Where to find the best street food in Asia

[ahfatzia]

Where to find the best street food in Asia


Nirmal Ghosh, Thailand Correspondent

Pungent blasts of red chilli, waves of redolent spices, hot griddles, the hiss of gas and the sizzle of hot oil, huge vats and woks and leaping flames are all part of the crowded, noisy Bangkok sidewalk experience.

Most of the city’s population eat outdoors, where you can get a good meal for 30 baht (S$1.20) – and a positively excellent meal for around 60 baht. This makes Bangkok one of the cheapest big cities in the world to eat out in, if one sticks to the street. And the flavours are the envy of many a five-star chef.

Thai food may have been refined in the royal court, but it is alive in the streets. Food stalls normally start with simple trolleys with a built-in stove and storage area. Once established, food stalls expand. The sidewalk fills up with light foldable tables and chairs.

Thais are fussy about hygiene, which makes street food fairly safe; raw food is normally protected at least by a glass pane. But check the surroundings before eating; avoid the place if there are open drains or gutters around, for example, or if the dishes are being washed in a tub of dirty water by the roadside.

KUANG HENG Petchaburi Road, at the Prathunam intersection opposite the new Novotel hotel

The only dish this 15-year-old stall serves is khao man gai, a variant of Hainanese chicken rice; the rice is cooked in a lighter chicken broth and shaved ginger and green chillies give the light body a sharp edge. A standard plate is a light lunch or dinner for 30 baht and another 10 baht will give you some extra slices of chicken.


JOK SAM YAN

around Chamchuri Square everyone knows the stall.

This stall (below) has been in business for more than 60 years and serves about 1,000 bowls daily of jok, or soupy rice porridge with a generous helping of pork morsels at 35 baht without an egg, and 40 baht with an egg.


MAE AM

On Rama IV road at Klong Toey

This stall has been in business 20 years, serving up to 150 dishes of pad thai – arguably Thailand’s national dish – on an average day. Pad thai is a mix of rice noodles, banana flower, garlic, ground peanuts, tiny dried shrimps, shallots, sugar, tamarind paste, ground chillies, a slice of lime and chives – but there are dozens of different ways to cook it and balance the different flavours.


ISAN RODDED

Soi Rang Nam, off Phaya Thai road

This place (rod ded means “tasty”) cooks up traditional dishes from the north-eastern region known as Isan. A dish of half a roasted chicken, a som tam, a sticky rice with fiery dark red jim jaew sauce and a bottle of water, all good for two, will set you back 150 baht. The place has been in operation for 30 years and is always packed.



Nirmala Ganapathy, India Correspondent

Residents of Delhi follow a useful rule when it comes to their pick of street food: It has to be fresh and made hot in front of them.

So it is not uncommon to see people standing cheek by jowl at street corner eateries, watching and waiting as their jalebis, a pretzel-shaped sweet, are dunked in boiling oil and then soaked in syrup.

In a city where food hygiene is a concern, a good rule of thumb is to just follow the crowds.

The highest concentration of street food is in old Delhi, a popular tourist destination in which is located at the Red Fort, a 17th-century fort complex constructed by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan.

Lip-smacking snacks are found in its narrow and chaotic lanes, where sometimes there is little space to even stand and the only way to reach it is on foot or by cycle rickshaws

In other parts of the city, roadside eateries range from hole-in-the wall outfits to large establishments, where the food preparation extends from the kitchen to the street.


PT. GAYA PRASAD SHIV CHARAN

34 Paranthewala Gali, Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi

In the late 1960s, there were more than a dozen makers of paranthas – fried flat breads – in this one narrow lane in Delhi, hence the name paranthawala gali, which basically means a lane of parantha sellers.

Now only three to four remain, with Gaya Prasad Shiv Charan (above) remaining the oldest, established in 1872. Once there, the breads (35 rupees, or $0.80, to 55 rupees) are worth it. There are a variety of stuffings to choose from: potato, crushed cauliflower, white radish, cashew nut, raisins, crushed badam and banana for the more adventurous. The paranthas are served with sweet tamarind chutney, mint chutney, chillies, mixed vegetable pickle and potato curry. Be prepared to stand around to eat.

