Must-see restaurants in Asia

  • Entrance to Temple Club

    Temple Club

    Ho Chi Minh City

    This restaurant is housed on the 2nd floor of a beautiful colonial-era house decorated with spiritual motifs and elegant Chinese characters. It has a…

  • Croque Monsieur at The Refinery

    Refinery

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Formerly an opium refinery, this lovely bistro and wine bar has winning cocktails and appetising food with a French and Mediterranean accent. Menu…

  • Testo Mesto

    Bishkek

    This hip take on common pelmeni rises to the occasion: dumplings are flavourful, filling and won't cost you a lot of dough. Popular fillings include lamb…

  • 500px Photo ID: 72142505 - Taken at the world famous Damnernsaduak Floating Market, Thailand

    Boat Noodle Restaurant

    Phnom Penh

    This long-running Thai-Khmer restaurant has some of the best-value regional dishes in town. Choose from the contemporary but traditionally decorated space…

  • Entrance to Jaspas Cafe & Grill

    Jaspas Wine & Grill

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Light, uncomplicated, busy and popular, Jaspas serves up Asian and Western favourites in a relaxed setting with an alfresco corner aspect. The grilled sea…

  • Diners at Quan An Ngan courtyard restaurant, French Quarter.

    Quan An Ngon

    Hanoi

    This branch of a number of small same-named kitchens turns out street-food specialities from across Vietnam. Try to visit just outside the busy lunch and…

  • Gino's, restaurant exterior

    Gino’s NY Pizza

    Itaewon & Yongsan-gu

    This wildly popular upstairs kitchen bakes an authentic range of New York–style pies along with appetisers like garlic knots, wings and messy fries. The…

  • Tiong Bahru Fried Kway Teo shop.

    Tiong Bahru Fried Kway Teow

    Chinatown & the CBD

    The daily queue attests to the popularity of this unassuming hawker stall, where an elderly uncle cooks up fragrant, moreish kway teow (fried noodles with…

  • Entrance to Hum

    Hum Lounge & Restaurant

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Excellent Vietnamese-inspired vegetarian cuisine in a central garden location. Settle into the elegant space with subtle lighting and classy furnishings…

  • Chop Tai Chong Kok takeaway food shop.

    Chop Tai Chong Kok

    Chinatown & the CBD

    Pick up something sweet at Chop Tai Chong Kok, a super-traditional pastry shop in business since 1938. If you’re undecided, opt for the speciality lotus…

  • Pantler

    Chinatown & the CBD

    You're practically guaranteed to love whichever brightly coloured goodie you choose at Pantler, helmed by a baker and an award-winning pastry chef who…

  • Exterior of House of Memories Restaurant

    House of Memories

    Yangon

    Located off U Wi Za Ra Rd, in a mock-Tudor colonial villa stuffed with antiques and old photos (and including an office where Bogyoke Aung San once worked…

  • Seafood at Chinatown Wet Markets

    Chinatown Wet Market

    Chinatown & the CBD

    Elbow aunties at the famous Chinatown Wet Market, located in the basement of the Chinatown Complex. At its best early in the morning, it’s a gut-rumbling…

  • Cherry Mann Restaurant exterior

    Cherry Mann

    Yangon

    This friendly Muslim restaurant is a fine spot for kebabs, curries and biryanis, with paratha (Indian-style bread) to accompany them. The kebabs are…

  • Upstairs dining area at Jake's American BBQ

    Jake's BBQ

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Park yourself at the bar and combine comfort grub and cold brews with US and Canadian sports on the TV. Standouts are the smokey ribs with a rich St Louis…

  • Zhong Yu Yuan Wei Wanton Noodle restaurant

    Zhong Yu Yuan Wei Wanton Noodle

    Chinatown & the CBD

    Best get here early to join the queue. This stall's famous bu jian tian char siew (no daylight roasted meat) is made with pork from a pig's armpit, hence…

  • Downtowner, restaurant exterior

    Downtowner

    Itaewon & Yongsan-gu

    Foodies queue daily for the much lauded burgers here, painstakingly assembled (with Instagram in mind) and wrapped in cute zebra-striped paper. Pimp up…

  • Grilling at Ban Anou night market.

    Ban Anou Night Market

    Vientiane

    Setting up on a small street every evening, this atmospheric open-air market dishes up Lao food, from grilled meats to chilli-based dips with vegetables…

  • Hiong Kee Dumplings

    Hiong Kee Dumplings

    Chinatown & the CBD

    Dumplings at this stall are stuffed full of tasty fillings, hence the line of people raring to get their hands on these tiny bamboo-leaf-wrapped parcels…

  • Maddux, pizza shop exterior

    Maddux Pizza

    Itaewon & Yongsan-gu

    Keep your eyes peeled for those 'za-loving Ninja Turtles at this hip alleyway pizzeria serving jumbo-sized New York slices on paper plates. Choose from…

  • FCC Angkor hotel at dusk, Siem Reap, Cambodia.

