I ate my way through Hanoi so you know what to order on your next trip

With the Friday lunch crowd filling tables around every crammed corner, we climb four levels to find our seats. This is the first stop of a three-hour street-food tour in downtown Hanoi as we eagerly follow Tom, our local guide from BestPrice Travel, through some of the city's best culinary offerings.

Still processing the sensory overload of the city's endlessly busy streets, I only catch a glimpse of the restaurant's open kitchen area as we enter - where woks work overtime and stacked bowls are rapidly whisked away.

As the food arrives, I forget the sensible plan verbalised only moments ago with the knowledge that four more stops remain. Instead of just a few bites, I devour my bowl of beef noodle salad and struggle to recall ever enjoying a fresher, lighter plate of food in my life. Thin rice noodles, crunchy green papaya, pickled carrots, peanuts, crisp shallots, lettuce, a generous helping of beef strips and a slightly sweet broth underneath. All for about $4.50. I quickly learn that when a restaurant plates up food within two minutes, essentially offers one dish on its menu and doesn't concern itself with decor, you're probably about to eat something spectacular.

Chopsticks down and we're on to stop number two at the end of more twists and turns through the road maze. Seated on a tiny plastic chair, I tuck into a banh mi to the soundtrack of scooter horns and near crashes. Again, while only sensibly planning to eat half a sandwich, I know my fate after my first bite into a warm baguette. With sweet and savoury char siu pork, pate, fresh salad and a hero chili sauce bringing it all together, I hoover up every crumb.

A short walk lands us at the day's highlight - a hole in the wall that proudly hangs three laminated pieces of paper that read "Michelin" and the last three years the restaurant was awarded a highly coveted star. Hunched over plastic stools, we're again speedily served the menu's one item almost directly from large, steaming metal pots.

The dish is savoury, steamed pancakes filled with either beef and mushrooms or egg. They're made from a thick rice paper we're told takes great experience to perfect. Topped with crisp shallots, dunked in a bowl of light and fragrant fish sauce, doused with a squeeze of juicy green cumquat and accompanied by fresh chilies, the pancakes melt away in my mouth.

The food is so good I happily ignore the old dog living out its final days under an adjacent restaurant table. It's also so good I forget this is my third meal in just over an hour and, as too many plates fill our tiny table, too many pancakes find their way into my mouth.

Waddling to stop number four, I officially declare myself full and foolishly assure my group of my intent to simply taste whatever comes next. Only, it turns out that bun cha, or barbecue pork, is what comes next. I steer clear of the frighteningly large bowl of raw garlic but, defying the odds, build and eat a full bowl of pork, noodles and lettuce leaves all topped with a sweet broth. In my first and only critique of the day, it's just slightly too sweet for my taste.

Finally, I find yet another stomach and squeeze in dessert at the afternoon's final stop. Cheese yoghurt, I'm fairly sure, some kind of ice cream and a mango pudding, I think... By this stage, things are a little blurry for this food-drunk traveller, who would happily skip his in-flight dinner later that evening. No regrets.

The writer travelled courtesy of BestPrice Travel