The massive city of Bangkok teems with vendors selling food on the street, in hawker centers and at floating markets. The city’s bustling Chinatown is especially impressive with its colorful sites, tantalizing tastes and exotic aromas. To be clear, street food is only part of Bangkok’s food story. The Thai capital has restaurants at all price points including Michelin starred restaurants like Gaggan. There’s even a Michelin starred street food restaurant, Raan Jay Fai, that serves omelettes loaded with fresh crabmeat.
If Naples just had pizza, it would be enough to qualify the southern Italian city to rank as one of the world’s great foodie cities. But, as it turns out, Neapolitan pizza is just one part of the Naples food story. Food favorites in Naples include Pasta alla Genovese and Pesce Crudo, not to mention Fiocco di Neve, our new favorite sweet and a solid contender to replace the Sfogliatella as the best pastry in Naples. However, pizza will be number one on our agenda when we return to Naples yet again.
Paris is always a good idea whether you’re a lover of art, architecture, history or especially food. The city is nothing short of a veritable smorgasbord with temptations hiding in plain site on every street and in every arrondissement. The restaurants in Paris are our raison d’être. From gastronomic Michelin starred temples like L’Arpege to intimate, energetic, internationally influenced dining rooms like Le Rigmarole to classic bistros like Paul Bert, the powerhouse dining doesn’t stop.
Charleston has high standards when it comes to food. These standards don’t just apply to fancy food, as the charming city has more than its fair share of both highfalutin restaurants and down-and-dirty diners. There’s nothing more comforting than chowing down on buttery shrimp and grits in Charleston, especially the luxurious version at Husk. And then there’s classic southern barbecue like whole hog, cooked low and slow and served on a sandwich, at Rodney Scott’s BBQ.
With a nickname like La Grassa (the fat one), Bologna may very well be Italy’s most gastronomic city. This status is no accident. Bologna is literally situated in the heart of Emilia Romagna, otherwise known as Italy’s Food Valley. Beyond fresh pasta, Bologna is justifiably famous for products like mortadella, the inspiration for baloney in America, and gelato. Home to gelato machine factory Carpigiani, many of the world’s best gelato makers learned their craft here.
With a reputation for eating until they drop, the people in Osaka don’t mess around when it comes to Japanese food. Their city, nicknamed Tenka no Daidokoro (the nation’s kitchen), is nothing short of an Asian food city paradise filled with vendors selling Okonomiyaki and Takoyaki throughout the city. Like many food travelers who visit Osaka, we spent a good bit of time eating snack food on neon-lit Dotonbori Street and sushi in the Kuromon Ichiba Market. Without doubt, both are worthy activities. But Osaka is also city where it’s possible to experience a multi-course Kappao meal and cook your own Kobe beef at Korean-inspired Yakiniku barbecue restaurants in the city’s intimate Tenma neighborhood.
While Paris is France’s capital and most famous city, Lyon is arguably the country’s food capital. This is not a new development. Lyon has beckoned food travelers for decades if not longer. The French food city hit our radar when gastronomic relatives waxed poetically about eating Volaille de Bresse en Vessie, Paul Bocuse’s infamous dish featuring a chicken cooked in a pig’s bladder, at the late chef’s Lyon restaurant. The city has a slew of casual restaurants called bouchons that serve homemade comfort food like Quenelle de Brochet, Pâté en Croûte and Salade Lyonniase, the city’s namesake salad with frisée, lardons and a poached egg.
2003 was the debut year of Noma, the pioneer of what has since been called New Nordic Cuisine. Since then, Klaus Meyer and Chef Renée Redzepi have proven that excellent food can be locally sourced and artfully prepared. And at the same time, Copenhagen’s food scene has grown exponentially. Copenhagen is a magnet for young chefs from all over the world looking to discover new skills while proving their mettle in the kitchens at the best Copenhagen restaurants. Beyond upscale dining, the city has a plethora of incredible baked goods, especially layered pastries and sourdough breads, along with a host of chef-driven international cuisine.
Taipei comes alive at night. This is when night markets open and the city’s streets become culinary playgrounds filled with stalls and people. Taipei famously comes alive at night but Taiwan’s capital still hums during the day. Armed with a plan and two healthy appetites, we conquered the city by eating beef noodle soup at a noodle shop, scallion pancakes at a local street vendor, shaved mango ice at a dessert spot and soup dumplings at the original Din Tai Fung.
