Street food is more than just something to pick up in a hurry when you're walking around a city. It's emotion, surprise, and innovation. Are you ready to go on this gastronomic adventure?
The urban food truck and mobile restaurant trend means that even the best chefs are getting involved, challenging themselves to create fast recipes that can be made right in front of your very eyes, opening themselves up to the unlimited possibilities of this new way to offer culinary treasures at a low cost.
Let us take you to discover some of the best places for authentic foodies!
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History
An ancient Thai proverb says that the king and the beggar are the same with respect to what they eat. And that's pretty much how it is since it seems like the best Thai food is found in the street food stalls of Bangkok, the capital, and not in luxury restaurants or hotels, an opinion shared by the best experts in cooking, chefs, and all-around lovers of good food. Going for a walk along Bankok's best streets and sampling its street food is not only an experience of taste and smell, but a visual and sociological adventure, as well as culinary, which will allow you to know with a great depth just how Thais structure their day to day.
Thais love to eat anytime, anywhere, and for any occasion. You'll find Thai street food stalls in every corner of the city. Wherever you are, you will be able to see some street vendors cooking within a few meters reach down the street. This type of food plays a key role in the daily life of Thais since many apartments have no kitchen, especially in the capital.
That's why people have become accustomed to eating in the street or buying food at these stalls and taking it home, due to the immense variety and extremely affordable prices. I might actually be more expensive to buy the ingredients to cook it at home.
In the chaos of Bangkok and among the taxis, shopping malls, and motorbikes zipping through dense traffic, there are areas that are authentic street food santuaries where even the most starving of folks will find generous portions of delicacies at ridiculous prices.
You can find several places and different types of street food: there are people who sell their specialities in the middle of the street in trolleys and even though they are street vendors you will always find them in the same area.
Other vendors have a kind of fixed station with some tables and chairs outdoors, all they need is a propane tank and a car to be able to offer some local food. Normally you won't find many varied menus and most places usually specialise in one or two dishes.
There are others that are starting to resemble our restaurants: these are very simple covered locations that are very popular with locals. And finally there are restaurants as we imagine them: you will find them mostly in shopping centres, which always have a food court made up of several restaurants specialised in different types of food, with hygiene standards surely more enforced than street food vendors.
Best places for Street Food in Bangkok
Let's get down to business: what are the best places to try Thai street food?
There are endless neighbourhoods but one of the most famous is the one that surrounds Khao San Road, a favorite place for backpackers. In this area of Banglamphu you will find different streets with many street food stalls. Perhaps the best street is right parallel to Khao San, Soi Rambuttri, but keep in mind that it is a very touristy place and if what you are looking for is an authentic experience, you'd better go elsewhere.
Soi Rambuttri: near the neighborhood where backpackers are king you will find a place that cooks one of the best remedies for a hangover in Bangkok: the delicious jok moo. This type of pork rice porridge is impossible to go wrong on, and Soi Rambuttri is hard to miss being opposite the very flashy restaurant Swenson's.
You can also head to Chinatown (Yaowarat), the frenzied Chinese neighbourhood which has some of the best places to eat in Bangkok: try the spots alongn Plaeng Naam Street at the junction with Charoen Krung. At Nai Mong Hoi Nang Tort the main dish is scrambled eggs with oysters, onion, hot sauce and white pepper. Next door you will find Raan Kao Dtom Plaen Naan, a small place with a grill and some stools in the street where dishes are cooked that fuse Chinese and Thai cuisine: calamari, crispy pork, smoked duck ... There are no menus : it's up to the customers to choose the ingredients and trust the creativity of the chef.
The Or Tor Kor Market (which is near the Kamphaeng Phet metro stop) is very popular even among high Thai society. In fact, you will see it as abnormally clean and it offers a wide variety of meat, fish and vegetable dishes. It is open from 10a.m. to 4p.m. and among the specialties offered are ginger and spicy chili sausages and a variety of curries. Just a few steps away you will find the Chatuchak market, which is only open on weekends.
