British celebrity chef and television personality Gordon Ramsay has named Laos and Vietnam the world's top food destinations, calling the latter an "extraordinary melting pot of great food."

During an interview with South Korean Youtuber Cho Seung-Yeon published earlier this month (10/12/2022), Cho asked Ramsay, "Where would you say is the No.1 food destination?" After thinking about the question for just a second, the celebrity chef named Laos, then Vietnam, and Madrid. 

Ramsay gave Vietnamese cuisine high marks. "Vietnam, the extraordinary melting pot of great food," he said. "I fell in love. There's just such a humble approach to eating incredible food."

Gordon Ramsay in Vietnam (2012) - He learned how to prepare Vietnamese Soup (Hu Tieu)

In addition to chef Gordon Ramsay, Vietnamese cuisine also captivates the famous American chef Anthony Bourdain. Accordingly, “Bun cha” that he enjoyed with former US President Barack Obama during his business trip to Vietnam in 2016 was highly appreciated by him for its deliciousness and elaborate processing techniques.

Barack Obama and Anthony Bourdain met up in Hanoi for some beer and bun cha

Vietnamese cuisine is highly appreciated by many international travel and culinary websites. In 2020, Vietnam achieved five world culinary records honored by the World Records Organization (WorldKings). That same year, “Banh mi” was honored by Google Doodle on the homepage with a special logo.

In 2021, CNN Travel magazine ranked “Pho” in the group of 20 best soups in the world. While the world famous travel guide Lonely Planet has released a book dedicated to talking about Vietnamese cuisine.

The variety of traditional Vietnamese cuisine

Since Vietnam is a small country in Southeast Asia, many people only know about Vietnam because of the war. However, they are not aware much about Vietnamese culture as well as nature and cuisine which is rich, profound and interesting.

While some countries may be known for their innovative new dishes and modern culinary skills, Vietnam is best known for its age-old recipes. Not only "Pho" and "Banh mi", Vietnam also has other attractive traditional dishes. Vietnam is divided into 3 regions: North, Central and South with diverse differences in geography, culture, ethnicity and climate. Accordingly, the dishes are also different from different regions of the country.

 (Source of image: qandme.net)

Bun Bo Hue

This amazing meat vermicelli dish comes from the ancient capital of Vietnam, Hue in central Vietnam. It is made with rice, beef, pork blood, crab cakes and broth. The raw material for making vermicelli is rice flour mixed with filtered flour in a standard ratio so that the noodles have moderate toughness. The selected beef is the front calf, encrusted with bright red beef or corn, and light yellow beef fat. Eye-catching yellow-orange crab cakes are made from bricks and pureed crab meat with a natural fatty and fleshy taste.

The "soul" of Bun Bo Hue is the broth. The broth is simmered from beef bones, so it has a rich sweet taste. In addition, people also add a little fish sauce and lemongrass to the broth to create an attractive aroma.

It's usually served with lots of lime wedges, diced green onions, some different types of local salad/vegetable leaves, cilantro and chutneys that you can add to your soup.

Nem Cuon / Goi Cuon

Rice paper (Banh trang) is an indispensable ingredient in salad rolls (Goi cuon), is the outer cover to pack the ingredients inside of the salad. When eating, you can immediately feel the chewy and salty taste of rice paper.

Pork belly and shrimp are the two main ingredients of Southern spring rolls. People choose a piece of meat that is both lean and fat. Red shrimp lying with pork is hidden in the thin layer of rice paper. Make diners curious to try a piece to feel the taste.

Raw vegetables are an attractive condiment for salad rolls. The most common raw vegetables are: lettuce, fish paste, herbs, chives. All are added together with pork belly, boiled shrimp and indispensable fresh vermicelli.

The delicious spring rolls are partly determined by the dipping sauce, at first, the spring rolls were only eaten with seasoning fish sauce, gradually creating more sweet and sour fish sauce.

Hu tieu

The rich, transparent broth is stewed from tube bones and white radish for hours. The noodles are very special, made from delicious rice with ivory white color, chewy, sweet and delicious taste. In addition, the steaming power of the noodle dish is also thanks to the combination with shrimp, thinly sliced loin, greasy quail eggs and fresh vegetables creating unique flavors that make you crave for just looking at it.

Vietnamese noodle soup with slow cook pork (Masterchef USA)

Com tam

Probably one of the most recognizable signs you'll see dotted around the big city of Saigon. You will find the sign 'Breakfast' on street food carts and local restaurants everywhere.

Com tam Sai Gon with small broken rice grains, a bit dry, not flexible when cooked. The rice has a certain consistency, is somewhat dry and the color of the rice is slightly milky. But this is a feature and is the origin of the name Com tam Therefore, people do not change the raw materials when processing. Combined with rich grilled ribs, greasy omelette and a little sour food served. In addition to grilled ribs, sweet and sour fish sauce is also an indispensable condiment when enjoying the taste of the dish. The taste of sweet and salty fish sauce, combined with sour food, sprinkled on grilled ribs creates a very delicious taste.

If you want to participate in cultural tours, contact PDC using the information below. We are proud to lead Vietnamese and foreign tourists from all over the world to visit and experience the unique culture of Vietnam.

Adress: 216 Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, District 3, HCMC, Vietnam

Hotline: +84 888 13 44 13

Website: pdc.asia