The air is filled with the calls of the stallholders offering everything from the ubiquitous noodles to spicy Sichuan soup and Shangdong-style pancakes, deep-fried crickets and scorpions.

BBC: A Beijing state of mind

The Strand is still there, but totally renovated as a top-of-the-range hotel, where a bowl of spicy lentil soup and a bottle of Mandalay beer will cost you as much as a room once did.

ECONOMIST: Pukkah hotels

The final stop, in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), includes chef-led cooking classes and a street-food tour -- and boundless opportunities for trying snacks such as banh mi (sandwiches), pho (spicy noodle soup), goi du du (green papaya salad) and banh xeo (rice pancakes with pork and shrimp).

CNN: Exotic culinary tours around the world

Try the roasted butternut squash soup with spicy pumpkin seeds, and the creamy polenta with mascarpone, walnuts and gorgonzola.

FORBES: Fact and Comment

Down another staircase, into another windowless room, where dishes arrived: pork braised in brown sauce, bok choy, egg-drop soup, spicy chicken.

NEWYORKER: The Grand Tour

Not when Mickey D successfully sells its Big Spicy Paneer Wrap in India nor its Gazpacho soup in Spain in the summertime.

FORBES: Brand Intangibles: Unleash A Positive Frankenstorm

Hanjeongsik is a banquet of fish, meat, lettuce wraps, tofu soup and steamed egg, served with side dishes of kimchi (spicy pickled cabbage), acorn jelly, dried anchovies and boiled peanuts.

BBC: A perfect day in Seoul