There’s a little less than one month left before Chinese New Year is upon us. If you haven’t already booked your airfare for a little escape, it’s not too late!
Us leaving the office as vacation starts.
Having a hard time deciding where to go for your glorious golden week? Why not travel to one of these delicious destinations in Asia? You’re just a quick flight away from spending an entire seven days eating and drinking your way to inner bliss.
This could be you.
TOKYO, JAPAN
Alongside a vibrant street food scene, Tokyo has the most Michelin-starred restaurants of any city in the entire world with a grand total of 234 amazing eateries, covering all types of Japanese food and international options. You don’t even have to break the bank to eat at one. We once enjoyed a $7USD lunch set at the fantastic 1-starred Nakajima.
What to eat: No worries if you don’t make a Michelin meal, seriously everything is tasty in Tokyo. But you can’t leave the city without a sushi meal. Our favourite was a local working-class sushi bar in Nihonbashi. Make sure to pair your meal up with a glass of Japanese whisky on the rocks. You also can’t miss out on the plethora of amazing ramen noodles, yakitori, and plenty more.
SINGAPORE
Singapore is a tiny city-nation with a huge appetite and a true mecca of culinary crossroads with influences from across Asia. There’s nothing like visiting one of the bustling hawker centres and searching through countless stands in the search for the perfect item to satisfy your hunger. To top it all off, the hawker centres are ridiculously cheap.
What to eat: Anything in the hawker centres, but Singaporeans are particulary proud of bak kut teh (pork rib soup), wonton mee (wontons with noodles), black pepper crab, and laksa (delicious vermicelli with shrimp, cockles, beancurd puffs, and fish in a spicy and savoury coconut broth).
TAINAN, TAIWAN
Two words: night market. The Taiwanese food capital is chock full of them. They operate on different days of the week, so you’ll be able to rotate through them during your stay! Not only do they serve up local fare, but some international favourites also appear in various forms.
What to eat: Whew, seriously so many great dishes. We absolutely love the clam soup, wok-fried green beans with real wasabi (the actual wasabi root grows in the mountains of Taiwan. It’s the real deal instead of that green-coloured horseradish everyone eats, and imparts a subtle wasabi flavour when fried), Chiayi turkey rice, oyster omelettes, and plenty more. Make sure to wash it all down with a bottle of the super fresh Taiwan 18-day beer.
Fun fact: While snack places in Shanghai like to advertise Taiwanese fried chicken, the night markets in Tainan sell Shanghainese fried chicken. They both taste, well, like chicken, delicious chicken.
BANGKOK, THAILAND
Before any trip to Thailand, it’s important to mentally and physically prepare yourself for a non-stop barrage of spicy food. Lunch, dinner, snacks, and yes, even breakfast is spicy. Bangkok is a bustling, modern city with a diverse range of delicious food and another place where street food rules supreme.
What to eat: Real pad thai, grilled chicken skewers, boat noodles, whole bbq fish, sour issan pork sausages, mango sticky rice, the list never ends. Just be ready for a spicy kick.
GEORGE TOWN, MALAYSIA
The capital city of the Malaysian state of Penang, George Town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that serves up plenty of great things to eat. If the hustle and bustle of the other dining destinations in our list seems like a bit too much, George Town is a chilled out location with a much smaller population. Their street food incorporates a wonderful blend of Malay, Chinese, Indian, Peranakan, Thai, and European influences.
What to eat: char koay teow (fried ricecake strips), penang assam laksa (a native Penang version of laksa), lor bak (pieces of meat wrapped in tofu skin and marinated in starchy braising sauce), and nasi kandar (fragrant rice topped with your choice of curried meat and vegetables).
It actually pained us to only mention five different dining destinations, but if we wrote about all the places we’d go to eat, this post would quickly turn into a novel and a half.
Cheers to plenty of fat hongbaos flying in your vicinity this year to help make your foodie dreams a reality!
Where are you headed this Spring Festival?
