Luke Nguyen's Street Food Asia (2016)

Luke begins his adventure in his family’s home city of Saigon, Vietnam, where getting up early in the morning and venturing straight into the hustle and bustle of the markets is part of everyday life. It’s here talking with the stall vendors that Luke uncovers the secret recipes passed down through families for generations.

Luke continues through the streets of Saigon in District 1, visiting his favourite pho restaurant. He then uncovers a family dispute between two sisters with competing food stalls both called number one Xôi Gà, then it’s off to Miss Yung-Jow, his very own ‘lunch lady’ who has been cooking a different dish every day for twenty years. In District 4, Luke revisits a family-favourite restaurant, Quán ốc Oanh, where he’s enticed by the aromas as he explores the street before cooking up some spicy chilli crab claws.

Luke continues his street food journey and with different street food vendors on every corner he stumbles across hidden stalls and characters like Miaw who teaches him how to cook a traditional Thai sweet dessert, Thai coconut pudding. Luke needs to be patient as he joins the back of the queue waiting amongst the locals for the best Thai red pork and rice (kao moo daeng) in town. Luke then meets his friend Ged at a local floating market where she buys a variety of locally caught seafood for him to taste. Walking down one of the oldest street food streets in Bangkok Luke is lured to a tasty satay stall by the aromas from the charcoal grills.

Luke ventures through the back streets of Bangkok in search of the best tom yum soup in the city. Then he entertains the locals creating a disappearing Thai delicacy, fresh dancing shrimp salad. Luke wanders through the streets of Chinatown before dining with locals at a 70-year-old street food stall only centimetres away from hectic traffic. He then meets up with his friend Chow who takes him to a famous street restaurant called Thip Samai where they watch the chefs cook the best pad Thai in Bangkok, ten serves at a time!

Luke continues his street food journey venturing into multicultural Kuala Lumpur. Luke meets his friend Tana in Brickfields, an area filled with a variety of different Indian dishes. Tana escorts Luke to his favourite street food stalls where Luke tastes delicious sweet and savoury treats, including the curry puffs said to provide the consumer with prosperity and happiness. Luke then meets the famous Mr Hung, who has a reputation for flying instant noodles nearly two stories high and then goes on a satay adventure at Ramal Food Junction, considered to be the home of the best satay in Kuala Lumpur.

Luke continues unearthing different street foods in Kuala Lumpur starting at the central Jalan Imbi market. With the market already busy at 7:30 in the morning Luke is lucky to meet a friend with a table where he’s able to taste some of the different dishes parading past him as the locals enjoy their breakfast. Having reserved the table Luke heads off to talk to some local stall-holders and fills his plate high with different tasty treats. Luke then meets Mr Sou who has been cooking a hearty pork bone soup with medicinal herbal properties for more than 20 years. Luke learns from Grandma Lim who’s perfected her noodle making skills for 40 years to create the most delicious Chinese-Malay dishes.

Meeting up with his old friend, Derice, Luke unearths the delicious delicacies of Chinatown, finding the experience a melting pot of diverse cultural cuisines. Luke joins the locals beneath the tall city skyscrapers and uncovers a truly authentic Indonesian stall which serves every part of a chicken. During the busy lunch break Luke joins the hustle and bustle, meeting local Hadi, and dines on a diverse range of dishes. Moving onto dessert, Luke visits a vendor selling a sweet snack that resembles his grandmother’s hair.

In the final part of his street food journey, Luke visits a busy stall that’s been serving a traditional Indonesian salad since 1961. Luke indulges in an Indonesian dessert, the sweet martabak, known as the ‘King of Street Food’. After exploring the streets of Jakarta for the best nasi goreng, Luke is put to work helping to cook and serve the largest ‘wokful’ of nasi goreng he’s ever seen.