NATRAJ

1396, Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi

Natraj, more like a food kiosk, sells aloo tikki, a spicy potato cutlet, and dahi bhalla (left), a yogurt- -based snack.

The golden brown aloo tikki (35 rupees) is served with mint and tamarind chutney for a sweet and sour experience.

The surprise is the spicy filling, adding to the burst of flavours. Its other speciality, the dahi bhalla (35 rupees), is the perfect snack for a hot summer afternoon. Fried dumplings are soaked in water to soften them and then dunked in cool fresh yogurt topped with mint and tamarind chutney. These are two street food staples in Delhi, but this is undoubtedly the best version in town.


PRINCE PAN HOUSE

29/5 M Block Market, Greater Kailash I, New Delhi

Women carrying designer bags and young college students take a break from shopping to eat at the roadside eatery, which stocks everything from drinks such as spiced lemon juice to spicy fried potatoes and crispy snacks.

But the speciality is the gol gappa (five for 30 rupees), a crispy ball made out of wheat and filled with tamarind, chilli, potato, onion, chickpeas and spiced water. Each gol gappa is assembled (above) right in front of the customer and it has to be eaten whole so that the water does not spill out. Prince Pan House uses only bottled mineral water, so you do not have to worry about the origin of the spiced water.

Also try the sweet paan or betel leaf wrapped around a filling of coconut, fruit and rose petal preserves and various spices (25 rupees to 40 rupees). For the more adventurous, there are strawberry and chocolate flavours to choose from.


OLD FAMOUS JALEBI WALA

1797 Dariba Corner, Chandni Chowk, Old Delhi

This corner shop specialises in only one sweet and has mastered it. Foreigners and locals crowd the corner eatery for a plate of the piping hot jalebis. The golden-coloured jalebis (35 rupees for 100g) are made of plain white refined flour. They are deep fried in loops to resemble a messy pretzel, and then soaked in sugar syrup. Bite into a jalebi and the sugar syrup oozes out. There is no way of eating the jalebi without getting sticky fingers.

Established in 1884 by Nemchand Jain, the shop has been handed down through five generations.


BENGALI SWEET HOUSE

27-33 Bengali Market, New Delhi

The sweet house is in a prime location in central Delhi. One must-try is the chole batura (70 rupees). The dish consists of fried bread called batura which is eaten with the choley, a spicy chickpea dish. The dish comes with two puffed-up baturas and chickpeas in a steel plate and bowl. The perfect accompaniment to wash down the spiciness is the sweet lassi, a sweetened yogurt drink (40 rupees). Or if that does not do the trick, try the ras malai, cottage cheese dumplings soaked in sweetened, thickened milk, flavoured with cardamom (44 rupees for two pieces).


Relax - Where to find the best street food in Asia

 

[ahfatzia]

Li Xueying
Hong Kong Correspondent


"Dai pai dongs" 大排档 are emblamatic of traditional Hong Kong street food. They have been around since the 1940s, when the government began giving out licences to families of injured or deceased civil servants so they could hawk food on the streets. But from the 1950s, concerns over hygiene and traffic congestion meant that such licences were no longer issued.

Today, there are just 20-something dai pai dongs left, mainly in Central and Sham Shui Po, while the rest have been hustled into indoor food centres. Meanwhile, street food has evolved to include food sold at kiosks at the front of shops, as well as open-air eateries selling humble – but oftentime sublime – fare, all around the city.

In Hong Kong, they are not just delicious carbs. For the locals, street food fills tummies on the cheap at the end of the month when wallets are running low on cash. And in a city of notoriously high rents, they are a relatively easy stepping stone for intrepid entrepreneurs.


HOR SI SIU CHU

Hang Hau Chuen, ground floor, off Chap Fuk Road

Topless old men, smoking in the open air as they inhale dark ale. Construction workers with leathered skin, chilling after a hard day of labour. Dating couples. Families. Celebrities. They all flock to this former village on eastern Kowloon for a rustic meal of the rib-sticking variety.

The chicken, cooked Sichuan style, is plump and succulent, the burn of the peppercorns subtle.
Then there is a mixed dish of intestines, sausages and tofu, braised in a Teochew-style soy sauce. The omlette with white bait is decent. But the best is the gu lok yok. Each piece the size of a lime, with a barely there batter doused in a tart sauce, the sweet-and-sour pork is a winner.

