While eating unripe fruit may not sound appetizing, it's actually the secret that makes papaya salad taste incredible. It's so good, in fact, that papaya salad made CNN Go's list of the 50 most delicious foods in the world. Here are some recommendations of restaurants that serve best papaya salad.

Phrik Thai

The papaya strips in this papaya salad (RMB42) are perfectly sliced to soak up large quantities of the sauce—and it’s a very good approximation of what you might get in Thailand. The blended mixture of fresh, sour lime, savory fish sauce, sweet sugar and spicy chili comes together beautifully, with no shortage of crunchy peanuts scattered atop. The addition of dried shrimp, which puffs up in the salad, is an ideal carrier for the extremely flavorful sauce.

Address: First Floor of Gateway Building, No. 10, Yabao Road, Dongcheng District

Tel: 010 – 85615236

Opening hours: 11:30 – 14:30; 17:30 – 22:30