Hungry? Good. Buckle up. You’re in for one heckuva flavourous ride; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s booming commercial hub and undisputed street food capital, beckons.

To help navigate it, this beautifully designed, sumptuously photographed and endlessly informative book is essential. The ultimate, pocketable companion for the travelling food lover, it’s the second in a series of food-centric travel guides aiming to help travellers cut to the chase, culinarily speaking. It’s for those who desire a reliable entree into local dining, without having to mess around. It’s for people who crave authentic food experiences and want to rub shoulders with locals. And isn’t that everyone?

Structured around 12 iconic dishes, the book guides users to where these can be found with pho (soup noodles), banh mi (baguette sandwich), banh xeo (sizzling pancake) and barbecue among the essential dozen. But this nifty book goes way beyond these 12. There’s info on HCMC’s other soup noodle dishes and advice on what to eat in frantic Cholon. There’s the low-down on Vietnamese coffee and where to get a good one. Plus, celebrity chef and HCMC resident Luke Nguyen spills the juice on where he likes to dine in town. Addresses are in Vietnamese for ease of travel, and everything is gorgeously photographed, so you know exactly what you’re aiming for.