In addition to authentic Thai favourites like tom yum, prawn salad with sweet chilli paste and lemongrass, and deep-fried catfish with mango salad, the restaurant offers some fusion items that will surely whet your appetite.

As soon as I stepped through the door, I was impressed with the sophisticated design, with a background colour of dark brown and black. The vintage style of the restaurant was reflected in the wood and iron decor, from the table and chairs to the stair handrails and sturdy doors.

Completing the Thai atmosphere were mirrors with classic frames and paintings on grey walls, wooden and stone Buddhas, handcrafted wooden elephants, handicrafts on wall shelves, and even large plants.

The a la carte menu features a range of Thai dishes, from traditional street food to modern fusion, and Thai drinks and teas, and other items with both Thai and Vietnamese flavours.

A total of 80 items are on offer, from appetizers, starters, soups to main courses, curries, noodles and hot pots, included sour, spicy, sweet and salty flavours, with influences from surrounding countries including India, China and Malaysia.

“However, half of these flavours are prepared to suit the locals’ palate and tastes,” said Truong Nu Huong Duyen, the restaurant’s marketing manager.

“We have made some changes in our recipes such as reducing hot spices or blending Thai traditions and Vietnamese flavours. So it’s not surprising to see a whole family including adults and children and others eating here.”

As fans of the sweet-sour Thai salad, my sister and I decided to warm up our taste buds with two flavourful appetisers – deep fried, fluffy and crispy catfish with mango and stir-fried shrimp with satay.

The succulent shrimp had garnishes of red cabbage, fried red onions and mint leaves, while the fish was finely matched with a sweet and sour fish sauce, mango, fried red onions and herbs.

The sour mango paired with a sweet-sour sauce helped balance the richness of the deep-fried crispy fish.”No one should miss this salad when they visit. It is our stand-out dish,” said Huong Duyen.

We also shared a small bowl of tofu and minced pork soup with coconut milk and red chilli; and a hot & sour chicken/prawn soup, which combined mushrooms, tomato, ginger, lemongrass and cilantro at the same price of 80,000 dong (US$3.60) per portion.

It was a harmonious combination, with smooth tofu as well as minced pork, fatty and aromatic coconut milk paired with a red chilli, lime leaf and lemongrass.

The two richly flavoured soups were not too hot or spicy, and would be good for children to try.

I preferred the soup with coconut milk as I was born and grew up in the south where coconut is an important addition to many kinds of foods and sweets.

Huong said that more than 10 new choices had been added to the menu and more would be created next month.

Among the new choices include stir-fried rice noodle with pork; pork BBQ Thai style with sweet & sour sauce, and prawn salad with spicy papaya and salted lime sauce.

We also tried fried rice, an adaptation of Thai fried rice which combines green chilli, red onions, bacon and salted eggs, and a pork skewer, a traditional Thai street food.

Both were so tasty that I was eager to finish the entire pork skewer and fried rice.

However, I had to save room for a traditional Thai sweet as recommended.

I enjoyed the typical Thai durian ice cream with water chestnut tapioca pearls and coconut, while my sister was taken with the coconut ice cream served in a whole coconut.

It was memorable to experience dining in a luxurious but cosy atmosphere in the city’s heart at an inviting price. We then left for shopping, knowing we would return for a second round.

Chilli Thai RestaurantAddress: 38 Mac Thi Buoi Street, District 1, HCM CityPhone: 08 3823-7727www.chillithai.com.vnwww.facebook.com/chillithaivnOpening hours: 10am-10pmComment: good location, fantastic food, inviting prices, impressive decor and cosy ambiance

A recently opened one is The Sapling, which is run by hospitality institute Shatec. It was formerly known as Recipes Bistro and was located in the Treasury Building in High Street. Last November, it re-opened with a new name in Enabling Village, a community space in Lengkok Bahru that is dedicated to integrating disabled people into society.

While it is no longer in town, the 80-seat restaurant is a convenient seven-minute walk from Redhill MRT station.

It is run by a team of about 15 students, who cook, bake and serve customers. But I would not have known that if not for a bunch of freshly minted trainee chefs crowding around a live churros station in the dessert buffet line.