The district of Sao Ching Cha is famous for its giant swing and the temple of Wat Suthat, and as long as you're in the area on a cultural visit, let yourself be carried away by the aroma of the street food dishes here that have fed both locals and tourists for more than half a century. Here you will find noodle soup (with a kind of thick pasta), marinated duck, and the best mango sticky rice in all of Bangkok.
At the intersection of Silom and Content Road you will find a street food place famous for its egg noodles and grilled pork and for its dessert which begs you not to fill up too much during the meal: black sesame seed dumplings with ginger, a kind of boiled pasta ball.
Restaurant Soi 38 on Sukhumvit Street was once a street food lover's paradise in Bangkok, but the owner died a few years ago and the family sold the land to build luxury homes. In the end this paradise of street food that was a point of reference for many people will soon disappear, even if the restauranteurs are resisting eviction.
Useful information
Surely you will wonder if it is sensible and safe to eat the food that you find in the best Thai street food stalls. The answer is yes but take a few simple precautions. Make sure that the place you have chosen is full of people; this guarantees that the products and ingredients are fresh, as they will probably be used up by the end of the day and in this way you will not run the risk of eating foods that have been exposed for a few days and then cooked half rancid. Know that in Thai culture it is not customary to keep leftovers.
At any rate, like on any trip to an exotic country, your stomach might not be accustomed to fried food or different ingredients from what you normally eat. One option would be to bring an antacid to prepare you for all the authentic taste delights.
With regards to the price Thailand is simply unbeatable. You will spend about one euro for each dish (40 baht Thai) on average but if you are looking for a place to sit down with air conditioning, be prepared to pay three to four euros. Even Thais are accustomed to buying food at noon at street food stalls and that is already a guarantee of quality.
Despite the simplicity of these restaurants there are different categories and ones that can be considered the best simply by showing by a quality insignia. The Shell Shuan Shim, a type of badge worn with pride is a poster with a bowl and Thai letters recognising the excellence of the dishes prepared, a type of local Michelin star. However, it must be said that the competition between the stands is so high that very few sellers could survive if the food was not good enough for their demanding clientele.
Keep in mind that Monday is cleaning day in the city and many vendors close up shop at their street food stalls. You will see that half of the shops will be closed, so do not look for an unforgettable culinary experience on a Monday and, if you do, be content with whatever you get.
Try and let instinct take over and choose the street food stall that most appeals to you and if you have doubts, choose the one with more Thais. If there is a small phrase that you have to learn in the local language make it 'mai phet' (pronounced 'mai pet') which means 'not too spicy'. You will find it useful if you are not used to Thai spices.
You may have heard of people who have tried insects and worms in Thailand. If you just can't help the curiosity and want to try them out, brave yourself and go for it at night at Khao San Road, Soi Cowboy, Klong Toey Market (on Rama IV Street), Banglamphu (near Phra Athit Pier), Pahurat (the textile market near Chinatown) or Patpong. In all these places you will find street vendors with trollys. Normally the insects are fried until they reach a crunchy consistency. Locals like to have them with beer to highlight the salty taste and make a case that they're healthier than factory made potato chips.
What to eat
Let's get down to business: what can you eat in Bangkok to take advantage of the street food that seems to be on every corner? Here are the specialties that you'll find most easily in the Thai capital:
When to go
We'll tell you the best time to visit Bangkok. Take notes and start preparing your trip!
Do you feel like travelling?
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History
New York travel guides normally tell you not to miss eating in restaurants, bars or locales known for a particular dish or for having been the scene of any number of cult movies. In New York though there is an extensive American street food tradition, places where you can have an unforgettable gastronomic experience at a more convenient price than most restaurants in the Big Apple.One of the funniest things about a trip to New York is that in walking through its streets you will find food trucks on every corner that sell just one specialty that, once you try it, will make you want to talk it up on FourSquare, Tripadvisor or even recommend it to your friends.
This type of street food in New York follows the three golden rules of the pefect food: good, nice to look at, and cheap. Aside from the months of November to March, when the temperature of the city gets pretty low, the rest of the year you can eat in a park, on a bench, or pretty much any corner of Manhattan.
