that are made with red beans that are cooked with sugar and are delicious fresh from the oven.

 

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Cambodia is another country which has a history of French occupation, and the sandwich known as num peng is a fascinating blend of east and west, being a baguette stuffed with pate and pork bologna, along with papaya, sliced carrot and spicy red chilli paste. The ultimate street food in the city is nom banh chok, which is carried by women contained in baskets hanging from a pole balanced on their shoulders, with noodles that are combined with fresh vegetables and a green curry gravy to make a popular breakfast dish.

 

Jakarta, Indonesia

Jakarta may not be on the tourist trail for most visitors to Indonesia, but it is a certainly a city that has no shortage of street food stalls, selling a variety of local dishes. Bakso is a meatball that is cooked with whatever meat is available, and can either be served dry or in a broth. Nasi goreng is another popular dish that is a type of fried rice dish that is usually topped with a fried egg and mixed with either meat or prawns.