Living by the motto – laissez les bons temps rouler / let the good times roll, along with its port location and a history filled with international influences, makes New Orleans one of America’s great food cities. The blending of these disparate cultures is nowhere more apparent than in Cajun and Creole dishes like Crawfish Étouffée, Gumbo and Jambalaya. Flavored with exotic spices and bursting with flavor, these dishes pack a punch into every bite.Food travelers can live large at iconic New Orleans restaurants at night and indulge in cheaper eats during the day. We’ve done both but prefer the latter
Montreal isn’t just one of the best food cities in Canada – it’s also one of the best food cities in the world. Located near the Saint Lawrence River north of New York, the Quebecois city is a food lover’s paradise with poutine available on a 24/7 basis. Food permeates Montreal’s culture at markets like Jean Talon and at cafes and restaurants throughout the city. Not afraid of icy streets and air that freezes their tears, locals trek out in sub-zero weather, packing iconic Montreal restaurants like Au Pied de Cochon and L’Express with no trepidation.
Food is an integral part of life for the eight million people who call Vietnam’s capital home. Phở may be the signature dish in Hanoi where the iconic noodle soup was invented, but dishes like Bún Chả and Chả Cá are equally popular in this foodie city. Hanoi initially captivated Mindi back in 2002 and then did the same to both of us when we spent a month eating our way through the Northern Vietnam city 14 years later.
With eight million people living in five boroughs, New York City is the American city with the country’s widest assortment of food options. To riff on the city’s theme song – if you can eat it anywhere, you can eat it there. However, since New York is the nation’s ultimate melting pot, some of its best restaurants don’t serve any of the city’s iconic foods. They instead serve food more typically eaten in countries like China, Japan, India, Israel, Italy and South Korea.
Mexico City isn’t just one of the best street food cities in North America. It’s one of the continent’s best food cities. Period. A city-wide maze of food stands selling tacos, esquites and fried corndogs – and then we went to Mercado Merced, a gigantic market with enough avocados, nopales, peppers and moles to satisfy a lifetime of Mexican food dreams. The Taco al Pastor is the Mexico City food favorite we can’t get out of our minds. We could happily eat corn tortillas stuffed with grilled pork, sliced onions, sweet pineapple and fresh cilantro for both lunch and dinner. When we return to Mexico City, perhaps that’s what we’ll do.
Spain’s capital impresses with its sophisticated vibe, grand architecture and striking art. It’s also a serious food city with too many restaurants to sample in one visit. Trust us – we tried. While many of these restaurants serve traditional Spanish dishes, others focus on global cuisines like ramen and trendy concepts like brunch. For most visitors, eating Churros Con Chocolate is an absolute must. Since dipping fried dough into liquid chocolate never tasted as good to us as it did in Madrid, we recommend eating Churros con Chocolate for breakfast unless you’d rather eat Churros con Chocolate as a sweet snack.
Traveling to Chengdu is a commitment. The Sichuan city is 1,200 miles, give or take, from both Beijing and Shanghai. Chengdu’s charms far exceed its logistical challenges. This is a city where Sichuan flower peppers combine with hot local chiles to form the spicy yet numbing ma-la profile that sends diners into a red hot sweat. Now for the food. No, we didn’t eat pandas – that would be both wrong and illegal. Instead, we indulged in Hot Pot (twice) as well as Mapo Tofu, Dan Dan Noodles and Kung Pao Chicken.
Pasta is available all over Italy but Rome is the best city to eat pasta’s holy quadrinity – Alla Gricia, Amatriciana, Carbonara and Cacio e Pepe. Each of these pastas is deceptively simple and they’re all equally divine. We also discovered new dishes like sweet Maritozzi pastries and savory Trapizzino, a pizza/sandwich hybrid that’s now a Rome street food staple. However, our most surprising discovery was Rome’s small but thriving specialty coffee scene that’s shaking up the city’s traditional cafe culture one cup at a time.
Food options in Shanghai are extensive enough to fuel residents of the world’s third most populous city. Travelers are welcome to join the frenzy in one of China’s best foodie cities. Eight years can make a difference in any city but Shanghai’s evolution was extraordinary. In less than a decade, the number of high-rise buildings had increased exponentially as had the number of designer shops and shopping malls. But even with its growth, Shanghai has thus far retained the soul of its food culture. Vendors still sell Scallion Pancakes and a dizzying array of street food while noodle houses continue to serve a non-stop parade of Lamian Noodles and Soup Dumplings, both fried (Sheng Jian Bao) and boiled (Xiaolongbao.)
Numerous global cities claim to be culinary melting pots. London is one that lives up to this claim and does so with a vengeance. We’ve eaten our way through the city so many times that we’ve lost count of the many global dishes we’ve devoured. Whether we crave Hong Kong style dumplings or loaded Lebanese kababs, London has it in droves. The same goes for Neapolitan pizza and Vietnamese pho. The city even has Philly cheesesteaks.
