The World's 50 Best Restaurants have been announced, highlighting the best fine dining establishments on the planet. But for those on a budget, this list is pretty had to beat...

1. Fresh coconuts, St Lucia

Coconuts’ nutrient-rich water is best slurped straight from the fruit itself. On a St Lucia beach (any will do), a few coins will buy you a green-golden orb, freshly cut from a leggy palm. With its top bit hacked off, you can pop in a plastic straw and guzzle up the refreshing elixir. Next, use your fingers to scoop out the sweet, gelatinous flesh: a messy yet very satisfying task.

Dinner and a drink, all in one Credit: alamy

2. Bagels, New York City

There is no bagel like a New York bagel. Though hotly disputed, our NYC expert reckons H&H and Zabars both have good options – best served with vegetable cream cheese.

3. Al Khalas dates, Oman

Dates aren’t just a snack in the Middle East: they’re fuel. The sweet, juicy dried fruits have sustained local people for centuries, in a land where only the hardiest plants thrive. They’re no longer essential for survival today, but they’re still one of the cornerstones of Omani culture.

In most homes and hotels you’ll be welcomed with tiny cups of bitter coffee and a platter of plump dates – the traditional Omani greeting.

Now that's our kind of coffee break Credit: alamy

4. Pastel de natas, Portugal

Nowhere does custard tarts (or pastel de natas, as they’re called here) quite like Portugal. And perhaps nowhere in Portugal does them as well as Pasteis de Belém in Lisbon, which is why queues for the sweet, rich and perfectly crisp tarts often stretch along the pavement.

A photo posted by Lisboa Live Portugal (@lisboalive) on May 7, 2016 at 9:41am PDT

5. Aperitivo in Milan, Italy

The Italian city is perhaps the best place to experience aperitivo - the ritual of early evening cocktails furnished with seemingly endless plates of "free" food. The Bulgari hotel's offering is among the finest. Nuts and olives are the least of it. Go for creamy risottos, mouthwatering burrata and succulent strips of salami washed down with a gin cocktail served in a glass the size of your head.

Tuck into aperitivo in Milan Credit: alamy

6. Clam cakes, US

You haven't lived until you've tried clam cakes (that's chopped clams in a cornmeal-based dough, deep-fried til golden) in Rhode Island – often served with clam chowder on the side. Confusingly, the best version of the latter is the New England style one (with a milky broth), not the Rhode Island style (which has clear broth).

7. Lingonberry juice, Sweden

When you sleep on ice in the Icehotel you're awoken in the morning by a person in a Ghostbusters-style uniform who dispenses a cup of sweet, steaming lingonberry juice from a vat carried on their back. The only way to wake up in the Arctic Circle.

8. Beijing dumplings, China

Dumplings in Beijing come in a vast array of flavours – lamb with carrot, pork and cabbage, or pork with garlic shoots.

On every table you’ll find a range of condiments to eat them with – vinegar, soy sauce, chilli oil, and raw garlic cloves. These you nibble on while you're waiting, presumably to ensure good health, but effectively to ward off any possible romantic gestures for weeks afterwards.

Fresh dumplings, steamed street-style Credit: alamy

9. Viennese Sachertorte, Austria

For pudding, you must have a Sachertorte. Freshly made in Vienna, they're wonderfully dense and rich.

10. Sushi and sashimi, Japan

You could nip into one of the many affordable sushi restaurants that envelop Tokyo’s Tsukiji fish market, or for a fine-dining take on the experience Sushi Sora in the Mandarin Oriental Tokyo is incredible. The staff here speak English – not something you can take for granted in Tokyo – and are able to provide unusually informative details on the cuts, chefs' techniques, etiquette, and so on.

Visit Sushi Sora for some of Tokyo's finest cuts Credit: alamy

11. Grasshoppers, Mexico

You’ll find chapulines – grasshoppers – of all shapes and sizes piled up in the markets of Oaxaca in southern Mexico. They have a satisfying crunch, and are often flavoured with salt, lime or chili – to boost their rather disappointing lack of flavour.

As the benefits of eating insects is being explored by nutritionists and economists alike, the people of Mexico have been ahead of the curve for centuries. Some say that grasshoppers are the cleanest insects, because they never touch the ground – only grasses. Snack on them like crisps in downtown Oaxaca, or wrap ‘em up in a taco with cheese, ham and salsa.

Chapulines (grasshoppers), your new favourite snack... maybe Credit: alamy

12. Ripe figs, Spain

Sweet, sensuous figs are best enjoyed when freshly plucked from the tree, still warm from the afternoon sun. You’ll find the finest in southern Spain, or the fig groves of Greece.

13. Full Scottish breakfast, Scotland

In addition to all the belt-busting trappings of a traditional British fry-up, the Scots like to start the day with tatties (potato scones) and a slice of black pudding too. On a particularly dreich morning in the Highlands, a Scottish breakfast is just the trick.

