Our local guides take small groups (max 8) to family eateries that don't advertise — where cooks have been making the same bánh bèo (steamed rice cakes with dried shrimp), bánh khoái (crispy Hue-style pancake) and nem lụi (grilled pork skewers wrapped in rice paper) for generations. Eight signature dishes across three hours. These are the foods of Hue, a city where royal cuisine and home cooking have long influenced each other: techniques from the Nguyễn court traveled into neighborhood kitchens, and street-stall flavors made their way back into court banquets. Choose how to move: on foot through hidden alleys, by cyclo along the Perfume River, or by scooter to spots further outside the city center. The kind of tour we'd take a friend on if they came to visit.