Asian street fast food
Bangkok
Thailand is especially loved by Western tourists for a number of reasons, and Bangkok is the largest and, undoubtedly, the most touristic city in the country. And fast food in the capital of the kingdom is also in perfect order: more than 20,000 street vendors. Tom yum goong soup has been my long-time love. For those who have not been to Thailand: the base of tom yum goong is shrimp broth (with shrimp as the main filler), a spice paste that includes peppercorns, fresh coriander roots and Thai ginger, garlic, and ta-krai stalks, lemongrass. It is seasoned with pepper paste, lime juice and leaves, and fermented fish sauce.
A few words should be said about the sauce separately. In Thailand it is called nam pla, in Vietnam - nuoc mam, in Cambodia - prahok; the name in all cases translates as "fish water". Western tourists do not like it - because of the sharp smell of not the most pleasant nature and a mass of stupid legends. So: it is made not from rotten fish, but from pickled fish that has fermented in the sun. Moreover, only light fractions collected from the surface of large vats are used - there is absolutely nothing to fear. And the taste is so good and appropriate in the context of Southeast Asian cuisine that it is positively impossible to do without "fish water" when preparing a great many dishes.
But let us return to tom yum goong.
Pros: very tasty, and the abundance of pepper in combination with constant boiling guarantees protection against any microbes and viruses.
Cons: sometimes tom yum goong is so spicy that it can cause an allergic rash if you are not used to it. Excessive spiciness is well relieved by plain boiled rice, which should be freshly cooked and hot.
Kuala Lumpur
This is the second most popular Asian capital among tourists. If we set aside Chinese and Indian cuisines (which are very popular and well represented) and turn to Malay cuisine, then the signature street dishes should probably be considered chicken satay skewers on bamboo sticks. They are eaten like this: in one hand you hold the skewer, in the other a bowl with a spicy pepper or sour tamarind sauce, dip pieces of meat into it and eat. Satay is also made from beef, fish, octopus, but the classic is still chicken.
Another main dish (both in restaurants and street fast food) is nasi. In principle, nasi translates as "rice". By itself, of course, it is not interesting - the whole point is in the additions to it. Nasi padang - rice with chicken in curry sauce - is very popular among Malays themselves. Nasi goreng is a bit more complicated and more expensive. First, the rice is fried, secondly, beef, shrimp, the same chicken, green peas, garlic, onions, chili paste are added to it...
Pros: street food in Malaysia is relatively safe. In addition, building your own nasi can turn into a nice entertainment.
Cons: chicken skewers have a rather primitive taste. And when choosing components for nasi, it is easy to make a mistake in ingredients and, even more so, in sauces - there is a high risk of over-peppering the dish.
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City
In the case of Vietnam, the main flow of tourists goes through the southern capital - Ho Chi Minh City (in the old style - Saigon). The two main dishes are meat soup pho and nem-Saigon (pancakes with filling). Finding pho soup is very simple: if you see a person on the street of any Vietnamese city with a yoke, on one end of which is a portable brazier with a pot of broth, and on the other - all other necessary ingredients, know that in front of you is bac pho. That is, uncle pho - a street vendor of appetizing soup. As simple (and tasty!) pho soup is, so refined are nem-Saigon - pancakes with a complex filling in banh trang - thin wafers made of rice flour. Plus filling of pork, onions, shrimp, rice vermicelli, egg yolk, sugar and soy sauce... In general, Vietnamese people make nem-Saigon well, everyone else - not so much.
Pros: both pho and nem-Saigon cost a pittance, and in combination provide an excellent Vietnamese-style lunch.
Cons: the meat in pho always remains slightly undercooked, so in no case eat pho with pork (rarely, but it happens) - only with beef!
Phnom Penh
A person going to Cambodia is involuntarily an extreme sportsman. Therefore, he must be ready for extreme food: vaccinations, vaccinations, and once again vaccinations. After all, in this country even pest control happens originally - they eat them. And what would you say, for example, about such fast food options as fried swallows, lotus nuts instead of seeds, or duck embryos (raw, straight from eggs, with hot sauce and lemon juice)?
It is still better to settle on nom banh chok - a traditional Khmer dish, relatively safe for a Western stomach. Rice noodles and vegetables - the most diverse, from cucumber to banana flowers and water lily rhizomes. Nom banh chok comes in two different types - red (hot chicken curry is added to the noodles) and yellow (pieces of fish in lemongrass sauce provide satiety and taste). Another good "ethnically pure" option is dim sum (also known as nom pau). That is, a rice flour flatbread with a filling of minced pork with egg. Sometimes tourists are misled by the red food coloring on top of the flatbread - dim sum is not a dessert, but a full-fledged meal.
Pros: nom banh chok is made with so many endemic ingredients that you will not try anything like it anywhere else in the world. Tasty, educational and very cheap.
Cons: any Cambodian street food should be treated with maximum caution!
Manila
Rare is the Russian tourist who gets to Manila. And that's a shame - the national fast food is very interesting: from pork blood casseroles to specially prepared chicken feet. By the way, it's amusing: the latter are called 'adidas'. Which leads to some reflections... Add to this animal and bird offal in all possible forms, binacol soup cooked in a bamboo node, and suckling pigs roasted on a spit. Recently, pearl cocktails have become extremely popular in Manila. They become pearly thanks to small balls of tapioca or sago.
In their natural form, such balls are small and dark, but when properly prepared, they become translucent, with delicate pearlescent tints. It is with this tapioca pearl that trendy cocktails are mixed. The taste can be very different. Everything depends on the other ingredients. One of the most popular (at least among Americans) versions is made with milk pudding, crushed ice, and cold tea. Coconut-based mixes also work well. The two most popular street chains selling pearl cocktails are Zagu and Quickly. The preferences of white people are divided roughly evenly between them.
Pros: an unusual taste, looks very beautiful in the glass, refreshes in the heat.
Cons: any cocktails with ice in Asia are unsafe!