The most authentic Southeast Asian foods are to be found in the small alleys and laneways reached aboard a tuk-tuk or decrepit taxi, finds Brett Atkinson.
From the growth of food trucks to the proliferation of farmers' markets around the country, street food is on the rise in New Zealand. Some of our favourite flavours are available on the pavements of the compelling cities of Southeast Asia. Join a tour, pull up a tiny blueplastic chair on the side of the street and explore the region's most authentic culinary experiences. Schedule a tour for when you arrive in a city, and you'll soon be confident to discover more local street eats on your own.
Bangkok, Thailand
Three-wheeled transport is the choice of Bangkok Food Tours, and its Best Eats by Midnight foodie excursion careens around the Thai capital in a convoy of tuk-tuks. Tours kick off around 8pm, and pack in a mobile buffet including the city's best pad Thai and flavour-packed khao niaow ma muang (fresh mango and coconut sticky rice). Additional stops include Bangkok's famed Wat Pho temple - comparatively deserted and bathed in moonlit shadows - and the city's biggest late-night flower market.
Expect a bit of tuk-tuk racing from the competitive drivers of the nimble three-wheelers, and beer and cocktails atop a hidden rooftop bar. Most tours drop participants off after an action-packed four hours.
Must-try dish Guay tiew kua gai is a Bangkok spin on stir-fried noodles with chicken. Look forward to a subtle smokiness courtesy of the vendors' charred woks, which have been used for generations.
Local knowledge Visit for April's Songkran water festival and experience the bonus of full-on water fights between the street vendors of Chinatown's Yaowarat Rd.
While you're in town Check out cool cafes, vintage clothing and vinyl stores in the emerging hipster scenes of the Ari and Thonglor neighbourhoods.
Rangoon, Burma
In Rangoon, the street food of the capital of modern Burma blends culinary cues from surrounding nations. Yangon Food Tours combine walking amid the city's colonial cityscape with short hops in Asia's most decrepit Toyota taxis. Simple stalls sell samosa thoke - Indian-style samosas drizzled with tamarind and a turmeric broth - and spicy Shan noodles (Shan kauk sweh) daubed with peanuts, sesame oil and fiery Sichuan chillis. Steaming vats of broth announce street-corner vendors selling the Burmese national dish of mohinga, a noodle soup infused with tangy lemongrass, and deserving a global reputation on a par with Vietnam's pho. Yangon Food Tours' last stop is the barbecue restaurants of Chinatown where grilled tilapia, shellfish and lobsters combine with chilled Myanmar lager and shifting breezes from the Irrawaddy River.
Barbecue seafood in Yangon, Myanmar. Photo / Supplied
Local knowledge Mohinga is Burma's most flexible dish. Boiled eggs, tofu, chickpea wafers or plump Chinese doughnuts are all optional extras.
While you're in town Adjourn for a gin and tonic to the Writer's Bar at the Strand, one of Asia's most gracious colonial hotels.
Penang, Malaysia
The street-food scene in Penang is so good Singaporeans fly to the Malaysian island for the weekend just to eat. Indian, Malay and Chinese flavours combine through the local culinary lens of Nyonya cuisine, and evening excursions with Food Tour Penang cover all the bases. Definitely skip lunch before a few hours of snacking, grazing, drinking and eating as the tropical afternoon turns to night. Fried seafood at Penang's rickety clan jetties segue to the refreshing iced jelly treat called cendol, before heaving plates of chicken satay, char kuey teow fried noodles and grilled tamarind prawns. There are too many different dishes to sample in Penang's fragrantly smoky hawker centres, and by the time most groups adjourn to Little India, it's a battle to down a last vegetarian treat or a mug of sweet masala tea.
Street scene in Georgetown, Malaysia. Photo / Carol Atkinson
Photo / Supplied
Must-try dish Assam laksa, a local Nyonya version of Malaysia's classic noodle soup, enlivened with a dollop of tamarind.
Local knowledge Order refreshing nutmeg juice, a tangy treat served with Chinese sour plums, and only available in Penang.
While you're in town Explore the street art scene of colonial George Town, Penang's Unesco world heritage-listed capital.
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Four decades after the end of the Vietnam War, the country's economic capital is an enthralling Asian mega-city coursing with kinetic rivers of two-wheeled transport. Brave the irresistible mayhem on the back of a scooter with XO Tours. XO's guides are all young Saigonese women with excellent English skills and dressed in ao dais, Vietnam's elegant national dress. After-dark tours negotiate the city's night-time energy, bobbing and weaving down surging boulevards and concealed laneways to uncover Chinese night markets, neighbourhoods packed with street-side seafood stalls, and sprawling barbecue restaurants. Tours kick off with a hearty bowl of bun bo hue, (noodles with beef and lemongrass), before continuing on a multi-stop, multi-course menu including grilled prawns and barbecued goat wrapped in rice paper and fresh herbs.
Enjoying street food with XO Tours in Vietnam. Photo / Brett Atkinson
Photo / Supplied
Must-try dish Grilled scallops with peanuts, scallions and ginger.
Local knowledge XO stands for xe om, translating approximately to "Honda hug" in Vietnamese: one of the ways to hang on as you're zipping around the streets of Saigon.
While you're in town Sample the craft beers at the Pasteur Brewing Company, infused with local ingredients like rambutan, lemongrass and fragrant peppercorns from Phu Quoc Island.
