#street-food

#street-food

The crossroads of the Mediterranean, it was founded by the Phoenicians and ruled by the Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, French, and Spanish before becoming part of Italy during the country's unification in 1861. All of these different cultures left their mark on the city's architecture, art, culture, and cuisine, which can still be felt today, making it not only the Mediterranean's melting pot but also one of the best cities to visit in Italy.

I'm a huge foodie. Give me a time, place, and a cuisine, and I'm guaranteed to say yes. From street food staples to comfort dishes, some meals are just so iconic that one bite can instantly transport you to another country - which is especially convenient, since international travel is not in my budget right now. Think you know your global cuisine? I'll show you a photo of a famous international dish, and you'll have to tell me its name. Ready? Set. Go!

By having a big lunch in Italy, for example, you can save money by making an "apericena" your final meal of the evening, as you likely won't be hungry enough for a full-blown meal. It's essentially the Italian equivalent to happy hour, made up of aperitivos and small plates - and it's how Rick Steve's scored free snacks during his travels.

Our restaurant critic Bill Addison teamed up with longtime columnist Jenn Harris again this year to spread out and sample hundreds of different dining establishments - in addition to crucial return visits - to determine a range of 101 restaurants that exemplify everything we love about dining in Southern California. Read the entire guide below, plus our writers' favorite places to sip tea, coffee or cocktails, and the updated Hall of Fame list.

There's something special about street food that cannot be replicated inside a restaurant. Maybe it's the spontaneous decision about what to order, or the personal connection we often develop with our favorite vendors, who soon know us by name. This holiday season, New York City's Museum of Food and Drink is celebrating photography that stars street food vendors from around the globe.

After living in the U.S. for seven years, Hung recently took the streets of New York by storm with an informal, intriguing business. The idea started three years ago when thousands of his fellow Venezuelans came to the Big Apple, but it only materialized a few weeks ago when he began selling portions of Venezuelan-style fried rice (a tropicalized version of the famous chow fan rice, which includes beef, chicken, shrimp, diced ham, vegetables, and wheat germ) in Brooklyn.

For many, the city of Hanoi is a gateway to northern Vietnam 's great adventures-the emerald islets of Ha Long Bay, the terraced hills of Sapa, the karst valleys of Ninh Bình-but it's well worth pausing here before venturing on. Over more than a thousand years, the country's capital has seen imperial dynasties raising Confucian temples, French colonists carving out tamarind-shaded boulevards and yellow-walled villas, and revolutionaries leaving behind slogans, statues, and scars of self-determination-resulting in a gritty yet graceful second city.

In addition to recommending visitors to skip the tourist traps and find traditional local food, Steves encourages sightseers to add stops for kebabs to their Europe itineraries. "Of all the international options in Europe, the ubiquitous kebab stand is my favorite," he wrote on Europe's Cheap Eats. "Kiosks selling Turkish-style döner kebab (rotisserie meat wrapped in pita bread), falafel (fried chickpea patties), and other Middle Eastern dishes are popular in many places, including Germany, Florence, and Paris."

"Taiwan has all of the 'good chaos' of Vietnam or Thailand with delicious street vendors and buzzy motorbikes in the downtown, but all of the 'good order' of Japan or South Korea in terms of public transit or cleanliness. It's not sterile, but it's not rigid. All with a climate like Hawaii."

In Mexico City, markets are bursting with fruits and spices and everything is ridiculously fresh and oozes flavor. An excellent street taco can beat out a Michelin-starred restaurant almost any day. It's all part of the magic of this high-altitude urban valley. Can there be a better metropolis in the world to eat right now? I'm willing to be persuaded - but I lived in Mexico City five years longer than I intended to because of the food.

After a five-year break, the San Francisco Street Food Festival returns November 8-9, 2025 at a new waterfront location - China Basin Park in Mission Rock.

After finding success with Kolamba, first opened in Soho in 2019 with a second coming to Shoreditch last year, Eroshan and Aushi Meewella have now launched a new Sri Lankan restaurant celebrating the island's street food scene. ADOH! in Covent Garden looks the part - the space features a vibrant palette of red, yellow and teal along with stainless steel, corrugated metal sheeting, and two custom murals by Sri Lankan artist Ruwangi "Roo" Amarasinghe.

Americans love hot dogs. In fact, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (yes, that is a thing), Americans consume close to 20 billion hot dogs each year. Cities across the country have their own styles of hot dogs piled high with an array of regional toppings. One very notable variety is the Seattle-style hot dog: a hot dog inside a toasted bun topped with cream cheese and grilled onions, though some varieties also come with jalapeños and sriracha.

The UK's biggest tattoo convention is back at ExCeL London this September and it's going to be bigger than ever. The Big London Tattoo Show is now a full three-day experience with more than 500 tattoo artists from across the globe, alongside live fire shows, graffiti battles, custom cars, street food, fairground rides and a huge alternative market. As an INSIDER you can get 50% off entry on the opening night, Friday 19th September.

Before last year's inaugural Oakland Chinatown Night Market, community leaders had long dreamed of hosting a big, rollicking night market event - the sort of outdoor bash you'll find in cities across Asia. Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council (OCIC) Executive Director Tony Trinh says the hardest part was getting the Chinatown shopkeepers and restaurant owners themselves to believe such a thing was possible.

Bún Chả Hương Liên is a very unassuming establishment. It's cheap, busy, and dimly lit, with plain white tiled walls, communal metal tables, and flimsy plastic stools - not exactly where you picture a former U.S. president dining. Bún chả is a traditional Hanoi dish made with marinated pork patties, grilled pork belly, vermicelli noodles, broth, and herbs. It's delicious, and Bún Chả Hương Liên does an amazing job with it.

E5 is actually home to one of London's oldest and most historic markets. We're talking about Chatsworth Road Market. Beginning in the 1930s, the east London bazaar used to be home to around 200 stalls and open up to five days a week. Now it's a Sunday market that specialises in street food and is home to independent sellers flogging everything from second hand books, to handmade jewellery.

Corn dogs have surpassed the title of "fair food" and permeated day-to-day life, carving out their place in lunchroom cafeterias, frozen food aisles, and even viral TikTok pages.

In a city where eloteros typically dominate Latino neighborhoods, the Caselin family has revitalized the Hollywood area by introducing a beloved Mexican tradition—elotes and esquites—serving them in a charmingly modern way.

Chilean completos are a popular street food that reimagine the classic hot dog with toppings like mayonnaise, avocado, diced onions, and a variety of sauces.

Every night around 6pm, chefs wheel up and put together these yatai stalls along the city's downtown streets. A bustling nightlife scene emerges as patrons crowd into the tiny sidewalk restaurants.