On Friday and Saturday evenings, the grounds outside the Royal Palace turn into street-food heaven. Vendors sell all the local favourites: steamed duck embryo egg, snails tossed with lemongrass and chilli, fish soup with noodles, rice paper rolls, chargrilled pork sausage, dried squid, and of course cold beer to wash it all down. Locals hire bamboo mats and sit on the ground outside the palace enjoying the goods on offer. To see the royal family on one side of the wall, and the other side lined with street food and locals, is such a buzz. When pan-frying these prawn cakes, make them as flat and thin as you can before transferring them to the deep-frying oil.