Hanoi tourists crowd to watch 'pho-cooking robot', wait hours to enjoy

Over the weekend, thousands of locals and tourists attended the Hanoi Food Culture Festival held at Thong Nhat Park. The festival featured more than 80 booths with many specialties from Hanoi and 8 other provinces in the country (Ha Giang, Son La, Lang Son, Hung Yen, Bac Ninh, Khanh Hoa, Thanh Hoa, Quang Binh) and 16 embassies such as India, Japan, Mongolia, Laos, France, etc.

The most notable area of ​​this festival is the "Pho So Ha Thanh" space, where smart robots serve pho to diners. On the evening of November 29 and the afternoon of November 30, diners crowded this area to watch the "robot cook pho", some people waited for hours to enjoy their turn.

The appearance of the robot made diners curious to watch. According to observations, the robot poured broth into the pho bowl at a speed of about 5 seconds/time. The steps such as blanching the pho, putting the ingredients in the bowl, and pouring the broth took 2-4 minutes.

The side dishes are placed in a tray at a fixed position. The robot arm will reach out, grab the tray and pour it into the bowl. At some point, the robot will also send a signal back to the machine for support staff to fix the problem.

In fact, to complete a bowl of pho, the stall still needs the support of staff in many stages such as weighing, dividing ingredients, or carrying the bowl of pho to the transport robot.

The organizers said that robots cannot completely replace humans in cooking and serving pho. The current device is a test version to bring a new experience to diners.

At this stall, diners scan QR codes to order before sitting at their tables. At certain times, the stall has to stop taking new orders due to the large number of customers.

At the opening ceremony, Vice Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Vu Thu Ha said that Hanoi is proud to be a locality with a large number of heritages in the country, rich in breadth and depth with the integration of Thang Long culture with the cultural regions of Xu Doai, Xu Dong, Kinh Bac, and Son Nam Thuong.

"Along with the Me Tri green rice craft, the Phu Thuong sticky rice craft, and the Quang An lotus tea craft, in 2024, Hanoi Pho was honored to be listed in the National Intangible Cultural Heritage List by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. This event is of great significance, a source of honor and pride for the host community and food lovers. Heritage registration is also an important legal basis to contribute to implementing measures to protect and promote the value of Hanoi Pho intangible cultural heritage," said Ms. Vu Thu Ha.

Hanoi specialty stalls such as Ho Tay shrimp cakes, Phu Do cakes, Vong village green rice flakes, Phung spring rolls, Ha Mo porridge, Uoc Le ham and sausage... also attract a lot of people and tourists.

At the opening ceremony on November 29, Uoc Le ham and sausage craft village attracted attention with a 150kg ham made by 10 artisans. On November 30, many people still excitedly surrounded this booth to watch the artisans demonstrate the manual pounding of ham and sausage.

According to artisans, many steps in making ham and sausage have now been replaced by machines. However, steps such as selecting meat and wrapping ham are still done by people themselves.

The festival not only attracts Hanoians and domestic tourists but also many international visitors. Itay Klir's family from Iceland especially enjoyed the ice cream shaped like Hanoi's famous landscapes.

"The atmosphere at the festival was extremely exciting. We experienced many delicious dishes of Hanoi. This city deserves to be honored as the world's leading culinary city," the male tourist shared.