The Sapling serves Western and Asian-fusion food. Its compact lunch menu has 11 dishes, comprising meat dishes, pasta and stews priced between $11.90 and $15.90. The dinner menu is slightly more expensive.

The dishes give bang for the buck, as the main courses are packed with side dishes. This can seem like an overzealous way of showcasing the students’ culinary skills, but I do not get bored of what is on my plate.

The wait staff greet customers with earnest smiles and top up glasses of water without being asked. Some of them seem wet behind the ears and do not know the popular dishes offhand, but that can be forgiven, given that they are still learning.

The Sapling Imperial Chicken ($11.90) comes with three curled- up deep-fried chicken fillets perched on toasted ciabatta. Taking a leaf from the popular Chinese dish, Imperial pork ribs, the glazed chicken is coated in a piquant, sweet and sour sauce. It cuts through the butteriness of the toast, which is topped with pineapple salsa.

There is also a sunny-side-up egg. I crack the yolk and slather it over the toast and chicken for a velvety mouthfeel. As if that is not enough, there are also sweet potato fries with plum-infused mayonnaise.

I also like the pan-seared kelong sea bass ($12.90), a thick slab of deep-fried seabass on a bed of smooth potato puree, encircled by a vine tomato sauce and crowned with spicy mango salsa. The cubes of mango accentuate the sweetness of the fish and biting into the crispy fish skin with the creamy puree gives a delightful textural contrast. But the tomato sauce is too tart.

If you are still feeling peckish, an add-on of $4.50 (or $5.50 for dinner) should stave off hunger pangs. That gives you access to a buffet of salad, soups and desserts such as churros, cakes and fruit.

But if you have room for only one dessert, save it for the Verrine Criollo ($8.80). The parfait is one of the most value-for-money desserts I have come across.

Good for sharing between two people, the palm-sized jar is a creamy dream. Start from the bottom by scooping up the luscious chocolate ganache and salted butter caramel studded with crunchy crumble, and move on to the lush chantilly cream that is topped with macadamia nut ice cream. And there are still strawberries and chocolate bits to nibble on.

We decided to start our breakfast at 49 Bat Dan, a bustling street in Hanoi’s Old Quarter.

As soon as we entered the street, we smelled the aromatic fragrance of pho from the shop, rousing our appetites. Although many years have had passed by, the shop maintained its same shape, doors, old tables and tools – particularly a long queue of diners patiently waiting for their turn, said Phong.

We joined the queue and heard curt words from the shop owner, Trinh Van Hieu, loudly asking guests about their orders and whether they wanted more or less rice noodles, or thick or light broth.

There was the familiar sound of a knife regularly chopping meat against a cutting board. Steam from big bowls of pho spiralled upward.

When our turn came, I ordered pho tai bap lan (stir-fried beef muscle), while Phong ordered tai lăn (half done stir-fried beef).

The shop owner skillfully cut the beef and put it into a bowl with sliced fresh onions before scooping broth on top.

The shop is so crowded that we had to struggle to find a seat before joining the queue. After receiving our dishes, we returned to our seats in a corner of the shop.

Phong said the quality of the broth has remained the same for 20 years, when he returned to Hanoi the first time.

Whether pho is tasty or not depends on the broth and rice noodle, and here, the combination was just right.

Hieu said he makes made the broth by simmering beef bone and organic spices such as ginger, cinnamon and sa sung (sand worms) from the northwestern province of Yen Bai and the port city of Hai Phong.

“My rice noodle is made from the VN10 species of rice grown in the northern provinces of Thai Bình and Nam Dịnh,” Hieu said. “The rice yields more powder, which makes our rice noodles whiter, softer and thinner, and helps it remain firm when it is dipped into hot water, compared with others.”

We enjoy enjoyed the pho very much, although each bowl is was rather expensive at 50,000 dong-70,000 dong (US$2-$3).

Despite this, locals and foreigners continue continued patiently queuing for their turn to enjoy an aromatic and tasty phO.

Phong told me that he would like to enjoy more phO at other famous shops such as Pho Thin at 13 Lo Duc Street and Pho at 10 Ly Quoc Su Street.

The next day we arrived at Pho Thin early in the morning.

