Foodie Adventures: Must-Try Street Foods, Starting in Europe's Second Cities

Street food is the most honest way to eat a city: cheap, local, and made for people who live there. Bangkok and Mexico City are famous for it, but some of the best is a short flight away in Europe's less-visited cities. We start there, then go further afield.

Poland

Zapiekanka (Kraków). Half a baguette, toasted with mushrooms and cheese, finished with ketchup and toppings of your choice. The Okrąglak, the round building on Plac Nowy in Kazimierz, is the classic place, open late. It is part of our three slow days in Kraków.

Obwarzanek krakowski. The braided, sesame- or poppy-seed ring sold from blue street carts in Kraków. It has EU protected status.

Portugal

Bifana (Porto and beyond). A thin pork steak simmered in garlic and wine, in a soft roll. Not to be confused with Porto's francesinha — a sit-down meat sandwich under melted cheese and beer sauce, best eaten once and slowly. See Porto and the Douro.

Spain

Horchata with fartons (Valencia). A cold tiger-nut drink with long, sugar-glazed buns for dunking; the village of Alboraya just north of the city is where it comes from. In March, during Las Fallas, stalls fry buñuelos — pumpkin fritters.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Burek (Sarajevo). Coiled filo pastry; in Bosnia "burek" means meat only — with cheese it is sirnica, with spinach zeljanica. Order by weight in a buregdžinica.

Ćevapi. Small grilled minced-meat sausages in flatbread (somun) with raw onion. Baščaršija is lined with ćevabdžinicas.

Bulgaria

Banitsa. Layered filo with white cheese and egg, eaten for breakfast from bakery windows, often with ayran (a salty yoghurt drink) or boza.

Italy

Mortadella (Bologna). The city's own cooked pork sausage, sliced thin into a sandwich in the market streets of the Quadrilatero. For something hot, look for crescentine (fried dough) or tigelle with cured meats.

Georgia

Khachapuri. Cheese bread in many regional shapes; the boat-shaped Adjaruli with an egg and butter in the middle is the famous one. Khinkali — soup dumplings — are a sit-down dish, but every Tbilisi trip includes them. Hold one by the knot, bite, drink the broth.

Further afield: the world classics

• Thailand: pad thai and som tam (green papaya salad) from Bangkok's street stalls.
• Vietnam: bánh mì, and phở for breakfast.
• India: chaat and Mumbai's vada pav.
• Japan: takoyaki in Osaka.
• Turkey: simit, the sesame bread ring sold from carts in Istanbul.
• Mexico: tacos al pastor and elote (grilled corn).
• Colombia: arepas.

Eating street food safely

• Go where the queue is: high turnover means fresh food.
• Watch it being cooked, and prefer food served hot.
• Carry small notes and coins; many stalls do not take cards.
• If tap water is not drinkable where you are, skip the ice too.