Opening of Pho Festival 2025: Honoring the quintessence of Vietnamese culinary heritage

The program is organized by Hanoi Convention Center in coordination with Thang Long - Hanoi Heritage Conservation Center and related units.

Opening ceremony of Hanoi Pho Festival 2025. Photo: Viet Thanh.

Attending the opening ceremony were: Member of the Party Central Committee, Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee, Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh; Vice Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Vu Thu Ha and representatives of a number of central ministries, departments and branches and departments of Hanoi city.

Pho Festival 2025 takes place over three days, from April 18 to 20, 2025, at Thang Long Imperial Citadel, gathering more than 50 booths of businesses and pho culinary brands from all three regions to participate in performances and promote their images and brands. Visitors will experience typical pho dishes of each locality, such as: Northwest, Nam Dinh, Hanoi, Central, Southern and international pho styles.

Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Tran Sy Thanh and delegates visit the booths. Photo: Viet Thanh.

Notably, many Hanoi pho brands that have made a name for the capital's cuisine: Pho Thin Bo Ho, Pho Tu Lun, Pho Hoang Gia, Pho Van Cu... were present. Artists directly performed and helped visitors experience the process of cooking pho and fried dough sticks - from choosing ingredients, making pho noodles, to cooking broth...

Participating in this year's festival, Pho Thin Bo Ho stall attracted a large number of visitors from 5pm on the opening day. Mr. Bui Chi Thanh - the third generation owner of the restaurant shared that the restaurant prepared about 500 meals on the first day and may increase in the following days. Each bowl of pho at the Festival costs only 40,000 VND, nearly half the price of the restaurant at Bo Ho. "By participating in the festival, we want to promote and introduce the quintessence of Hanoi cuisine to a large number of people and tourists. Although the price is lower than usual, we are still committed to maintaining the quality and ensuring food hygiene and safety," said Mr. Thanh.

International visitors experience Hanoi Pho Festival. Photo: Viet Thanh

At the Nam Dinh pho area, artisan Le Thi Thiet, President of the Nam Dinh Culinary Culture Association, is also busy preparing typical pho bowls to serve diners.

“We introduce famous pho dishes of Nam Dinh such as rare brisket and minced rare beef. All ingredients are carefully preserved and sliced by machine to ensure food safety and hygiene. The festival is a precious opportunity to introduce and promote the quintessence of pho culinary heritage - a dish that has conquered the hearts of many international tourists,” said artisan Le Thi Thiet.

Hanoi Pho Festival 2025 attracts a large number of visitors. Photo: Viet Thanh.

As a tourist to the Festival, Ms. Nguyen Thanh Hong (Ba Dinh District) said: Her family came early to visit the booths, watch the chefs perform and take check-in photos. “There are many famous pho brands from Hanoi and other localities. My family is very excited because there are many options to enjoy. This is a good opportunity to experience and explore the famous traditional pho of Hanoi and the whole country,” Ms. Hong shared.

It is known that at the festival, all booths apply a common price of 40,000 VND/bowl. The highlight of the Hanoi Pho Festival 2025 is the application of AI - Chatbot technology to enhance the experience of attendees, optimize the organization process and support event promotion. Chatbot will be arranged at the information desk, supporting guests to look up booths, find suitable pho dishes... This is the first time AI technology has been applied in a culinary festival in Vietnam.

Visitors experience AI applications at the Festival. Photo: Viet Thanh.

Within the framework of the program, locals and tourists can also visit the exhibition “Pho Story”, recreating the development journey of Vietnamese pho through each historical period. Visitors will “travel” from the old pho stalls, the subsidy-era pho restaurants to the world-class pho brands. In addition, there is also a space for Hanoi lotus tea, a Mau Dich beer stall… recreating the culinary culture of old Hanoi.

In particular, the festival also included a panel discussion on “Pho becoming a UNESCO heritage and spreading internationally”, where experts discussed the journey of turning Vietnamese pho from a traditional dish into a global culinary heritage, as well as the process and challenges in building a dossier to submit to UNESCO.

Source: https://hanoimoi.vn/khai-mac-festival-pho-2025-ton-vinh-tinh-hoa-di-san-am-thuc-viet-nam-699511.html