Locals rarely eat at Michelin restaurants?
H., a chef at an international hotel in Hanoi, often goes on food tours to Hue and Hai Phong in his spare time. For this chef, discovering new culinary destinations and bringing delicious dishes to Hanoi to serve also helps increase his income. Interestingly, H. has always had places that "overthrow" traditional places. "Everyone praises O Tho bread, but for me, baby Na bread is the best," H. explains why he imports baby Na bread from Hue City to sell. H.'s customers also love baby Na bread and this dish has become a regular weekly dish that H. imports.
Regional delicacies need to be mapped to promote domestic culinary tourism as well as attract international visitors.
Such “overthrows” of famous brands in cuisine are not unusual because everyone has different tastes, and arguing about taste is quite meaningless. However, with the Michelin list, although it has only been announced in Vietnam for the past 2 years, the argument is quite positive. On the one hand, the discipline in restaurant management is emphasized. On the other hand, the fact that “purely Vietnamese” tastes or the restaurants chosen by Michelin mainly serve tourists is often considered a “minus point” of Michelin.
Dac Kim Bun Cha restaurant on Hang Manh street ( Hanoi ), which was listed in the Michelin guide for the first year, is such a controversial restaurant. On forums, many people believe that the restaurant mainly sells to tourists. Also in Hanoi, Pho Bo No. 10 Ly Quoc Su, although selected as a Michelin guide, is also considered to be only eaten by people from other places. In a report introducing Hanoi and Hanoi culture, writer Nguyen Truong Quy brought a foreign film crew to Pho Phung Hung restaurant. This is a pho restaurant that is said to have all the qualities of Pho Ly Quoc Su from the subsidy period.
In Ho Chi Minh City, Ky Dong chicken noodle shop was also criticized by many people for its chicken meat not being firm, the broth not having a deep sweetness, and high price; despite the fact that this shop was listed in the Michelin list in its first year. Meanwhile, the Hue beef noodle shop in Vo Van Tan alley (Ho Chi Minh City) was listed this year, also causing questions because it had too much floating fat - something that a bowl of Hue beef noodle soup should avoid. Discussions on online forums also pointed to another nearby beef noodle shop that locals often eat at, because it tastes better.
Gap in recognition of good restaurants
Despite the accolades the Michelin list has received, it cannot fill the need to know about good restaurants in the country. The gaps are obvious.
Firstly, with a limited team, Michelin has not been able to cover all the important destinations of Vietnamese tourism as well as all provinces and cities in the country. Starting from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in the first year, this year Michelin has just listed restaurants in Da Nang. Only a taxi ride away from Da Nang for a few hundred thousand dong, Hoi An has not been touched by Michelin. Meanwhile, there is a whole system of quality cuisine with its own principles. Hoi An cuisine is so diverse and has such cultural depth and attractive flavors that anthropologist Nir Avieli (Ben Gurion University, Israel) has researched and written a book about it. This book has just been translated and published into Vietnamese with the title Hoi An Rice Story. As for Hue City, a place with many culinary heritages, Michelin has not touched it yet.
The map of Hai Phong delicacies is designed in a rather “teen” language, very close to the language used in online discussions. In it, typical delicacies of Hai Phong cuisine such as crab noodles, crab spring rolls, spicy fish noodles, water fern cakes… are introduced along with a list of stores, these stores are clearly annotated with addresses and opening and closing hours.
Second, the selected dishes are also quite monotonous, mainly limited to rice, pho, and vermicelli. The Michelin list is currently in its "primitive" form, not clearly showing the diversity of pho and vermicelli. Therefore, we have not seen fish vermicelli, doc mung vermicelli, etc. appear on the list. The absence of bread in the list is also something the public has mentioned continuously over the past 2 years every time Michelin announces it.
The fact that Michelin has not been able to cover many localities and dishes shows that we should not rely solely on Michelin to develop Vietnamese cuisine and promote Vietnamese culinary tourism. In addition, Vietnamese tourism also needs to go “on two legs”, even though welcoming foreign visitors, it is not allowed to forget domestic visitors. Therefore, “domestic” culinary lists need to be initiated soon.
Hai Phong's way: culinary mapping
Just search for Hai Phong Cuisine Map, readers will be “led” right to the city’s news portal. There is a map of Hai Phong’s delicious dishes, designed in a rather “teen” language, very close to the language used in online discussions. In it, typical Hai Phong delicacies such as crab noodles, crab spring rolls, spicy fish noodles, water fern cakes… are introduced along with a list of stores, these stores are clearly annotated with their addresses and opening and closing hours.
Culinary map of Hai Phong, by Hai Phong Department of Tourism
According to this list, customers are advised to eat snails at Thuy Duong restaurant in Lach Tray, Huong Oc restaurant in Le Loi, Co Loi restaurant in Mieu Hai Xa... The recommended sweet soup shops include Huong Che Hai Ba Trung, Vua Tau Tofu Nguyen Duc Canh, Sui Din Cau Dat...
The person who made this map also has a series of food tour recommendations for the day. Accordingly, for breakfast, you can choose egg bread with whipped cream at 64 Ly Thuong Kiet, Ba Bay rice rolls at 66 Cat Cut, pork roll bread with compressed sticky rice at 23 Minh Khai, duck rice noodles at 23 Le Dai Hanh... For afternoon snacks, you can choose porridge with fried pork brain at 63 Cho Con, dried beef salad at 24 Pham Hong Thai, Chinese rice noodles at 186 Hai Ba Trung... For late-night dining, this map recommends fried egg rice noodles at 1 Le Chan, crab hotpot at 278 Lach Tray, mixed vermicelli at 34 Hang Kenh...
A culinary list like Hai Phong’s can, for now, meet the needs of food lovers and those who want to experience food tours here. Making a list in Hai Phong is not as complicated as in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. These two cities have larger areas, as well as a huge amount of culinary heritage, and therefore require a culinary inventory.
In fact, Hanoi also conducted a similar culinary heritage inventory in 2018. However, because it only inventoried culinary heritage, the list was biased towards traditional vermicelli and pho. Meanwhile, new restaurants can always arise, especially new dishes. This further shows that cities, if they want to promote culinary tourism and cuisine, should find ways to have their own culinary maps.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/ban-do-am-thuc-dia-phuong-tu-chon-18524070623281927.htm
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