Although Portuguese food is one of the factors that motivated our move to Lisbon, Porto is the Portuguese city that excites us most and is the one that gets a spot on this list. Porto’s food impressed us when we first visited as honeymooners in 2007 and it continues to impress us as Portuguese residents. Blessed by its location on the Douro River and with a long history of producing fortified wine for an international clientele, Porto’s status as a culinary powerhouse is almost inevitable. Port Wine is just one piece of the Porto food puzzle.
Tokyo is a megacity that believes in the concept that more is more especially when it comes to food. The city has an extensive network of restaurants from neighborhood izakayas to an inordinate number of Michelin starred restaurants. In the 2021 guide, 212 Tokyo restaurants garnered a total of 278 stars. Tokyo is a city where fast food is prepared to a higher standard than anywhere else in the world. The level of culinary excellence at the starred restaurants, whether they serve Sushi or Italian cuisine, is off the charts.
Hong Kong is another city that we first visited in 2009. Arriving in this modern city after traveling for a month in China was both exhilarating and comforting. Returning nine years later was like coming home to food that we adore. Hong Kong excels at Cantonese food. Dim Sum sets the pace with a variety of dumplings and fried treats. As the city evolves, not always in a positive way, Dim Sum houses like the legendary Lin Heung are becoming scarcer in the center of town. To us, this just makes the remaining dumpling houses all the more precious.
Most people solely think of Vienna as a city of culture thanks to past residents that include Ludwig van Beethoven, Gustav Klimt, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Schubert. We were two of those people when we separately visited Vienna in the 1990s. It’s not that we were wrong back then. Rather, we hadn’t yet gotten the memo about Vienna’s vibrant food scene. Eating traditional Austrian dishes like Wiener Schnitzel and Wiener Wurstel is a must in Vienna, but those classic dishes aren’t the only things to eat in Vienna. The city’s restaurants serve a range of cuisines from countries located in Asia and the Middle East.
If we had to pick one word to describe Delhi, it would be chaotic. Nearly 30 million people live in India’s capital city. They also eat curries and sip chai tea in numbers that are difficult for most food travelers to comprehend. Foods like Daulat Ki Chaat and Paratha made their marks during that tour but none were more surprising than the seemingly simple pastry sold at Jalebi Wala. A local favorite since the latter part of the 19th century, jalebi is a food icon that represents India well.
Far from a hidden gem, Barcelona is a dream destination for travelers attracted to Gaudi’s fanciful architecture and the city’s location next to the Mediterranean Sea. But food travelers have as many reasons to visit Catalonia’s most populous city, if not more. In addition to La Boqueria Mercat, one of the world’s most famous food markets, the city has a network of neighborhood markets like Mercat de Ninot, each packed with locally sourced produce as well as some of the freshest seafood we’ve ever encountered.
We’ve sort of been to Seoul but not really. Our travels have taken us through the city’s Incheon International Airport numerous times including a day-long layover in 2018. Though we haven’t yet left the airport, we’ve eaten excellent Korean while killing time. We can only imagine how great the food must be at Seoul restaurants and street food stands! Now that we have an Asian pantry in our Lisbon apartment, we’re added Seoul food favorites like Japchae to our repertoire and added Kimchi to our Latkes.
Recognized as one of the world’s best foodie destinations, San Sebastián is located on the Bay of Biscay in Spain’s Basque Country. We plan to gorge on seafood, take a Pintxos crawl and drink lots of Rioja wine when we finally make it there.
Lima is a destination that tops our list for when we tour the best food cities in South America. Not only is the Peruvian capital home to two of the world’s best restaurants (Central and Maido), but it’s equally famous for its Ceviche, Chifas (Chinese/Peruvian restaurants) and Pisco Sours. Those reasons alone have us salivating with anticipation.
It’s only half-true to say that we’ve never been to been Singapore. The full truth is that Mindi visited Singapore as a solo traveler in 2006, less than four months before we met. Talk about timing! Her strongest memories involve eating at hawker stands, overeating at the hotel buffet breakfast and drinking a Singapore Sling at Raffles Hotel. We’ll do all this and so much more when we visit Singapore as a couple.
Living in Lisbon has given us an appreciation for Brazil and a desire to visit its biggest city. Although São Paulo is 5,000 miles away, we often eat Brazilian food in Portugal. Plus, we love Caipirinha cocktails. Based on online research and chats with Brazilian friends who live in Lisbon, we’ve picked São Paulo over Rio for this list since it’s the more gastronomic city of the two.