We asked for two bowls of tai lan for 50,000 dong each. We did not have to wait long because there were not so many diners compared with Bat Dan.

A server brought us two big bowls of pho, which was also full of rice noodles and stir-fried beef that was very fragrant. Although the servers were not so friendly, the service was quick and the quality of the food pleased us.

The dish is fragrant and tasty because of the broth, which is greasy and quite sweet, while the tái lăn is soft and sweet, too, mixed with ginger and garlic.

This helps shop owner Nguyen Trong Thin keep his trademark, which spread far and wide so that customers would never forget it.Thìn set up his shop nearly 40 years ago.

From the onset, he tried pho at many other famous shops in the city and thought of special spices to create a unique recipe of his own.

After a year, he decided to serve pho tai aăn, in which the beef is quickly stir-fried over a big fire in a large pan with fat in it. After that, the thin beef pieces are put into the pan and stirred quickly. Ginger and garlic are added to the pan before it is scooped into the bowl.In 2009, after 30 years of business, Thin was invited to Seoul to teach phở cooking techniques to a number of Koreans and Vietnamese working and living in South Korea who wished to open a pho shop there.

“In Seoul, I made rice noodles, and chose beef and spices to cook more than 100 bowls of pho,” Thin said. “The food was so well loved that all the bowls were left empty.”

A Korean general director of a large company told him he had never eaten such delicious food. He asked Thìn to sell his secret for making pho. Thin agreed.

After three months of training, several pho restaurants opened in Seoul, including Tang Restaurant, a popular place for Vietnamese and foreigners alike to come and enjoy “pho Thin”.

The next day, we tasted pho at 10 Ly Quoc Su Street. When we reached the shop, a crowd of locals and foreigners had already gathered.

With prices between 40,000 dong and 50,000 dong per bowl, Phong said he could eat two bowls because the rice noodles seemed to be in smaller quantity compared with the other two shops, but the beef and broth were both excellent.

CNN has named Hanoi’s pho as one of the top 10 most delicious dishes in the world.

But at the fringes of Pasar Besar Ipoh, the central market in Ipoh, right smack in the middle of town, that familiar scent lingers in the air, too. Now limited to just a clutch of stalls, coffee sellers continue to ply a trade that seems to be losing its footing in this fast-paced world – once upon a time, there was an entire row of them.

Phan Yoke, who runs the Yee Hoi Coffee Manufacturer stall, might seem like a victim of progress, but she’s in fact, a survivor of it. I recall accompanying my mum to this row of coffee stalls back in the good old 1980s, when Pasar Basar Ipoh housed Super Kinta, a departmental store, which, when it opened its doors in 1984, was the biggest in Southeast Asia.

Super Kinta was an institution, but with the advent of malls and specialist stores, the shopping institution fell on hard times at the turn of the millennium and eventually closed down after a 20-year run, but now, it is at least put to good use with the Urban Transformation Centre (UTC) taking up house there.

However, UTC’s presence there simply doesn’t restore the lustre of what was once a bustling shopping haven, and 59-year-old Phan’s dwindling sales attests to the area’s fall from grace. But she greets customers with a customary smile and is ever-willing to serve, despite the obvious setback.

According to Phan, she got into the coffee business as a means to an end. “Back then, we were from a lower class … our salary was very low, so, after I got married, my grandmother suggested I do this for a living.”

Phan watched the coffee industry boom when she began in 1989, working for a family and enjoying the business’ peak years then. In 2000, she took over from the family and has since operated the stall on her own.

Her beans, which come from Johor and Indonesia, are processed in a factory in Jelapang, an industrial town in the outskirts of Ipoh. At her stall, she grinds and sells raw beans for both white and black coffee.

And what is the difference between the Hainanese white and black coffee she sells? “White coffee comes from raw roasted beans while black coffee is made from beans that are roasted with sugar,” she explained, much to this no-longer-coffee drinker’s relief of finally knowing conclusively.

As a town, Ipoh is divided by its beverage of choice. “People in old town like to drink white coffee and people in new town prefer black coffee,” revealed the genial saleswoman, who also took time to advise me to get hitched.