New York City food carts are mobile restaurants catering to the most demanding of New York palates. Don't just think of just hot dogs or slices of oily pizza ... think about these carts, descendants of the first food trucks delivering ice cream, and how they offer delights from every different type of cuisine (American, Mexican, Indian, Greek etc.). Here you will find waffles, pancakes, lobster sandwiches, dumplings, pork chops, falafel and more!
Best places for Street Food in New York
Let's uncover which food carts you won't want to miss if you want to try the best New York street food:
Super Tacos on Wheel: They are located on the Upper East Side (at 97th Street with Amsterdam Avenue or at the intersection of 96th and Broadway) and this is the perfect place for lovers of Mexican cuisine: there you will find tacos with various types of meat and sauces. Their secret? Park right out in front of the subway stop and sell their fantastic tacos for 2 dollars a pop. You will always find them ready to prepare your favorite taco from 6p.m. to 2a.m. from Monday to Thursday and until 3a.m. on Friday.
Korilla BBQ: Founded by three unemployed twenty-year-olds in 2010, this food truck offers Korean flavours in homage to the South Korea birthplace of its founders. The idea of Korilla BBQ is to combine Korean-style grilled meat with other traditional Asian street food products like kimchi, and serve it in an American food street style. Try the burrito with meat ($7) or the Kimchi Time Bowl, a bowl of meat, rice and five types of cabbage ($8). Watch the hot sauce because it really stings.
Frites 'n' Meats: One of the best places to eat a hamburger at an unbeatable price (around $6-8 each ). Its founders decided to bet everything on good quality essential ingredients (bread, meat and cheese) and develop a wide selection of other ingredients like bacon, garlic guacamole, baked tomatoes or onions that can give your hamburger a truly unique taste. You can find out where this food truck is by following them on Twitter, Facebook or on its blog.
Waffles & Dinges: A very unique gastronomic option of Belgian origin. With just $5 you can taste a waffle that was apparently discovered by some New Yorkers at the 1964 World's Fair. This food cart usually moves and will be on a different corner every day. To know where to go it is best to follow them on Twitter or on their website.
Souvlaki GR: They have earned the reputation of being the only New York food truck serving Greek food and they only roam the streets of the Big Apple during the warmer seasons, conquering the hearts of locals and tourists with alike with Mediterranean cuisine. The specialty is souvlaki, also known as "the Greek hamburger": toasted meat wrapped in pita bread and seasoned with tzatziki sauce, tomato, onion and chips.
If you are torn between so much variety and do not know which New York corner to go for food you can go to Smorgasburg Brooklyn market, where the street food there predominates. Take a walk through the dozens of food trucks and let yourself get tempted by whatever appeals to you most. The New York Times dubbed it the gastronomic Woodstock and it's frequented by New Yorkers, especially on the weekend.
Useful information
In the United States food carts have been a food staple for many years, especially in New York where locals and tourists usually buy their food here almost every day. During breakfast and lunch hours queues can be quite long but the wait is worth it and the sellers know that in New York time is money.
Most food trucks are open when you need them, meaning day and night every day of the week, confirming the saying that New York is the city that never sleeps.
The advantage of these four-wheeled restaurants, besides the speed at which they prepare you a cheap and delicious meal, is that they move and you can find them in virtually any of the important points of the city..
One of the best ways to discover New York food trucks is via Twitter as many New Yorkers are keen on sharing crossroads when they find them. But there are also websites and apps that tell you which are the best food carts and tell where you can find them.
Do know however that it doesn't all come up roses for the sellers. The city is facing a problem of food trucks oversaturation and the price of the license to sell in the street is high, which has lead to an increase in illegal operations.
Don't despair though: the food cart trend hasn't slowed down one bit, it's actually quite the opposite! Wherever you go you will find one and even many of the more popular carts end up opening their own restaurants from the fame they get..
What to eat
The good thing about New York's street food scene is that variety is huge: you will find food carts offering typical American cuisine like hamburgers and hot dogs but you will also find many of them specializing in more exotic offerings adapted for the American Palate. Do not miss the following: :
When to go
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History
Neapolitan cuisine has an infinite variety of dishes that satisfies anyone who loves good food with high quality base ingredients, from the flavours of the sea to fresh ingredients grown in on the most fertile land under the sun. The food of the region which calls Naples its capital, Campania, is among the best of all Italian cuisine.
