Vietnamese cuisine reaches out to the world: Broken rice appears on the menu of a large Japanese restaurant chain

DNVN - More than 1,100 Matsuya stores across Japan have officially added the dish "Vietnamese-style broken rice with pork" to their menu, marking a new step in the journey of bringing Vietnamese cuisine to the world.

On August 26, at the Roppongi store, the Matsuya chain launched a menu featuring Vietnamese broken rice. This event is considered an important milestone when Vietnamese dishes are available for the first time at more than 1,000 stores of Japan's leading fast food chain. Vietnamese Ambassador to Japan Pham Quang Hieu attended and introduced the unique features of Vietnamese cuisine to many Japanese reporters.

Ms. Aya Aoki, representative of Matsuya, said that during the survey to open a store in Vietnam, the company was attracted by the taste of broken rice. In April 2025, Matsuya conducted a trial sale and thanks to positive feedback from customers, the chain decided to widely deploy Vietnamese broken rice at 1,112 stores.

Vietnamese broken rice dish (Photo: Internet)

According to Vietnamese Trade Counselor in Japan Ta Duc Minh, this is “a turning point in the journey to bring Vietnamese cuisine to the world ”. Notably, the dish is served with traditional Vietnamese fish sauce, marking the first time this spice has appeared in a large restaurant chain in Japan. To serve the launch, 10 tons of fish sauce were imported directly from Vietnam, opening up new opportunities for exporting spices, ingredients and processed foods to Japan.

Mr. Ta Duc Minh hopes that this cooperation model will become a premise for many other Vietnamese products such as rice, coffee, vegetables, and processed foods to gradually gain deeper access to the Japanese market, contributing to strengthening bilateral trade relations.

A Japanese diner, Kiyoshi Muramatsu, shared that the first time he enjoyed Vietnamese broken rice, he felt “the balance of all the ingredients, typical of Vietnamese cuisine and very fresh”. He said that Vietnamese cuisine is “very diverse, with a balance between meat and vegetables so it will not be boring” and expressed his desire to continue to explore many other Vietnamese dishes.

According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Japan, in the first six months of 2025, the total two-way trade turnover reached nearly 24.4 billion USD, an increase of nearly 10% over the same period in 2024. Of which, exports from Vietnam to Japan reached 12.81 billion USD, an increase of 11.79%. Japan, with a population of more than 126 million people, continues to be a potential market for agricultural, forestry, fishery products, processed foods, textiles, footwear and many other products from Vietnam.

Nguyen Bach

Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/kinh-te/am-thuc-viet-vuon-ra-the-gioi-com-tam-xuat-hien-trong-thuc-don-cua-chuoi-nha-hang-lon-nhat-ban/20250826055802036