Her clientele includes both the older and younger generation. She has noted that the two have different preferences, too. “The younger people have their own grinding machines at home, and they prefer white coffee,” she said. Of course, there are those who sit on the fence and enjoy blending both white and black coffee, as well.

Customers have come from as far as Australia and China. Apparently, many Malaysians who have migrated, come to her shop whenever they return to visit Malaysia, unable to leave a taste of their past completely behind.

According to the Tapah, Perak-born Phan, the best way to enjoy white coffee is with condensed milk. But unlike the de rigueur 3-in-1 beverages available today, freshly ground coffee of this nature needs to be sieved, which, she feels, adds to the charm of its enjoyment.

While she states that business is down compared to the trade’s heyday, she is grateful that UTC’s presence has at least maintained a trickling clientele. In an attempt to retain her customer base, she has retained her pricing from two years ago.

“Doing this business is what I know best. When I’m at home, I watch TV,” she said with a grin, knowing full well that regardless of economic stature, she is clued in on how to enjoy life in her given capacity.

So, the next time you’re headed for a cuppa in Ipoh, give Pasar Besar Ipoh a shot, and buy a bag of white or black coffee. It’s an experience unto itself. As endorsement, and looking at the logo of her packed coffee, I realised it was the exact brand my mother used to buy when I was a young boy … the Seal brand.

Bunga Rampai

Built in a newly renovated Dutch house, Bunga Rampai takes you back to historical Batavia during the colonial period. Adorned with richly elegant interior features, the restaurant has three floors with different atmospheres – the third level is particularly unique with its green house-themed interior.

As for the menu, expect to devour a vast array of Indonesian cuisine such as tum ayam (minced chicken with vegetables) and nasi Bali (Balinese mixed rice) served with three different sambal (chili sauces). The prices of the dishes start at Rp 30,000 (US$2.25).

Location: Jl. Teuku Cik Ditiro No. 35, Menteng, Central Jakarta

Plataran Dharmawangsa

Indulge in serenity as you enter as this place offering traditional architecture and a calming atmosphere. Plataran Dharmawangsa also has an outdoor seating area to bring patrons closer to its beautiful garden.

As the design suggests, local dishes are provided with signatures including dendeng saus madu (beef jerky with honey sauce) and bebek geal-geol (a duck dish) with prices starting at Rp 35,000. Those staying healthy can also opt for brown rice instead of white.

Location: Jl. Dharmawangsa Raya No. 6, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta

Tugu Kunsktring Paleis

Prepare to feast like a king as you enter this restaurant, which resembles a luxurious palace. The building itself has a long history related to the arts, as it was built for the Fine Arts Circle of the Dutch East Indies when it opened in 1914. Many nostalgic items are kept here including Chinese-influenced decorations that provide the ambiance.

Dishes from all over the archipelago are the restaurant’s main attraction, with some twists here and there to make the taste the house’s own. For first-timers, try the tender Sesatee Zoetelief of Pak Paheeng Solo (grilled tenderloin satays) and the seasoned Rundvlees Kleine Aardappelen Rendang (tender beef slow-cooked in coconut milk). A bar and wine list are available. Prices start at Rp 35,000 per dish.

Location: Jl. Teuku Umar No. 1, Menteng, Central Jakarta

Seribu Rasa

An ethnic feel and homey wooden furniture are ready to warmly welcome you at this restaurant. Specializing in local cuisine and seafood dishes with prices starting at Rp 40,000, Seribu Rasa offers both Indonesian and Southeast Asian recipes.

Spend time to try the crispy yet tender Black Pepper Squid Malioboro and the spicy Gulai Fish-head Tasik.

Location: Jl. Haji Agus Salim 128, Menteng, Central Jakarta

Lara Djonggrang

From the outside, this restaurant may seem like a spooky house – complete with very large trees at the front. But venture inside and let the mystical and dark ambiance surprise you, particularly when you see a large statue of Lara Djonggrang, the famous female legend (read the menu’s description if you are not familiar with her).

While you are ogling the interesting surroundings, taste authentic Indonesian dishes such as Sate Ayam Warok Pamanku (chicken satay) and the selections included in Nasi Campur Kepulauan (mixed rice). The dishes start at Rp 35,000.

