Let’s start by setting the context: I love food. I love to eat and as I’ve progressed through adulthood, I’ve added more and more things to my “yes” column, effectively leaving my picky childhood habits in the dust. I recently read an article about food and taste that indicated that some foods require five tastes before your taste buds can get used to them. Let’s put it this way – if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again! I am the spokes model for this theory, having added food and drinks such as beer, wine, coffee, steak, prawns, chillies, mayonnaise, tomatoes, and plenty of others to my list of much-loved items, where, as a young child, they would once go untouched in favour of a bowl of plain rice.
What is the point of this? Well, I have become very fond of many ethnic cuisines, with Thai being one of my favourites. As such, I was really excited by the culinary aspect of a trip through South East Asia. And did it ever deliver.
I Love Hawker Food, Singapore
Corn in a cup in Singapore!
One of the most fascinating things about eating in Asia is the street food culture. From the hawker markets of Singapore, where the street food idea has grown into more of a food court setting; to the tiny plastic chairs of Vietnam; Asia has got street food down to an art. It isn’t the hot dog stands that are common at home; it is the whole gamut of local cuisine prepared right in front of you.
There are big pots of broth; charcoal BBQs cooking meat on a stick and meat or fish balls; rice cookers of industrial capacity; curries and stir-fry selections; and more. Some places have one specialty so you don’t need to choose, you merely take what’s on offer, like the delicious northern Thai specialty of Khao Soi Gai – a coconut chicken soup with noodles that is amazing. Others have a menu where you can choose from a selection of dishes.
Khao Soi Gai in Chiang Mai
It’s not only meals on offer on the street, but drinks and fruit as well. There are so many fresh fruit stalls where you can choose to have a mango or pineapple or jackfruit or coconut or strawberries. The vendor will cut the selected fruit for you with insanely sharp knives and serve it up in a plastic bag with sharp satay-style wooden sticks to eat it with. For an extra charge, you can get chilli sugar to dip the fruit in!
mmm Chilli Strawbs!
I am not sure what I am eating, at Chatuchuk Market, Bangkok
Asian coffee from the streets is amazing. The coffee is brewed thick and strong, served with condensed milk and sometimes sugar. You can get iced versions (as before, but poured over ice) which are incredibly lovely to beat the Asian humidity! Also available on many streets are fruit smoothies. We had these all over, and found them refreshing in the sun. They are easy to find in any of the touristic areas, as they are deemed cheap, easy, safe, and comforting for many foreigners!
condensed milk – a coffee must!
Also in the category of foreigner-friendly food are crepes and “pancakes”. In Bangkok, we were first introduced to the sweet roti-style pancake, filled with banana, an egg, and condensed milk (they love that stuff in Asia!). Fried on a huge metal pan that is essentially a part of a food cart, this treat is made before your eyes in minutes. As we continued travelling, however, we noticed that you could get these rotis with more “Western” fillings in many tourist spots. Banana/Nutella was a common combination that I must admit to having on numerous occasions.
banana roti in Vang Vieng, Laos
mmmm Nutella
In Laos, it was more common to get regular crepes, cooked on a big slab in front of you, with a selection of sweet or savoury fillings. One lady we frequented in Luang Prabang was there from early morning to late evening every day, making up crepes and sandwiches for the tourist crowd. Given the influence of French cooking during the Indochinese period, baguettes are also popular in Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos. Vietnam serves up Banh Mi on the street, baguettes filled with salads and pates, where Laos offered more varieties of fillings, especially in tourist zones.
Crepe and coffee in Luang Prabang, Laos
While some people might be frightened of eating food prepared on the street, there is a good point to consider. Street food is prepared fresh, right in front of your eyes. The hole in the wall (or fancy) restaurant down the street could be up to who-knows-what in the kitchen out of sight. But the street vendor has nowhere to hide. They cook using huge vats of oil that H&S would never allow in Australia or Canada, given the chance of them being knocked over. But given their weight, what are the chances of that? The charcoals are kept hot in front of you, and you can see your meat BBQing to perfection.
Street food in Hanoi, Vietnam.
There are big pots of washing water, with real plates, bowls, and cutlery used. You pull up a spot at a plastic table or a long bench, sometimes sitting in the smallest possible stool that you worry you might break. Think child-sized plastic patio furniture!
Street food in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Bia Hoi in Hanoi, Vietnam
From pho to crepes, curries to coffee, there is never a lack of options when eating on the streets of South East Asia. We even had deep-fried cheese sticks on a corner in Hanoi, served with our 5,000 Dong (25 cent) Bia Hoi (cold fresh beer). Maybe not the healthiest night, but it was New Year’s Eve! We loved experimenting with the various options on the street while we travelled through Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and Singapore. It was a great way to try to eat more authentic, local food a lot of the time (when not noshing on the banana/nutella crepes or roti), and to eat cheaply. Quite often, a serving of street food was only a dollar or two, and usually under five at the most. Definitely the best way to eat on a budget!
Pho in Saigon (not quite on the street, but close enough!)
Didn’t try these critters in Chiang Rai… no time for the 5 tries…!
I am sure I haven’t touched on all the street food varieties that we saw and ate while hopping from city to city, but this entry is just a “taste” of some things we enjoyed. I will write some more about the food we ate later, from some local specialties that vary from region to region, to the cooking class we did in Thailand. Food was a highlight of our trip to Asia, and I’d recommend street food to anyone!
“street” food in Railay, Krabi, Thailand
Yak Down Under 