So too the price, weighing in at HK$280 (S$44) for the four dishes.


LAU SUM KEE

There are two outlets – 80 Fuk Wing Street and 48 Kweilin Street

Lau Sum Kee is one fine specimen, with noodles made the traditional way by kneading the dough with a bamboo pole.

It harks back to the 1940s, when owner Lau Fat Cheong’s grandfather sold wonton noodles on the streets of Guangdong, before moving to Hong Kong where he and his descendants continued the craft – first in a noodle cart, then a dai pai dong, and now, two tiny eateries.

Try the dry noodles sprinkled with shrimp roe (above). They are firm, with some bite, while the wontons and shui jiao are fresh.

And at HK$30 a serving, they are one of the cheapest in town, given the lower rents here. When done with that, explore the neighbourhood for traditional desserts – either toufu fa or ma lai gou.


LOW KEY MASTER BIG STREET SMALL FOOD

76A Shau Kei Wan Main Street East

As you nibble on your egg puff, explore the area, a lower-middle-income residential area near the Shek-O beach. It houses a number of solid eateries including Lui Chai Kee which makes its own siew mai out of fresh fish every day, and On Lee, recommended by the Michelin guide for its fishball noodles – and patronised by the city’s chief executives past and present, Mr Donald Tsang and Mr Leung Chun Ying.


CART NOODLE’S FAMILY

Shop A, 1 Anton Street, Wan Chai

Synonymous with cheap Hong Kong street food, cart noodles (che zai meen) are also colourfully known as rubbish noodles (la zhar meen) – for good reason. Odds and ends, such as pig intestines, pig skin, beef balls, fried gluten and squid, are thrown into a mix of noodles and robust, spicy soup.

One of the best-known purveyors of this blue-collar staple, Cart Noodle’s Family (above) brings quality and passion to an otherwise humble dish. Its squid and pig skin are legendary; the intestines carefully washed. There are no chairs in this hole-in-the-wall eatery. You stand and slurp the noodles from a steaming bowl alongside plumbers and tycoons. Avoid lunch time.

Prices below HK$40 attract foodies like flies to top-class rubbish.



Teo Cheng Wee, KUALA LUMPUR Regional Correspondent


Malaysians love their street food. It is so much a part of life here that the Tourism Ministry includes street food in its publicity campaigns and runs an annual street food festival.

Chief among its targets would be Singaporeans hankering for a taste of yesteryear, hunting down dishes that are no longer available back home, or at least not prepared with the oomph they once had. Indeed, street food is a lot more common in Malaysia than Singapore, where vendors have all but moved into hawker centres or food courts.

Malaysian hawkers are also gradually migrating to more comfortable shop lots – and occasionally food courts – but thankfully, this usually does not affect the standard of food. The good news for visitors is that some of Kuala Lumpur’s top street food hawkers are located near the centre of town, where they will likely be staying.


CT GARDEN

Jalan Dewan Sultan Sulaiman, Kampung Baru

If nasi lemak is the quintessential Malay dish, then the right place to look will be the Malay heartland of Kampung Baru. And CT Garden (above), which h a s b e e n around for more than 30 years, is one of the area’s most famous stalls. It packs its fragrant coconut rice in small packets, along with a quarter hard-boiled egg and sambal ikan bilis.

It goes for only RM0.80 (S$0.32), but the portions are small and typically, you would take at least two to three packets.

The stars here, however, are the tasty side dishes. The sambal tempe is a must-try. It has the right mix of spicy and sweet – and manages to remain crispy, not soggy. The tender beef rendang is another favourite.


AMPANG YONG TOW FOO

Open-air carpark at the junction of Jalan Imbi and Jalan Gading, next to the Honda showroom.

The Lee brothers have been selling Hakka yong tau foo from a pushcart here for more than 25 years, since the duo were in their teens. They still make their items daily, briskly stuffing their fish paste – which is prepared at home in the morning – into chillies, brinjals and tofu before frying or braising them.