Location: Jl. Teuku Cik Ditiro No. 4, Menteng, Central Jakarta

It is but natural to get excited about the internationally acclaimed chefs who are coming, especially those hailed as “the best” by the World’s 50 Best and Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants lists, including Tokyo’s Yoshihiro Narisawa, hailed Asia’s No. 1 in the first year of the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurant Awards; Bangkok’s David Thompson, hailed Asia’s No. 1 in the second year of the Asia’s 50 Best; and Peru’s Virgilio Martinez, currently Latin America’s No. 1. They are obviously brilliant chefs who have earned their rock star status.

But instead of becoming a rock star chef’s groupie, let’s take a moment to remember why this Congress was brought here in the first place and take the opportunity to showcase our local talent and food too, shall we?

Top Filipino chefs

For the benefit of the culinary tourists arriving this week, do seek out the following names because they are among the Philippines’ best chefs.

Margarita Fores

Fores is first on the list not only because she currently holds the title of Asia’s Best Female Chef from the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants jury but because she was a prime mover in bringing Madrid Fusion to the Philippines. The petite chef is larger than life. She is known for elaborate catering for heads of state. Her restaurants include Lusso in Greenbelt; Grace Park, a farm-to-table restaurant; and Cibo, an Italian chain she created from scratch.

Glenda Barretto

Barretto is hailed as the “doyenne of Philippine cuisine.” A regal lady who was the official chef of the Malacañang (the Philippines’ White House) in the ’70s, she continues to be the No. 1 caterer for Filipino-themed state dinners, being the lead caterer at last year’s Asia Pacific Economic Conference (Apec) state dinner as well as last year’s and this year’s Madrid Fusion.

Myrna Segismundo

Segismundo, along with Fores, was a speaker at Madrid Fusion 2015 in Spain.

Segismundo is a known advocate of Philippine cuisine, presenting Filipino home cooking in a cosmopolitan manner since the 1980s. She is chair of Chefs on Parade and founding member of the International Wine and Food Society-Manila Ladies Branch.

Claude Tayag

Tayag is an authority on Pampanga or Capampangan cuisine. His private dining space Bale Dutung has welcomed many an international gourmet to showcase the best of his province’s flavors. His book with wife Maryann—”Linamnam”—is a handy guide for where to eat all around the Philippines.

Sandy Daza

Daza has culinary genius in his genes. The son of the Philippines’ Julia Child, Nora Daza, whose book “Let’s Cook With Nora” was the bible of generations of housewives, and who opened the first Filipino restaurant in Paris and New York and hosted Paul Bocuse and L’enotre in the Philippines, Sandy now has his own Filipino restaurant Wooden Spoon showcasing some of their home recipes as well as recipes he has learned in travels around the country for his television show Foodprints.

Jessie Sincioco

Sincioco become known for cooking French cuisine at a popular (now defunct) restaurant Le Souffle. But since she opened her eponymous restaurant Chef Jessie, her Filipino dishes have also become of note. She hails from Bulacan and this shows in her outstanding Filipino desserts using glutinous rice.

Tonyboy Escalante. Escalante’s Antonio’s was last year’s No. 1 restaurant in the Philippines (and continues to be so in the eyes of many). He has also since opened Balay Dako, also in Tagaytay, which has a spectacular view of the volcano at night and perfect for cocktails in this weather.

J Gamboa

The Gamboas’ Milky Way restaurant is practically an institution for having served consistently good, clean-tasting Filipino food for the past decades. They also make the best shaved ice dessert—halo-halo.

Street food

For Philippine street food, make sure to try dirty ice cream peddled by a sorbetero (ice cream vendor), fish balls with sweet or spicy sauce, taho (a soy dessert with pearls), kwek-kwek (deep fried quail eggs), bituka (deep fried intestines), and chicharon (pork rind—make sure to ask for full back fat and not the airy kind).

These are the flavors of the Philippines that we would strongly recommend culinary visitors to try.

When a powerful jury member of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants visited Manila a few years ago, it broke my heart to hear her say that she could not find any Filipino restaurants save for the fast food chains. We hope that you have a delicious visit and come back for more.

