Discovering the best local street food is one of the most exciting aspects of travel. To find top-notch street food, start by researching popular vendors through local food blogs and travel guides. Ask locals for their recommendations, and visit well-known markets and food streets bustling with activity. Look for vendors with a clean setup and a steady stream of customers, as these are often indicators of quality. Don’t hesitate to try regional specialties, and use food apps and social media to find highly-rated spots. For an immersive experience, consider joining a street food tour. Keeping an open mind and being adventurous will lead you to some unforgettable culinary delights.
You may associate Parisian cuisine with high-end restaurants and haute cuisine, but Paris also has a thriving street food scene.
If the French are known for anything, it’s their love of good food, reflected here in a wide variety of offerings including:
- French bread
- Pita bread
- Baguette sandwiches
- Falafel wraps
- Vietnamese spring rolls
- Lebanese pizza
And much more. (Yes, a lot of French street food revolves around their legendary skills for baking bread…after all, the famous French baguette was even granted UNESCO World Heritage status)!
Paris has a multitude of crepe stands and if you are in town, this is a must. These sweet pancakes are often filled with dessert fillings such as Nutella, jam, sugar, and lemon. However, you can also go for the savory breakfast known as galettes. These are filled with nutty buckwheat flour and egg, cheese and onion, or other pickled vegetables. They are the perfect start to the day.
Another Parisian street food to look out for is the croque-monsieur, a traditional French grilled sesame seed sandwich with ham, cheese, and béchamel sauce, great paired with wines of the world.
CNN rated Durban as having the best street food culture in the world, and anyone who’s tried it understands why. The complex and unique combination of flavors stems from Durban’s diverse mix of English, Dutch, Portuguese, Indian and African influences, the most notable of which is from the Indian community. Durban has built a reputation for having some of the best curries in the world outside of India (locals will say even better).
While you find street food on just about any corner of the inner city, the best place to get a taste is The Golden Mile; a popular beachfront stretch with a vast selection of options to suit every taste. It’s also a beautiful spot for eating street food and looking out over the beach and the Indian Ocean.
Durban is also where the famous national dish, bunny chow (pictured), originated from the Indian community. Despite the funny name, there is no rabbit in this dish. It combines bread and curry and simply must be experienced when visiting South Africa, also one of the world’s best places to see wildlife. It is also a popular street snack found all over the country, including in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Then there is also:
- Roti john, a famous street food of mutton curry and cheese stuffed in a wrap and a known Durban “hangover dish
- Walkie-talkies (made from braised chicken heads and feet)
- Smiley (a boiled sheep’s head), mostly on offer in the townships. Despite its ghastly appearance, it’s surprisingly tasty!
Latin America is renowned for its street food, and Mexico City has a reputation as one of the greatest cities in the world for it. After all, Mexico’s food culture invented the food truck concept, which found its way up to the United States and can now worldwide: from Paris to Perth, food trucks have become synonymous with global street food culture.
Understandably, tacos in Mexico City are next-level, very different from the versions you will find at your local fast food restaurant. You will find:
- Tacos de tripa, slow-cooked fried pork intestines sizzling on tortillas.
- Gringa is a flour tortilla with al pastor meat, cheese, and pineapple on top.
- Taco tote (shrimp, marlin, chili peppers, and cheese)
Hungry yet? How about a burrito of minced beef, grilled corn, sour cream, refried beans, and cheese?
Holy guacamole!
Another foodies’ paradise, Istanbul, has it all. This is hardly surprising as Istanbul has been known as the ‘East-meets-West city’ since ancient times. Istanbul’s cuisine is some of the richest and most delectable in the world, and like most other destinations on this list, you can find just as good (if not better) food on the side of the street as you can inside a fancy restaurant. You will find street food served by peddlers, stands on street corners, carts and street vendors.
Istanbul street food includes:
- Döner kebab, falafel and shawarma (side note: if you haven’t tried Turkish pulled-pork shawarma, you haven’t lived),
- Simit (a freshly baked, molasses-dipped, and sesame-crusted dough whose scent will draw you in from a mile away),
- Balık-ekmek (a fish sandwich),
- Koçan mısır and közde mısır (which is just boiled and grilled corn, but next-level delicious)
Above all, we suggest you go for the köfte ekmek (pictured), a meatball sandwich with fresh-sliced tomatoes, parsley, onions, and grilled green chili peppers. Looks delish, doesn’t it?
Head to Ho Chi Minh City, and you’ll see that the street food scene doesn’t stop at banh mi. While excellent and authentic Vietnamese cuisine is found all up and down the country, nowhere has a better quality and diversity of street food than old Saigon. You can book many Ho Chi Minh street food tours, some even involving cooking classes. Alternatively, you can do your research and undertake a self-guided street food tour of the city’s districts.
Other signature Vietnamese street food dishes include:
- Bánh bèo, which translates to “water fern cake”, is made from rice and tapioca flour topped with toasted shrimp powder and crunchy pork rinds.
- Bang trang, or “rice paper rolls”
- Bánh xèo, sizzling rice crepes
Many street food tours involve teaching you how to make these delicacies with your bare (clean) hands. They can be filled with sweet or savory fillings and enjoyed with sweet soy sauce or other dipping sauce.