Some of the star ingredients of Neapolitan cuisine are San Marzano tomatoes, seafood, buffalo mozzarella, basil and lemons. There are many other ingredients that play an important role such as eggplant, Gaeta olives, nuts, and sausage.
Some of the best dishes are cooked by Neapolitan mothers and grandmothers and famiy recipes are passed down from generation to generation and have been respected for centuries, with each family having a version of the same dishes.
Naples is the capital of takeaway food and has more than 1,500 restaurants offering the ability to eat at home or on the street. Can we consider it street food? Definitely yes and if you think about it, the almost weekly tradition of ordering pizza and taking it home to eat it in front of the TV with the family is a root of the current fad of the same name: street food.
In Naples street food began with cuoppi, a greaseproof recycled paper cone containing an abundant portion of fried stuff from fish to pizza dough: they have been a staple in the city for over 50 years.
Come with us and explore Naples and get the best restaurants and stalls to buy Neapolitan dishes in the street, and master that obligatory slouched walk to ensure the dripping oil that makes the food so delicious doesn't stain your shirt!
Best places for Street Food in Naples
What parts of Naples are you going to tempt yourself at lunch or dinner time? Via dei Tribunali is a central street full of restaurants where you can stop for lunch or order a pizza or some fried food to take away.
Pizzeria di Matteo: This pizzeria is one of the oldest and most famous on the street and is located at 94 Via dei Tribunali. The fried food counter, which can be seen from the entrance, shows an incredible variety of fried food and Neapolitan specialties such as the montanare (a type of pizza) or frittatine di pasta (fried pizza dough balls). Order a pizza a libretto, a small margarita pizza that is served folded in four.
Antica Friggitoria Masardona: The most famous dish at this cosy restaurant is the fried pizza stuffed with pork crackling, buffalo ricotta, basil and pepper. Apparently the restaurant has a history much like scenes from the movie The Gold of Naples: the grandmother of the present owner, like Sophia Loren, prepared pizza at the door of house after the war. You will find it at 27 Via Cesare Capaccio.
Antico Tarallificio da Poppella dal 1950: Another restaurant that was founded after World War II and is located in one of the most popular neighborhoods in Naples, Sanità (Via Sanità 148/149). Here you can try dishes like taralli (a kind of crumbly bread pretzel) with butter, pepper and almonds; macaroni frittate (similar to French omelettes) and pagnottiello, a sandwich made with pizza dough that is filled before cooking with cheese, pepper and pork crackling.
Cibi Cotti: If you are looking for more refined dishes in Naples, there are places comparable to grill houses where you can buy stuff to eat at home. Prepare yourself to have the problem of choosing between dishes like eggplant parmesan, pasta and potatoes, gattò di patate (a type of potato cake), manfredi (a typical Naples pasta) to ragout, gnocchi alla sorrentina and even meat or fish dishes. You will find this culinary paradise run by the beloved grandmother Anna, at 30 Via Ferdinando Galiani (Mercatino Rionale Torretta).
I Fritti di Serafino: The house specialty here are the fried fish cones (which can also be ordered with fried vegetables) or big ravioli made with sausages and rapini. Do not miss the pistachio arancini (a rice croquettes) or the ragout. You will find it in Via Gianlorenzo Bernini 8.
Antica Tripperia O'Russ: As the name says, here you can taste a very peculiar dish: tripe (tripa in Italian) with salt and lemon that has been served here with love since 1945 when the restaurant was first opened. This is the most famous dish and can be ordered to take away as well; in addition, there are different versions of this dish, such as tripe in tomato sauce and with potatoes or other dishes prepared by the owner's sister, Mrs. Carmela..
Antico Forno Fratelli Attanasio: We can not talk about Neapolitan street food without thinking about sweets. In this old pastry shop next to the central train station you can eat one of the best sfogliatelle (a typical Neapolitan sweet) in the city, prepared with a secret recipe that makes it unique. Here you will also find other typical sweets, such as the famous babà and other delicacies. This is the perfect place to buy a sweet gift when you leave Naples by train or plane (the airport bus leaves not far away) and is located in 1/4 Vico Ferrovia.
