These aren’t the $1000-a-head gastro temples but the sort of honest, down-to-earth places where it’s the welcome that’s worth a fortune while the bill is comparatively tiny.

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Now, we could head down the typical route and go for the obvious suggestions like pizza in Naples or a fondue in a chalet on a Swiss mountain; or perhaps a paella in Valencia, steamed pork buns in Mongkok or a ramen pilgrimage around Japan; but I know you want more. 

So here is my list of places you need to go to eat something that you never knew you wanted to eat so bad until you tried it there…

BUTTER CHICKEN IN DELHI
It’s Australia’s favourite curry, so people tend to get a little ho-hum about it, but it’s a mark of the renewed popularity of the curry back in India that there are a number of butter chicken chains there these days. All offer good stuff, but really, you need to head to the Moti Mahal in Delhi first. This was the restaurant opened by the guys that invented butter chicken back. This is also claimed as the home to the first dal makhani and tandoori burra kebabs, so you can make a real feast of it here.

CHA CA LA VONG IN HANOI
There aren’t many dishes that are so linked to a place that the street is now named after it. So it is with this meaty grilled catfish dish marinated with loads of turmeric and served with loads of dill that originated in what was formerly known as Hang Son Street in the Old Quarter of Hanoi. Now this strip has been renamed Cha Ca Street for the number of places here specialising in the dish. For history’s sake, try it at the Cha Ca La Vong restaurant where this dish was first created by the Doan family. 

FALAFEL SANDWICH IN TEL AVIV
Really, this could just as well be a falafel sandwich in Jerusalem, but the funk of this food-lover’s paradise of a city puts it high on my bucket list. This really is an example of simple things done well, but it helps when you also feel like you’re eating at the source.

JERK IN JAMAICA
Is it the fact that habanero-spiced meat is cooked over the fragrant wood from the tree that gives us allspice berries, or that local legend claims the Blue Mountains in Jamaica – where you’ll find these steel drum barbecues – were named after the smoke from the cooking fires that shrouded them? Either way, singeing your fingers and your mouth on some of the best spicy barbecue in the world makes this a key food destination.

RENDANG IN WEST SUMATRA
Constantly on the list of the world’s best dishes, rendang – pronounce it “rn-dung” lest you get jumped on by the purists – originates in West Sumatra, so a trip to the town of Padang is in order. Not only will you find the most popular beef version, but also these intense, slow-cooked spice, herb and squeaky coconut flavours wrapped around everything from buffalo to oysters. Rendang lokan (with oysters) originally comes from the coastal villages further up the coast as a local variation on the original rendang of the interior. Let’s go!

PAT KRAPAO MOO IN BANGKOK
Melbourne’s got its HSPs and Sydney has its Portuguese chickens, but in the culinary epicentre of Bangkok, one dish that requires its own hefty dedicated food guide to get around is this combo of holy basil, fried sweet-spiced pork mince and rice. Also look for the pickled chillies to amp up the heat for one of Thailand’s most popular dishes.

RICE AND FISH STEW IN SOUTHERN PORTUGAL
I’ve made no secret of my love of the food in the fish-loving south of this marvellous country. Or that I could happily live there. There are a number of rice and fish stews here flavoured with little more than a little garlic, coriander and fish stock that are particularly alluring, but unique is the one made with firm fleshed monkfish.

TIRADITO IN LIMA
Tiradito is like the prettier, more delicate cousin of the classic Peruvian cured fish dish of ceviche. The flavours and citrus cure is softer, the accompaniments more vibrant. I’m a fan of tiradito made with scallops, groper or corvina at La Mar Cevichería Peruana in Miraflores. It’s a place so fastidious about the freshness of the seafood, it doesn’t open in the evening because the boats only land fish in the morning!

TORTELLINI IN EMILIA-ROMAGNA
With one of the most discrete selections of cuisines of any European country, there seem to be local specialities wherever you go in Italy, whether it’s the schnitty-like coteletta of Milan, the fried artichokes of Rome or the granite of Noto in Sicily. But my favourite region to eat is Emilia-Romagna, home to everything from Bologna’s mortadella and Parma prosciutto to Modena’s balsamic vinegar and Italy’s most famous cheese, parmesan. The region is also famous for its tortellini, which makes the most of many of these products. These little stuffed pasta packages are romantically said to be modelled on the belly button of Venus, and when cooked and served in broth, are revered for lunch or dinner.

TACOS IN PUEBLA
Tacos al pastor are the most famous tacos in Mexico, and to have the original, the granddaddies of them all, you’ll need to head to the Mexican town of Puebla. It was here that Iraqi families fleeing post-war uncertainty came in 1919 and brought with them Iraqi gauss (grilled meat wraps). These would morph from lamb tacos to delicious porky tacos al pastor. It’s another on my bucket list!

BLACK PEPPER CRAB IN SINGAPORE
Black pepper is criminally underrated for its own quality as a spice, but not in this dish that’s a less sweet and cloying alternative to Merlion city’s famous chilli crab. I love the way your lips positively hum after eating one of these.

RICE THIEF CRAB IN SEOUL 
There are so many places to go to eat great crab dishes, from the Cajun crab boils of Louisiana crab shacks to the velvet crab of Hong Kong or the rice paddy crab soups of Hanoi. All great indeed, but the whole ritual of this supremely tasty Korean dish is built around marinated raw crab meat that ends up tender, sweet and just salty enough to urge you to take another spoon of rice and a little more crab meat. And again. And again. It’s reason enough to visit Seoul, even if there wasn’t also fried chicken, amazing beef to barbecue and mildly spicy bowls of tubular rice cakes to turn your head.

VOL AU VENT IN PARIS
Sure, there are a lot of edible reasons for going to Paris – eclairs, Pierre Hermé’s famous modern macarons, steak frites in an Art Nouveau bistro – but for my money, nothing symbolises the pre-revolutionary fluff and decadence of France like a vol au vent. It’s the rich filling and crisp, airy case made of too many layers of puff pastry to count. It was even first commissioned as a love token for the last king of France by his wife to lure him back from his mistress’s bed. How perfectly Parisienne is that!

Related story: Matt Preston’s ultimate international travel food guide

Find the recipe for the black pepper blue swimmer crab pictured above, here.