‌

Q: Where on Earth do you find the best food? A: Difficult, that one. Because you find the best in the most unlikely places, and alongside the worst. And your best is also about time and place, the mood you’re in and who you’re with. Many many things. Simplicity is usually the key though. The humble evokes memories - and joy: fat barbecued prawns off the most meagre of fires on a beach in Trivandrum, India; a snack of sliced boiled potato, sev (crisp noodles), green mango, chopped onion and tomato smothered in mango chutney-sweetened tamarind, known as bhel puri, had off an old knocked-about tin plate amid the evening magic of Bombay’s Juhu beach; sucking on chilli crab in a Burmese hut with the dingiest of light bulbs; a bowl of cao lau from a hawker in Hoi An, Vietnam - a mulch of glorious noodley things, eaten while balanced on a doll-sized stool at a pavement table amid the furore of chatter, steam and the comings-and-goings of fellow diners; grilled lime-stung octopus had under a sky full of shooting stars on a desolute beach with friends... and so much more. Get me? We just love our food, in its place. Q: Where do you find the best places? A: If you mean out-of-this-world places, they’re all out there. The most romantic and beautiful are not only in the far-flung corners of the planet, but can also be found, say, at a hawker’s stall on a busy street corner in diesel-blown Bangkok or in the incense-spun calm of one of the city’s Chinese temples. You won’t find them in a swanky hotel, no matter how much it has ‘taken its inspiration from the natives, blah, blah’. They’re there to take your dosh. Nothing wrong in that, but money never buys it for me. The best places take you by surprise. And sometimes in the most surprising of places. Asia’s really taken off. Low-budget air fares and increased flights; TV, radio and travel magazines; food trends and eating out; and an interest in the cultures, ingredients and dishes from the Far East have crept into our lives. Many of us have sampled a week or two in India or Thailand. If you can’t go, I want to take you there. There’s a taste too of the less-travelled places in Indochina, such as Laos, and there’s Burma (now Myanmar) too. This book is about all our travels: the ones we can take from the comfort of our chair, at home, or on a jet plane, for real. All recipes serve 4.