Fun facts
Do you know the origins of pizza margherita? It is the simplest and most popular pizza precisely because of the few but tasty ingredients it's made up of. According to a popular belief, this pizza owes its name to the queen of Italy Margarita de Savoy, to whom cook Raffaele Esposito wanted to dedicate this dish made with ingredients that reminded him of the colors of the Italian flag. According to recent studies, it seems that margarita pizza has even earlier origins than the end of the 19th century. This theory poses that the slices of mozzarella were placed on the tomato sauce, precisely in the shape of a margarita, Italian for daisy.
Do you know why mozzarella is called mozzarella? This mild-tasting cheese, one of the main ingredients of a good pizza, actually has medieval origins. The word comes from the verb "mozzare", which refers to the shape of the cut that the cheese makers used, pressing it with the index finger and thumb to give it its typical spherical shape. It was the Lombards in northern Italy who brought buffaloes to Campania: they adapted nicely in southern Italy and were raised by the Benedictine monks taken in by the Queen of Capua after the Saracens destroyed the monastery. The monks learned the secrets of Saracen cuisine and began to produce mozzarella in the 12th century, eventually giving it to pilgrims, which contributed greatly to the cheese's fame and the spread in popularity, even if at first it was intended only for the upper class.
If you go to Naples you can not go without trying the friarielli (rapini), a type of vegetable similar to spinach that only grows in the area of Naples and Vesuvius and which are accompanied by a special thin sausage called cervellatina, whose taste goes perfectly with this vegetable that grows in volcanic soil and that takes on a slightly bitter taste. Try the sausage pizza and greens, you will not regret it.
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Do you know the origin of limoncello? It seems that this was a traditional winter cold remedy for fishermen. The truth is the origins of this liquor are lost among the endless stories and legends. One thing is for sure: to be limoncello the main ingredient must be Sorrento lemons grown in one of the municipalities of the territory from Vico Equense to Massa Lubrense, or on the island of Capri. It was in the 90's when this liquor reached the height of its fame and now it is completely normal to take a shot after lunch or dinner in one of the innumerable restaurants in Naples and other Italian cities.
The babà is a traditional Neapolitan dessert, so famous in fact that the word is used to refer to a sweet and adorable person using the Neapolitan expression "si nu babà". However, its origins come from far, far away. Estanislao Leszczinski, a former Polish king in exile in the eighteenth century, attempted to confront his defeat to Peter the Great by drowning his sorrows in local sweets. Disappointed with the too-dry kugelhopf cake, a typical dessert, he threw it against the wall accidentally knocking over a bottle of rum. He tried this new creation and was so amazed that he asked cooks to make it exactly the same, and he gave it the name babà in honor of the protagonist of One Thousand and One Nights, Ali Baba, a book that he loved to read during his exile.
What to eat
Neapolitan foods are numerous but some fit perfectly with the concept of street food, since, as we mentioned before, they are served in a cone called cuoppo to be able to eat them easily on the street. Essential:
When to go
We'll tell you the best time to visit Naples. Take notes and start preparing your trip!
Do you feel like travelling?
Discover the best flight offers to fly to Naples, in Italy
History
Singapore boasts some of the best cuisine in Southeast Asia, but it also has the reputation of being a particularly expensive city and as a result eating in Singapore is more expensive than doing it in neighboring countries. But we have good news: you can also eat well in Singapore without breaking the bank! Just go to Hawker Centre, where you can enjoy local food at more than honest prices, in fact, you will find dishes whose prices range between 4 and 6 SGD (€2.50-4).
Do not confuse these places with typical food courts that are usually found in shopping centres. In shopping centres you can also choose between appealing places, but as a whole they have a more sophisticated and even artificial atmosphere and the prices are not as affordable as in a true Hawker Centre.
Singapore is a city known for its orderliness, cleanliness, impeccable spaces and fairly strict hygiene policy. For this reason, for years the most popular street food places have been transported to covered spaces where it is easier to check sanitary conditions, something that the authorities carry out regularly. In this way, these places have a stable presence and you will find several great spots under the same roof.
All Hawker Centres have toilets and places to wash your hands before and after eating.
