World’s best street food, top 30 cities rated

Where in the world is the best street food? Those living in Thailand will bet Bangkok is going to come out on top, right? Well, not according to research, the Street Food Index, conducted by My Late Deals. In their current surgery, Hong Kong came out on top as the city with the best street food. The city topped the Street Food Index, beating tasty competition from Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam.

The annual Street Food City Index ranks the top 30 street food cities in the world for food obsessed travellers. Cities on 4 parameters: number of street food vendors, affordability, number of street food experiences/tours and sanitation.

Hong Kong was followed by Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh, Singapore, Mumbai, Rome, Tel Aviv, Sydney, Mexico City, with Portland, Oregon, rounding out the top 10.

Hong Kong topped the ranking thanks to its high number of street food stalls and street food experiences and high levels of sanitation. Street food is also reasonably cheap in Hong Kong costing around £5 (205 baht). Some of the food you can try in Hong Kong includes dim sum, curry fishballs and cheung fun (a rice noodle roll is a Cantonese dish from Guangdong Province southern China and Hong Kong, commonly served either as a snack).

Bangkok came second (we’re considering an official protest) on the list as its home to the cheapest street food (with an average cost of just £1.61 (66 baht) and the second highest number of street food experiences available in the list. It also scored high marks in number of street food vendors. Some of the food you can try in Bangkok includes the ubiquitous pad thai, khao niao mamuang and tom yum goong (spicy!).

Sitting in third place is the Vietnamese southern city of Ho Chi Minh which gets top marks for number of street food experiences and high marks for affordability (with an average cost of just £1.77 (73 baht) and number of vendors but like Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh lost marks for sanitation. Some of the food you can try in Ho Chi Minh includes pho, banh mi and goi cuon.

Singapore takes fourth spot thanks to its high levels of sanitation and number of street food experiences. It also scores highly on number of vendors but loses points on affordability. Some of the food you can try in Singapore includes char kway teow, kaya toast and laksa.

In fifth place is Mumbai. The city scored top marks in street food vendors with the highest number on the list. It also scored well on affordability and street food experiences. It scored lower on the sanitation aspect. Some of the food you can try in Mumbai includes vada pav, bhelpuri and pav bhaji.

The current top 30 street food cities…

1 – Hong Kong

Score: 93

2 – Bangkok

Score: 90

3- Ho Chi Minh

Score: 89

4 – Singapore

Score: 86

5 – Mumbai

Score: 78

6 – Rome

Score: 76

7 – Tel Aviv

Score: 73

8 – Sydney

Score: 72

9 – Mexico City

Score: 70

10 – Portland

Score: 69

11 – Seoul

Score: 68

11 – Beijing

Score: 68

13 – Berlin

Score: 67

14 – Paris

Score: 66

15 – Istanbul

Score: 65

16 – Palermo

Score: 65

16 – Penang

Score: 63

18 – Tokyo

Score: 61

19 – New Orleans

Score: 60

19 – Kuala Lumpur

Score: 60

21 – Cartagena

Score: 59

22 – Port Louis

Score: 58

22: Honolulu

Score: 58

24 – Taipei

Score: 49

25 – Marrakech

Score: 48

26 – Rio

Score: 45

27 – New York

Score: 43

27 – Durban

Score: 43

29 – Kingston

Score: 39

30 – Dakar

Score: 27