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Do you love food--to eat it, cook it, dream about eating it--and make it your mission to find the most authentic, flavorful, enticing and intriguing dishes, wherever you may be? If you see every meal, and the snacks in between, as an opportunity and, sometimes, as an adventure, let us be your guide to the tastes, scents and sites of the cities and cultures across Asia.
The information we offer on this site is free. Our aim is to edify and demystify the
local cuisine to help you taste widely and wisely, and enjoy the most out of
your meals. Our restaurant (and street stall) recommendations are unsolicited and
uncompensated, and our glorious tasting sessions are all conducted
anonymously.
Who are we?
Savour Asia
is the creation of Sandra Huang and Stanford Smith, who met in Hanoi in
2004 and discovered a shared passion for food, travel and education.
This project grew out of our desire to share the fun, pleasure, and
amazing diversity of eating in Asia.
Savour Asia’s circle includes friends and folks who hunt down new places to eat, order everything
on the menu, then sit around the table, stuffed to the gills, and chat
and pick over not-to-be-left-behind tasty morsels while conversation invariably wanders to choosing the next street stall and
planning the next meal. They also understand that the concept of "three meals a day" is a shockingly unacceptable limitation on man's potential. To
our utmost gratitude, some of these friends have contributed to our site, and we have provided brief biographies of
them under Other Contributors.
Sandra Huang
Born
in the United States, Sandra is passionate about food, cooking and of
course, eating. An accomplished amateur chef, she has studied cooking
in Thailand, China and Vietnam in addition to working in well-known
restaurants in the United States. Sandra has spent most of the last 11
years living, working, writing, traveling and eating in Asia: as a
teacher and development consultant she has worked in dusty schoolhouses
in western Mongolia and mountain villages in northern Vietnam. Her
writing and food travel have taken her to as many Asian street-side
eateries and gastronomical opportunities as is physically possible.
Sandra has lived in San Francisco; Washington, DC; Boston; Taipei;
Hanoi; Beijing; and Port-au-Prince, Haiti. There is literally nothing
she won't eat once. She speaks English, Mandarin Chinese and
Vietnamese. Her husband, a U.S. diplomat, is perpetually in awe of her.
Stanford Smith
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As
the first of eight children growing up in Virginia and then Utah,
Stanford came to see food as sustenance above all else. Although his
mother was a resourceful farmer’s daughter and there was always enough
food, early memories include powdered milk, cracked wheat porridge and
lining up to get the next pancake hot out of the pan. It was not until
Stanford first visited Asia in 1988 that he discovered vegetables could
be enjoyed rather than endured. After completing a master degree in
International Development, he worked on various education and economic
development projects focusing on South and Southeast Asia, and in 1996
met Nga Nguyen (a Vietnamese American from Ohio with a serious passion
for fine food) in Washington DC where they were both working. In 2001
they moved to Hanoi to pursue their desire to live in Asia, and it's
been food heaven ever since, including a year and a half living in
Bangkok. Currently working for the United Nations in Hanoi, he also
founded the design and communications firm Linea Studios with his
brother Adam and they are currently building up the company in Asia and
the U.S. (www.lineastudios.com).
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