The bestseller is the deep-fried wonton. It is not uncommon to see customers order dozens of them for takeaway. All items at the stall cost RM1 each.


FIERCE CURRY HOUSE

16 Jalan Kemuja, Bangsar Utama.

Although it has been open for only about a year, it has already gained a reputation for its delicious briyani and banana leaf rice.

The eatery sells 14 types of briyani, but the favourite here is the mutton briyani, which is cooked according to an old family recipe. Each pot of briyani (above) – which works out to a generous portion for one person – is individually sealed with a pastry crust and steamed. The result is a fragrant mix of fluffy, flavourful rice and juicy pieces of tender mutton.

If the RM18 price tag seems a tad steep, it is because of the premium basmati rice used for the briyani, which costs about 10 times the price of regular rice, says owner Herukh Jethwani. It takes nine hours to make the briyani.


SHIN KEE BEEF NOODLES SPECIALIST

7A, Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lock.

What everyone is patiently waiting for at Shin Kee is a taste of the dry beef noodles, which is renowned as one of the best in Kuala Lumpur. Each bowl of noodles is topped with a generous helping of melt-inyour- mouth minced beef, made from a secret recipe.

The accompanying bowl of flavourful soup comes with beef slices, meatballs, tripe and brisket – or you can customise it according to what you want. The springy meatballs and tender briskets are especially worth trying, and go well with the chilli sauce.

A small bowl costs RM7, while a large one costs RM9.

 

[ahfatzia]

TAIPEI Lee Seok Hwai
Taiwan Correspondent


When in Taipei, unleash your inner glutton. The city simply sizzles with food – 24 major night markets sell everything from shaved mango ice to oyster omelette, not counting the many more smaller food streets that *** its landscape.

Foreigners have taken to local delicacies such as stinky tofu and pig’s blood cake without much problem, thanks to relatively good hygiene. Many hawkers use disposable utensils and paper bowls or plates, even for piping hot food, which may not sit well with those who are environmentally- or health conscious.

You might want to bring your own reusable chopsticks and drink soup like the locals do – straight from the bowl.


35-YEAR-OLD SHOP OYSTER MEE SUA

115 Jingmei Street, Wenshan District

Oyster mee sua, oily rice and steamed pig intestines are as Taiwanese as it gets. That this shop, which specialises in these dishes, has survived for decades in a location neither touristy nor bustling testifies to the strength of its recipe.

And the quantity: For just NT$40 (S$1.70), you get a bowl of oyster mee sua in which no fewer than 30 small oysters are swimming.

Indeed there are more oysters than mee sua. To make all that cholesterol easier to stomach, the stall provides a free flow of a very potent chilli padi sauce, a garlic sauce and vinegar. The oily rice and intestines are highly touted too, but one single bowl of oyster mee sua was enough to bust my cholesterol quota for a month.


LIU YU ZI YAM BALLS

Stall No. 91, Ningxia Night Market, No. 34 Ningxia Road

Top quality yam from Dajia township in Kaohsiung County is chopped, steamed and mashed in a process that takes some six hours before being fashioned into ping pong-sized balls at the stall and deep-fried on the spot. Hot from the oil, the balls are crispy, chewy and fragrant with just the right tinge of sweetness. They also come in a savoury version which combines the yam with half an egg yolk plus pork floss.


FUZHOU SHIZU PEPPER BISCUIT

249 Raohe Street, Songshan District. Tail-end of Raohe Night Market, close to Ciyou Temple

Juicy chopped pork marinated with pepper is stuffed into pockets of flour, stuck onto the walls of deepbottomed pots heated to 300 deg C and toasted for 20 minutes. What you get is a “pepper biscuit”, crispy on the outside even as the meaty content stays moist, so juicy that gravy flows out as you bite into the pastry.

As a bonus, the biscuit, which costs NT$45, stays toasty up to an hour after leaving the oven. Rain or shine, the stall (left) opens daily in the afternoon, and likewise, the queue builds up regardless, so be prepared to wait a bit.


ZHENG HAO FRESH PORK SOUP DUMPLINGS

No. 3, Lane 57, Tonghua Street (Behind Tonghua Night Market)

Din Tai Fung becomes passe once you try Zheng Hao’s soup dumplings, or xiao long bao (NT$70 for eight) The dumpling skin is hand-rolled on the spot, stuffed with pork and steamed for five minutes.