“Vietnamese food is just so pretty,” she says. “It’s very photogenic.”

As if on cue, she hands the bowl to her boyfriend, Peter Petracca, who stands up to photograph their meal, occasionally shifting to get the perfect angle and lighting.

Unfazed by the inquisitive stares they attract, they upload the photo to Instagram, where their 5,400-plus followers can feast their eyes on their latest culinary find.

Using the Instagram handle @vietnomnom, the American couple has successfully tapped into the social media sphere by giving people the eye candy they want: colourful, mouthwatering meals, with clever captions and addresses detailing where to find the food.

The couple now hopes to hand off their Instagram account to a new successor. They recently moved to Thailand and will move back to the United States later this year. But they will continue to post new content on Instagram throughout March.

In Vietnam, food-ordering websites like eat.vn and vietnammm.com have proven popular for discovering new restaurants. But street eats have largely been uncharted.

Instagram has emerged as a creative crowdsourcing tool for finding food vendors by clicking and sifting through hashtags like “#Vietnamesefood” and “#feastagram”.

“For foreigners who don’t know what things mean – all these Vietnamese words that describe the noodle type, or things that are in it, or how it’s made – having a lookbook of all the delicious foods in any given place is nice,” said Petracca.

Hanoi-based travel blogger Sarah Attaway, 24, said she frequently searches for “#Hanoifoodie” on Instagram to find off-the-beaten-path restaurants throughout the city. She said Instagram is an easy way for foreigners to learn the local cuisine, especially in Hanoi, where some of the best food vendors eschew menus.

“I think street food is kind of intimidating, especially for an expat. So it’s nice to have some kind of a reference point,” said Attaway, who hails from Arizona, the United States.

“As a Westerner, you’re trained to find places that look good according to the decor, or the menu, or the vibe of the place. Which is so different from here,” she said.

While their Instagram page is popular among expats and tourists getting acquainted with Vietnamese cuisine, they have also amassed a considerable local following.

Hoang Van Thai Duy, a 21-year-old law student from Chau Doc city in southern Vietnam, is a fellow food Instagrammer (@hoangthaiduy) and an avid follower of vietnomnom.

“I think vietnomnom is one of the most amazing accounts I follow,” he said. “Foreigners are interesting to follow because they experience Vietnamese cuisine in their own style.”

Duy said he believes Instagram is quickly becoming a trusted resource for finding delectable dishes.

“I always use Instagram for finding street food when travelling,” he said. “It can help us to find the best and most exotic street foods, wherever we go.”

Neumark and Petracca, both 26, hail from California. They met while living in New York City. Both worked with food – Neumark in restaurant public relations, and Petracca as a restaurant photographer – and both knew they wanted to continue working in that capacity when they moved to Hanoi in February 2015.

Accustomed to just the two options of pho or banh iì at Vietnamese restaurants in the United States, they were surprised by the diversity of dishes when they landed in Hanoi.

“Vietnamese food tastes different in Vietnam, too,” Petracca said.

“They have to adapt to the local ingredients (in the US). Here you have all these herbs. They’re all local. And they’ve been used in the family for generations. That’s why it’s so good,” Petracca said.

“In the US, they have to adapt recipes. In the same way that Mexican food in California is incredible, but different from Mexico.”

Among the couple’s favourite dishes are pho cuon, tofu in tomato sauce, and fried pork ribs from Bia Hoi. While they enjoy most meals, silkworms and congealed blood in soups are among the few foods they are “not a fan of”, Neumark said.

The couple works in freelance marketing, writing, and video production. And they take their Instagram side project seriously, carving out several hours per week for food excursions.

Much of the food they feature comes from street food stalls they stumble upon. As a rule of thumb, they scout for places crowded with Vietnamese diners.

They work as a team, with Petracca taking the photos and Neumark crafting witty captions like “a bánh mì chay fit for a tay” and “grouper therapy”, describing a plate of fish.

“Vietnamese food is usually very fresh,” Petracca said. “With the street food places, it’s nice that there’s one place that makes just one thing really well.”

Neumark added, “My biggest hope for (our Instagram feed) is to show people outside of Vietnam how beautiful and varied Vietnamese food is – just show it off.”