After Michelin Guide, Hanoi is the world's top culinary destination in 2024

Recently, Tripadvisor - the world's largest travel platform with more than 500 million users per month, announced the most prestigious award of the year, Travelers' Choice Award: Best of the Best 2024 for destinations, hotels, cuisine and entertainment activities.

In the culinary destination category this year, Hanoi proudly ranked first in the list of 10 destinations voted by world readers, surpassing culinary paradises such as Rome (Italy), New Delhi (India), New Orleans (USA),...

This year’s list features more than half of European countries with renowned cuisines. The capital city of Hanoi, Vietnam, has climbed two places to take the number one spot in the world.

Hanoi cuisine is considered a “rising star” because it has continuously “made waves” on prestigious world rankings. The biggest turning point is the appearance of the Michelin Guide.

In December 2022, with the support of Sun Group, Michelin Guide officially launched in Vietnam, starting to evaluate the quality of dining establishments in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. By June 2023, three restaurants in Hanoi including Hibana by Koki inside Capella Hanoi Hotel, Tam Vi and Gia were rated 1 star for the first time by Michelin Guide - a prestigious award in the world of cuisine.

Hanoi also has 13 restaurants receiving the Bib Gourmand award, 32 restaurants on the Michelin Selected list and 1 Michelin award for outstanding young chef.

The Michelin award has made the restaurant even more crowded, especially with foreign customers. It is not difficult to see diners lining up or arranging plastic chairs, carrying pho and sitting on the sidewalk to enjoy.

Gia, a Hanoi restaurant that received a Michelin star in a burst of excitement, was almost fully booked for 3 months after the tire company announced the star. To eat at Anan Saigon restaurant, it also takes 1-2 months to make a reservation. Peter Cuong, the restaurant owner, said that while in the past, the restaurant's customers were mainly foreigners, now more Vietnamese customers have come.

The head chef of Japanese restaurant Hibana by Koki, Yamaguchi Hiroshi, said that the Michelin star has brought good growth to the restaurant, even though the cost of meals here is high, from 8.5 million VND/person.

He also added that many international tourists book tables 1-2 months in advance of their trip to Hanoi. The names of Ba Ghien broken rice, Ky Dong chicken vermicelli, Dac Kim vermicelli with grilled pork, etc. are searched more on international tourism forums. And after 6 months, the appeal of these restaurants and eateries has not cooled down.

Ms. Dang Huong Giang - Director of Hanoi Department of Tourism affirmed: "The Michelin Award is a good opportunity to widely promote Hanoi cuisine to the world and is also a motivation for restaurants and eateries to improve their service style, ensure food hygiene and safety, be creative in processing methods and create a unique space to bring many experiences to customers".

Also in 2023, Hanoi surpassed Kuala Lumpur, Taipei and Kyoto to win the title of Asia's Best Emerging Culinary City at the World Culinary Awards. Previously, the British newspaper Telegraph also honored Hanoi as one of the cities with attractive cuisine.

Many dishes have been honored by foreign travel sites and included in travel guides for visitors to Hanoi. CNN once ranked pho as one of the must-try dishes and in the list of the top 50 most delicious dishes in the world. National Geographic once honored bun cha as one of the 10 most delicious street foods in the world.

With many typical dishes and the good effects from the honor of prestigious world awards, the capital of Vietnam is increasingly attractive to culinary tourists from all over the world.