Asia's best street eats

Photo: NEWS.com.au

VAST shopping malls are a symbol of South-East Asia's rapidly-increasing prosperity. But locals cling defiantly to one age-old tradition: a passion for tasty street eats.

THAILAND

Bangkok street food clusters near shopping malls and markets, but almost every soi (side-street) has a cart with a few stools.The trick is picking one which seems popular and where food is cooked to order.

Noodle dishes, including pad thai, are common as is made-on-the-spot som tum (papaya salad).

Alternatively, try barbecued chicken with sticky rice.

Outside Bangkok, the tourist destinations of Phuket and Pattaya have busy "night markets". Provincial cities have their own night markets.

Increasingly, Thais head for shopping mall food courts. The custom is to buy coupons at a cashier's kiosk. The coupons are accepted by all stalls and given as change. Left-over coupons are exchanged for cash at the counter where they were bought.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,26058,23913459-5011965,00.html