Singapore is a country with a very characteristic colonial and migratory past that has contributed in molding its cosmopolitan present. It is difficult to find another place like this, where in the same region you can find dishes like the char siu (Chinese BBQ pork), Indian biryani rice or mee goreng, which are fried noodles with meat and vegetables. And all this accompanied by a freshly squeezed tropical fruit juice, a kopi (coffee with condensed milk) or a local beer.
Best places for Street Food in Singapore
Let's find out together where the best places to go are and put them in one place, a list of the best street food stalls in Singapore.
Lau Pa Sat: This is one of the largest Hawkers in the city and is housed in a building designed by Scottish architects. Its interior is decorated in an art nouveau style, is located in the financial area of the city and is surrounded by skyscrapers. Perhaps that is why prices are slightly higher here than other Hawkers in the city. In addition to the stalls that sell traditional dishes like chicken and rice or all kinds of noodles, here you can also find specialties from other cuisines, such as Korean, Japanese, Thai or Malay. This food court is located between Robinson Road and Raffles Quay at the metro stop Raffles Place.
The Hawker Center at Chinatown Complex: Here you will find the best prices and more than 260 stands offering the most diverse types of food at absolutely incredible prices. You can choose between dishes like chicken and rice, barbecued skate, crab with black pepper or chili, carrot cake, char kway teow, dim sum, lor mee, noodles, chedol, tau suan and many other dishes with exotic names.
Old Airport Road Food Centre: This is one of the oldest Hawkers in the city and has served delicious meals to several generations of islanders. Here you will find the most popular dishes of this culture and there are two places where there are always queues: Lao Ban Soya Beancurd and 51 Soya Beancurd, which offer a type of soy-based pudding made with several flavors like almond.
Gluttons Bay: The highlight of this Hawker Centre is the locations, right next to the Esplanade concert hall, by the bay with incredible views of the city skyline. It is full of young locals and there you will taste the best noodles you have ever eaten. To get there, get off at the Esplanade metro stop.
Hawker Centre of Maxwell Road: Also in this case the location is optimal: this Hawker is located in Chinatown, near the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple and is therefore the ideal place to take a break while visiting the most important places of the city and to try some traditional dishes while you stroll through Chinatown. At this Hawker Centre you can not miss Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, which serves one of the best chicken and rice in town, Zhen Zhen Porridge, South Delicious Food Marina or China Street Fritters. Oh, and do not forget to try the fruit juices!
Chomp Chomp Food Centre: You can go also to this place late at night and you will find something to fill your stomach. Unlike other Hawker Centres, which open only until the afternoon, here the hours are reversed and the workers put themselves in charge of satisfying your cravings until the early hours. In addition, you will find the best satay skewers made of pork, beef and chicken with a variety of sauces.
Useul information
In 2016 a street vendor in Singapore was awarded a Michelin star. Hong Kong Soya Sauce is a very simple street food restaurant by chef Chan Hon Meng, the man who became famous for his spicy noodles and rice dishes that cost less than €2.
Do not worry about the hygienic conditions of the street food. As we have already mentioned, the checks are strict and efficient and the ingredients are fresh with a high turnover cycle. Keep in mind that Singaporean street food dishes are a mix of the traditional dishes from Malaysia, China and India.
It looks as if Singaporeans are practical and functional people. That's why you'll find street food stalls packed at all hours and not just at normal meal times: they eat when they're hungry. And you will see them savoring roti (pancakes served with curry) or a bowl of noodles with fish dumplings almost anywhere, whether you are in a residential neighborhood or in modern boulevards full of shops or even in the corridors of a metro station. You will find people eating everywhere.
During the 1970s the government decided to register all the Hawkers, the street vendors of Singapore, who were estimated to be between forty and fifty thousand. Once registered and after having verified that all the vendors met standard hygeine regulations, they were gradually relocated to purpose-built outdoor buildings; the vendors were assured to be placed in positions near booming residential districts.
What to eat
Singapore cuisine is inspired by the gastronomy of China, Malaysia and India and therefore the easiest dishes to try are:
When to go
We'll tell you the best time to visit Singapore. Take notes and start preparing your trip!
