Top 10 food cities in Asia beyond Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong

Bangkok hogs the limelight, but Chiang Mai provides the chance to try northern dishes such spicy sausage, Burmese curry, fish curry, sticky rice in banana leaf and lovely salads of green mango and soft-shell crab. There's less emphasis on chilli, making northern dishes kinder on the tongue. Markets supply all the fruit you could ever name (and a few you can't) and there are good restaurants galore. See tourismchiangmai.org

HO CHI MINH CITY

The city's street stalls, especially around Ben Thanh Market, are famous: just point and tuck in. Dishes to try include chicken and mushroom soup, pancakes, and seasoned beef with peanut sauce wrapped in leaves, all washed down with freshly sugarcane juice or cold beer. Baguettes stuffed with salted pork or pickled vegetables and national obsession pho (soup noodles) are other local favourites. See vietnamtourism.com

MELAKA, MALAYSIA

For a small city, Melaka packs a big flavour punch combining Malay, Chinese, Indian, Portuguese and Dutch influences. Expect pork stews, fish soups, coconut-based curries, stir-fried noodles, and soup noodles such as laksa. Meanwhile you can tuck into pan-Malaysian dishes too, such as rojak (spicy seafood and fruit salad), curries with rice, and rojak pasembur (potato, cucumber, tofu and prawns smothered in peanut sauce). See malaysia.travel

MUMBAI, INDIA

Dining in Mumbai offers all the varied pan-Indian cuisines of its urban immigrants. Local coastal Konkani cuisine emphasises seafood such as seafood curries, clams, crab, and fish in coconut sauce or spicy marinades. Evening food stalls along Chowpatti Beach tempt with snacks such as bhel puri (spicy puffed rice with condiments), fried vegetables in banana leaf and ice-creams flavoured with mango, mulberry or custard apple. See incredibleindia.org

KYOTO, JAPAN

Whether you're experiencing an elaborate kaiseki meal – the gorgeously plated Japanese equivalent of haute cuisine – or plundering the fabulous food halls found in department store basements, dining in Kyoto is a treat for the tastebuds and eyes. A highlight is centuries-old Nishikikoji-dori alley, where tiny specialty restaurants and food stalls sell grilled fish and octopus, bean-paste buns, glutinous rice sweets, fresh wasabi and more. See kyoto.travel

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

Few things beat a Korean barbecue, in which you grill meat at your restaurant table. Try galbi (beef or pork ribs) and bulgogi (marinated beef), accompanied by an amazing variety of pickled kimchi dishes. You'll find whole alleys of cupboard-size restaurants where locals sit cross-legged on the floor, wolfing down sizzling meats. Try the traditional restaurants of Insadong Street or trendy dining joints of Itaewon. See visitseoul.net

MANILA, PHILIPPINES

Local, Spanish, Chinese and American influences are felt on eclectic Filipino cuisine and there's more choice in Manila than anywhere else. Locals love snacking at street stalls or in food halls, especially on the heat-beating, ice-filled dessert halo-halo, which contains ice-cream, condensed milk, beans and jellied fruit. Pork spare ribs, barbecue chicken, spicy crab and arroz caldo (rice porridge with ginger and chicken) are other must-tries. See tourismphilippines.com.au

CHENGDU, CHINA

Few cities are as food-obsessed as the capital of Sichuan Province, famous for its spicy food flavoured with abundant chilli and mouth-numbing pepper, and one of the four great cuisines of China. Every street intersection has a restaurant (and often four) tempting with double-cooked pork, noodles and fiery hotpots. Teahouses are a regional institution where you can while away hours over fragrant green tea and nibbles. See gochengdu.cn

Brian Johnston travelled as a guest of tourism offices and at his own expense.