Authentic, traditional, delicious: The world’s best destinations for street food

There are few things better for the gastronomically obsessed traveller than street food. This style of eating represents the very essence of a culture, with all of the affectations and frippery stripped away.

Street food is the basics; the only thing that matters is taste. The location, the service, the presentation – none of that means a thing.

And so you find yourself sitting on some rickety metal chair a few centimetres away from rushing traffic, eating food with your hands or plastic cutlery, aware that crowds of people are waiting impatiently for you to give up your spot, enjoying some of the best food on the planet.

Street food is perfect in many ways: it’s affordable, it’s authentic, it’s traditional, it’s delicious. And if you want the world’s best, this is where you will find it.

Singapore

It may come as a surprise to discover that Singapore doesn’t have the pop-up markets of, say, Thailand or Malaysia. Instead, Singapore’s vendors are housed in hawker centres: permanent, open-air facilities that provide, clean, comfortable seating, and an array of affordable purveyors.

Hawkers serve ranges from traditional Malay, to Chinese, Indian, Peranakan, and dishes such as Hainanese chicken rice that have become Singapore’s own. The quality across the board is incredible.

Mexico

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Wander around any city in Mexico and very soon you will smell something delicious: charring meat, roasting vegetables, salsas being pounded and stirred, juices being extracted. Some of the best food in Mexico is served at the smallest, hole-in-the-wall taquerias, by street stands making traditional snacks, by just one guy standing at a grill roasting big cobs of corn.

Mexican cuisine varies wildly from region to region, so you will always find something different on the streets, always something tasty, and always something cheap.

Spain

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What is street food? Some will say it has to be cooked on the street, served at small carts, eaten at tables that disappear when the night is over. For us, however, street food is simply food that is eaten on the street. It doesn’t matter where it came from – as long as it’s cheap, casual, and eaten while sitting or standing outside, you have street food.

That’s how Spain qualifies. Because while you won’t find many classic street-food vendors, what you will discover is a whole swathe of tapas and pintxos bars that often spill out onto the street. Particularly in the Basque Country, diners will grab a few small bites of food and then stand outside in packed alleys to consume. And that food is so, so good.

Thailand

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There’s a good argument to be made that Thai street food is the real street food – and the best street food. Thai markets usually appear out of nothing. During the day it’s just a normal pavement, but at night all of these incredible cooks arrive with their pushcart kitchens and their plastic chairs and away they go.

Whether you’re in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Chiang Rai, or anywhere really, you will find street-food markets where you can buy some of the best food you’ve ever eaten, washed down with a cold beer, for a few dollars.

USA

Tacos from Kogi Korean BBQ Taco truck, Los Angeles.Credit: Alamy

The USA has street food. It might be more of a restaurant scene here, but “food truck” culture is also huge in the US, and you can get some cracking cuisine. The food served at trucks and caravans is often inventive and experimental, though sometimes traditional, and always hugely interesting: Korean tacos in LA, Hainanese chicken rice in Portland, Texas barbecue in Austin, African-American-Mexican fusion in Atlanta.

China

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This is a huge, huge country that really knows how to do street food. Find a market in China and you are likely to find purveyors of jiaozi (dumplings), baozi (steamed buns), chuan’r (char-grilled skewers), jianbing (fried pancakes), and many more tasty delights.

To walk a street-food market in China is to gaze directly into a culture and a people, to see what they love, what they desire, and the full breadth of their cuisine.

India

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Here is another huge country with a wildly diverse food scene, and a passion for eating the best of these dishes from vendors on the street. Mumbai is probably the most famous city for street food, and fair enough when you have the likes of vada pav – a bread roll filled with a fried potato patty and chutney – as well as biryani, samosas, roasted meats, traditional sweets and more.

Every city and town in India has its own street-food scene, and all are worth investigating with an empty stomach and an adventurous soul.

Malaysia

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To understand the joy of Malaysian street food, consider some of the vast range of dishes on offer: char kway teow (stir-fried noodles), lok lok (food on skewers), laksa (noodle soup), chicken rice, nasi lemak (rice with peanuts, dried fish and sambal), and cendol (shaved ice with creamy toppings). Like its neighbours, Thailand and Singapore, Malaysia has a deeply ingrained street-food culture that is a pleasure to discover.

Turkey

A balik-ekmek – a fish sandwich. Credit: Getty

As soon as you arrive in Istanbul, head down to the northern end of Galata Bridge and breath in deeply. No doubt you will smell charring, beautifully cooked fish, and you will see where it’s coming from, too: the vendors peddling balik-ekmek, simple fish sandwiches that are so deservedly popular in this fine city.

There’s plenty of variety to Turkish street food too, from traditional simit, or sesame-crusted bread, to kebabs, flatbreads, stuffed breads and plenty more.

Morocco

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Morocco has a sophisticated and highly enjoyable restaurant scene; however, it also has street food, which is some of the best in the world. Stroll the Jemaa El-Fna market in Marrakech and you will find an entire world of cuisine at your fingertips.

There will be the classic tagines of course, and Merguez sausages, even flatbreads that will be recognisable. But go into Morocco with an open mind and you will discover all sorts of delectable morsels you won’t soon forget.