Hanoi and HCMC, Vietnam’s two biggest metropolises, have recently been named among the world’s 100 best food destinations voted by 20,000 food journalists and restaurant critics in a survey conducted by Caterwings, the U.K-based site that offers online food ordering services in Europe.

Foreign tourists hang out on Bui Vien pedestrian street in HCMC’s District 1 

HCMC took the 80th position while the Vietnamese capital city grabbed the 87th spot on the list of top 100 leading cities around the globe recommended for food connoisseurs. The list has taken into account several factors based on expert opinions of their culinary scenes, quality of service, diversity of cuisine, affordability for locals and visitors, vegetarian and vegan options, and quality of street food among others. 

Manuel Queiroz, CEO of Caterwings, said in a statement posted on the website www.caterwings.co.uk that every destination in this bucket-list has instilled inspiration to food industry professionals such as burgeoning chefs, gastronomes and globetrotters around the world.

This is not the first time the country’s two fastest-growing cities have earned plaudits from global culinary experts and food-lovers as Hanoi gained the second spot after Tokyo in a list of the world’s 17 greatest cities for cuisine released by The Telegraph in February this year.

This June, the U.S. news site CNN put HCMC into the world’s 23 best street food destinations in which pho (noodle served with beef and chicken), banh mi (Vietnamese sandwich) and com tam (broken rice) were touted as typical dishes of street food in the city.

Traditional Vietnamese dishes have heaped praised not only from domestic gourmets but also leaders of foreign countries on their visits to the country. During his official Vietnam visit, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has recently paid a visit to HCMC and tried a cup of Vietnamese coffee at a café near the intersection of Le Thanh Ton and Le Anh Xuan streets in the heart of the city.

Moreover, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull had an opportunity to taste world-known banh mi thit (Vietnamese sandwich with cold cuts) for his breakfast during his trip to the country to attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, local media reports.

Meanwhile, former U.S. President Barack Obama also attracted a lot of attention and applause from the media and public when trying bun cha (grilled pork and rice noodle), a specialty of the capital city, during his official visit to Vietnam last year.

In recent years, the authority of HCMC has been striving to step up the culture of street foods as scores of weekend food markets are springing up in the downtown area that have captured the attention of local youths and international tourists. 

Bach Tung Diep Park and Nguyen Van Chiem Street in HCMC’s District 1 has recently been turned into the city’s convergence points for street hawkers, paving the path for promoting cultural spaces of street food among city dwellers and international tourists.

SGT