Sounds generic, but the product is far from being run of the mill. Wrapped in the paper-thin dumpling skin is an entire mouthful of savoury soup and tender meat that will please even the most demanding xiao long bao connoisseur.

The stall is a nine-year-old offshoot of the original shop in Yilan county, where business is so good that customers take queue numbers. Here in Taipei, despite its near invisible location in a quiet lane, the stall draws a steady stream of customers who come just for their fix of its xiao long bao.


LONG GE BONELESS FRIED CHICKEN CHOP

Behind Shui Yuan market, along the lane which bisects Section 3 of Tingzhou Road.

Freshly deboned chicken legs are marinated for a day, coated with fine bread crumbs, then deep-fried to a golden brown (above).

The result is a crispy yet juicy feast of poultry that is less oily than one might expect. To top it off, each portion comes with a generous helping of salad with your choice of Thai dressing (NT$80 for the set of chicken and salad) or mayonnaise (NT$70).

Eat-in customers, who sit on stools at a makeshift dining area beside the stall, can get another serving of the salad for free.


JAKARTA Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja
Indonesia Correspondent


Jakarta has a wide range of delicious street food that caters to different tastes. Many Indonesians have migrated to Jakarta from across the world’s largest archipelago and brought their cuisine with them. This makes the capital a haven for street food lovers. Street food carts are spread throughout the city and are easy to find near office buildings and schools.


BUBUR AYAM TEBET BARAT

Jalan Tebet Barat Dalam, South Jakarta (located just outside Radja Ketjil Peranakan restaurant)

The one on Jalan Tebet Barat Dalam, which crosses a very densely populated Tebet residential area in South Jakarta, is considered one of the best in town. It started out as one street cart but has now expanded to occupy two carts that sit side by side.

Indonesia has several variants of porridge. The one here is the Cirebon version, with chicken pieces, thin sliced celery, fried scallion, fried soybean, emping (melinjo crackers) and a thin curry sauce. It costs 7,000 rupiah a bowl. An optional side dish of fried chicken intestine or chicken heart satay is 1,000 rupiah each.


MARTABAK BANDUNG PECENONGAN

Jalan Pecenongan, North Jakarta (near Alila Hotel)

This martabak stall on a raised shoulder in Jalan Pecenongan sells a unique cashew nut martabak, which is a sweet version of martabak. The cashew nuts are crushed and sprinkled onto the layered pancake. One cashew nut martabak can feed four to five people and costs 60,000 rupiah. Add cheese for an extra 20,000 rupiah. The stall also sells a salty martabak, which is the Indonesian version of roti prata – with additional fillings of cooked ground beef, duck egg, shallots, celery leaves and curry powder. A cucumber and carrot pickle side dish usually accompanies a salty martabak.

The salty martabak costs 35,000 rupiah.


SOP KAKI KAMBING BANG HASAN

Jalan Plaju, in front of the No. 5 house

Savour a bowl of the Betawi (indigenous Jakarta) dish of sop kaki kambing, or lamb’s feet soup, here (right). Vendor Bang Hasan has been running his business since 1972 and counts state-owned Enterprise minister Dahlan Iskan and veteran politician Akbar Tanjung among his customers.

The milky soup he serves contains cow’s milk powder as the base ingredient. Aside from lamb’s feet, other parts such as lamb’s meat, tongue, lungs, eyes and ears are also available. A bowl of 10 pieces costs 40,000 rupiah.

An extra 10,000 rupiah will get you two small banana leaf packets containing lamb’s brain that can be added to the soup. The soup tastes deliciously salty and sweet at the same time

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

I love the way that Chinese street food is done in Southeast Asia (specifically Malaysia and Singapore).

"Char kway teow" for example was one of my favourites.

Though hawker stalls in Hong Kong also sell some amazing stuff.

Fish balls and Cheong Fun, I think they also have sell it like this in Malaysia and Singapore too.

 

[RescueRanger]

Not a single Pakistani Street food mention?