    FCC Angkor

    Siem Reap

    This landmark building draws people in from the riverside thanks to a reflective pool, torchlit dining and a garden bar. Inside, the colonial-chic…

  • Zhen Zhen Porridge

    Zhen Zhen Porridge

    Chinatown & the CBD

    This humble stall has an epic reputation for silky, flavour-packed rice porridge, cooked since the wee hours of the morning. Choose from an array of…

  • Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake

    Maxwell Fuzhou Oyster Cake

    Chinatown & the CBD

    Specialises in UFO-shaped discs packed with oysters, prawn, minced pork and herbs. The secret is in the batter, made from rice that has been soaked…

  • Copyright Stephen Lioy - Photography and Travel Media

    Vkys Vostoka

    Bishkek

    A quick and cheap 'taste of the east' is available 24 hours a day at this casual national cuisine restaurant – the laghman with black mushrooms (ГГуйру…

  • Copyright Stephen Lioy - Photography and Travel Media

    Chef

    Bishkek

    Highbrow fusion in a modern setting that feels removed from Bishkek. European cuisine with a post-Soviet twist fills the inventive (but expensive) menu,…

  • Entrance to Relish & Sons

    Relish & Sons

    Ho Chi Minh City

    Relish & Sons brings a versatile Melbourne vibe to Saigon. Highlights include gourmet burgers and craft beer and cider on tap. Later in the evening try…

  • La Ferme, restaurant exterior

    La Ferme

    Itaewon & Yongsan-gu

    Le Ferme (French for 'the farm') packs them in for superfood-rich detox dining with a French twist. Quinoa, tofu, avocado and mango feature in the…

  • Hú Dà

    Beijing

    If you thought Peking duck was the city's favourite chow, think again. That accolade belongs to Hú Dà's Sichuan-style spicy crayfish (麻辣小龙虾; málà…

  • Ice cream counter at Fanny

    Fanny

    Ho Chi Minh City

    On the ground floor of a lavish French villa, Fanny concocts excellent Franco-Vietnamese ice cream in a healthy range of home-grown flavours. Refreshing…

  • Din Tai Fung - Marina Bay Sands

    Din Tai Fung

    Colonial District, the Quays & Marina Bay

    Be prepared to queue during peak periods and pretty much all weekend at this large outlet of the cult-status dumpling restaurant, best known for its…

  • 500px Photo ID: 124086759 - vietnanese beef pho with sriracha sauce shot from overhead view on wooden table

    Bun Rieu Cua

    Hanoi

    Get to this incredibly popular spot early, as its sole dish of bun rieu cua (noodle soup with beef in a spicy crab broth) is only served for a couple of…

  • Tikka masala at Tandoor

    Tandoor

    Ho Chi Minh City

    This restaurant's lengthy menu has vegetarian and South Indian sections, but the focus here is mainly on authentic North Indian dishes. The fruit-packed…

  • 500px Photo ID: 154526133 - basquets full of sweets in the street in Hanoi, Vietnam

    Banh Goi

    Hanoi

    Nestled under a banyan tree near St Joseph Cathedral, this humble stall turns out banh goi, moreish deep-fried pastries crammed with pork, vermicelli and…

  • Ghost Street

    Beijing

    Ghost Street's rep as Beijing's most famous restaurant strip tends to flummox overseas visitors when they discover that, instead of Peking duck or other…

  • Bianyifang Roast Duck

    Temple of Heaven Park & Dongcheng South

    The grandaddy of duck roasting, Bianyifang has been dishing up waterfowl since the early Ming dynasty. The restaurant's antique roasting method – using…

  • Jen Dow Vegetarian Restaurant

    Shanghai

    Your body is a temple, so treat it with respect by dining at this fab ground-floor meat-free restaurant slung out behind the Jing'an Temple. You can slurp…

  • Jùbǎoyuán

    Beijing

    A culinary mecca for hotpot-obsessed Hui Chinese, this is one of Beijing's most famous shuan yangrou (scalding mutton) eateries. Perennially packed, the…

  • Zhào’èr Huǒguō

    Chongqing City

    Highly popular, Zhào’èr’s hotpot is rightly lauded. There are various options: the nine-sectioned pot (九宫锅, jiǔgōng guō) allows you to separate the…

  • Green Zone

    Ulaanbaatar

    Appropriately named Green Zone is a lush oasis, where plants seem to grow from walls and colourful, fresh ingredients appear in front of hungry diners…

  • Quanjude Roast Duck Hepingmen

    Beijing

    Founded in 1864 by a poultry dealer named Yang Quanren, Quanjude is China's most famous destination for duck. This seven-floor emporium, its 41 dining…

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