14. Gaufres, France

If you're ever wandering the cobbled streets of Lille’s old town, make a beeline for Meert – the oldest patisserie in France, dating back to 1761. Whether you're queuing at the counter or sitting down in its decadent salon, be sure to try the signature gaufres. These 'waffles' bear a resemblance to the Dutch stroopwafels, but filled with creamy Madagascan vanilla. Charles de Gaulle was a fan, so you'll be in good company.

A photo posted by Marie Bgs (@mariebougeois) on Oct 8, 2016 at 8:46am PDT

15. Laal mass, India

Laal maas, a fiery Rajasthani goat curry, calls for 45 chillies to a kilo of goat – with a few cloves of garlic, onion and yogurt. The curry is extremely hot but you don't eat it on its own; it’s eaten with plain rice or flatbreads, yoghurt-like raita, chutney and poppadoms.

16. Ceviche, Peru

This medley of raw fish, chili, raw onion and coriander is tossed with a lime juice spritz. Try it in the street food stalls of surf-lashed Lima, where chefs make delicious work of the South Pacific’s seafood bounty.

Fresh fish, with a zesty tang Credit: alamy

17. Sichuan hot pot, China

Chengdu is the heart of Sichuan's fiery cuisine, with dishes swimming in Sichuan peppercorns, the tongue-tingling and fragrant spice that numbs the mouth to set the stage for the region's plentiful chilli peppers. The bubbling hot pot is unmissable – paper-thin slices of lamb or beef and myriad vegetables are thrown into a cauldron of broth simmering in the middle of your table. Recover from the spices in a local teahouse.

A fiery Sichuan hot pot Credit: alamy

18. Tom yum soup, Thailand

Some of Thailand's spiciest, tangiest tom yum soups can be eaten from roadside stalls. The hot and sour dish can be whipped up in a second by street vendors using fresh lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves and galangal. Other street food treats to try include rice with spicy stir-fried crabmeat and fresh yellow chillies.

19. Alba white truffles, Italy

The best way to sample the world’s finest truffles? Freshly grated onto a plate of scrambled eggs, apparently – the perfect foil for the nutty, earthy flavours that truffles are prized for. The rare white Alba truffle is snuffled out by dogs (no pigs here), in the oak and beech forests of the Arno valley. They sell, for roughly £5 per gram, in Alba’s Saturday and Sunday markets throughout October and on the first weekend of November.

20. Pizza in Napoli, Italy

In this city of superlative grub, L'Antica Pizzeria – which serves only tomato sauce or tomato sauce with mozzarella is the best. It puts all imitators to shame.

Now that's a proper pizza Credit: alamy

21. Thuringian sausages, Germany

The sausages of Weimar are no ordinary bangers. Their closely-guarded recipe is hundreds of years old, featuring finely minced meat (pork, beef or veal) with marjoram and garlic. These Thuringian sausages are charred on a bacon-rubbed grill, then stuffed into rolls, doused with mustard, and sold on the streets of Weimar.

22. Empanadas, Argentina

Humble empanadas are a street food favourite throughout South America – a throwback to the 16th-century Spanish conquistadors. These dinky pasties are stuffed with meat, vegetables and cheese, and baked or fried until crispy and golden.

Argentinian empanadas Credit: alamy

After the lacklustre affairs you’ll find across the Andes, Argentina’s empanadas are light and tasty – and their fillings are more adventurous. Sweet dessert versions and spicy ‘Arabian’ styles are particularly tasty – and during Lent, fish versions are popular too.

23. Bunny chow, South Africa

When Indian immigrants arrived in South Africa in the 1800s, they bought their culinary heritage with them too – which lives on in some of the country’s spiciest dishes. No visit to Durban is complete without devouring ‘bunny chow’ – a simple meat or vegetable curry served up in a hollowed-out loaf of bread. Eaten as street food rather than restaurant fare, it’s cheap, simple, and just as messy as you’d imagine.

You'll never want to eat curry in the 'normal' way again Credit: alamy

24. Cawl, Wales

With a recipe that’s remained unchanged for centuries, cawl – a brothy stew – is just the kind of restorative fare you need after a day in the Brecons. Lamb (Welsh, of course), potatoes, onions and carrots form the hearty base of this dish – with the sweetness of swede, and an earthy kick from rosemary and thyme.

25. Gelato, Italy

Top-notch ice cream is one of our favourite things about Italy, but where to venture for the best? Our Italy expert recommends Gelato Fantasia in Rome: “There are eight different chocolate flavours alone, plus savoury forays like gorgonzola. But for me nothing beats the salted peanut flavour.” But really, you’ll be hard-pressed to find bad gelato anywhere in the country – so go forth and find your own superlative scoops.

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