Well here is one: Caprice Halwa Puri, Lahore.... So good, even the US ambassador eats there:

 

[ahfatzia]

I love the way that Chinese street food is done in Southeast Asia (specifically Malaysia and Singapore).

"Char kway teow" for example was one of my favourites.

Though hawker stalls in Hong Kong also sell some amazing stuff.

Fish balls and Cheong Fun, I think they also have sell it like this in Malaysia and Singapore too.

Oh Jesus! I haven't eat Hong Kong Cheong Fun for more than 20 years. Now you got me going.

My friend took me to this little store in Fanling once and I ate the best pig Knuckles I ever had. The owner's nick name is Gee Cheong Fun, a childhood buddy of my friend.

http://www.siuyeh.com/2009/04/13/fanling-kwan-kee-beef-balls-pork-knuckles-群記牛肉圓豬手-2/

 

[KRAIT]

Ban these types of thread.

I don't like threads with pics of such delicious food.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

Oh Jesus! I haven't eat Hong Kong Cheong Fun for more than 20 years. Now you got me going.

Nothing beats a good helping of Cheong Fun. Combine it with some Youtiao and you get the best thing ever, Zhaliang.

(I think you guys refer to Youtiao as "You char kway", in HK we call it Yau ja gwai).

My friend took me to this little store in Fanling once and I ate the best pig Knuckles I ever had. The owner's nick name is Gee Cheong Fun, a childhood buddy of my friend.

Oh yes, there are loads of connections between HK and Singapore. Some of my best friends growing up were Singaporeans living in HK.

Ban these types of thread.

I don't like threads with pics of such delicious food.

I banish you KRAIT, with pictures of some HK-style roast duck.

Though it is probably not classified as street food, lol.

 

[KRAIT]

@Chinese-Dragon WTF, I am hungry right now and you are showing me this delicious duck

But seriously this looks juicy.

 

[Chinese-Dragon]

@Chinese-Dragon WTF, I am hungry right now and you are showing me this delicious duck

But seriously this looks juicy.

Oh, you would not believe how juicy it is.

Ask aftazia, I'm sure he has eaten some of this in Singapore.

 

[Sashan]

Oh Man - ban this guy ahfatzia for trolling in this thread. Just came back from gym thinking I burnt some calories and the first thread I open is this - Now I need a beer and Nasi lemak or Chicken karahi with paratta or Pad thai

 

[Koovie]

Nothing beats a good helping of Cheong Fun. Combine it with some Youtiao and you get the best thing ever, Zhaliang.

(I think you guys refer to Youtiao as "You char kway", in HK we call it Yau ja gwai).



Oh yes, there are loads of connections between HK and Singapore. Some of my best friends growing up were Singaporeans living in HK.



I banish you KRAIT, with pictures of some HK-style roast duck.

Though it is probably not classified as street food, lol.

I feel sorry for all veggies.......

 

[shuttler]

油条（you-tiao）+热豆浆 （hot soya milk）for the winter morning！

馄饨 huentun or 云吞 yuntun （dumplings in meat/fish soup)

麻花 mahua

麻球 maqiu / 煎堆 jiandui （deep fried dumplings with sesame coating）

汤丸 tangwan / 汤圆 tangyuan

粽子 zongzi （ boiled sticky rice with meat/beans/nuts/salty duck egg/ dried shrimp/Chinese ham wolfberry... or sweet bean paste fillings - wrapped with lotus or bamboo leaves)

炸豆腐 deep fried doufu served with hot chili paste/ dark vinegar/soy sause

馒头 mantou （steamed bread）

 

[shuttler]

Though it is probably not classified as street food, lol.

Yeah！ It is great food Guangdong Roast Duck - more meaty than Beijing Roast Duck：

I like both. They surely aint street food！ These are Chinese Goumet Dishes！

 

[shuttler]

Xinjiang Kebabs!

Boiled eggs in spiced tea soup

Pan fried scallion pancakes

shao bing 烧饼 （saseme beignet）

稀饭 xifan （porridge）

煎饼 jian bing （ another pan-cake wrapped with scrambled eggs lettuce tomato）

饺子 jiaozi （steamed dumpling with meat/veggie fillings）

锅贴 guotie （pan-fried jiaozi ）