The best – and tastiest – way to fast-track your understanding of a city’s cuisine is to embark on a guided walking tour that includes sampling the local food. Tuck into the best offerings from street food stalls, meet chefs at cafes and restaurants, and local producers at markets. Best of all, undertake a tour when you first arrive in a city and you’ll have a mouthwatering hit list of places to return to.
1. Street food in Hanoi, Vietnam
Tours kick off at the bustling Chau Long market in Hanoi’s labyrinthine Old Quarter, before a multi-course, multi-location feast of local street food including pho bo (beef noodle soup), robust bánh xèo (egg crepes), and gossamer-light banh cuon, (steamed rice crepes filled with minced pork, shallots and mushrooms). Tours usually conclude at the ramshackle Café Duy Tri (43a P Yen Phu) for sua chua ca phe (coffee with yoghurt). Contact: Hanoi Cooking Centre (www.hanoicookingcentre.com)
2. Craft beer in Gastown, Vancouver
3. Exploring markets in two continents, Istanbul
4. French street food, Nice
5. North Beach’s Italian heritage, San Francisco
6. Discovering Brick Lane, London
7. Hawker food, Georgetown, Penang
8. Hobart’s emerging food scene, Tasmania
9. Mexican street food, Mexico City
10. Coffee, cheese and beer, Wellington