Visitors enjoy phở, the symbolic dish of Hà Nội and Việt Nam at the Hà Nội Culinary Culture Festival 2025. Photos courtesy of organisers

HÀ NỘI — Many famous dishes and drinks of the capital city are ready to serve people at the Hà Nội Culinary Culture Festival 2025.

Themed Hà Nội – A Culinary Journey Connecting Creativity, the festival is of practical significance in honouring the values ​​of traditional culinary cultural heritage, while promoting the image of Hà Nội – a creative, elegant city rich in cultural identity.

After the expansion of its administrative boundaries, Hà Nội’s cuisine became even richer and more diverse – refined and increasingly standardised, yet still brimming with creativity.

At the Thống Nhất Park, visitors can enjoy many distinctive and flavourful dishes in 60 booths showcasing Hà Nội’s signature dishes alongside regional specialties.

These include National Intangible Cultural Heritages such as Mễ Trì sticky rice flakes, Quảng An lotus-scented tea, Phú Thượng sticky rice, Thanh Trì thick rice paper, and Hà Nội phở (noodle soup).

A typical Bát Tràng feast is displayed at the event.

Notably, the latest heritage in the list – Lã Vọng grilled fish – is the highlight as at the event the Đoàn family would tell stories of how their six generations created and maintained the dish that has become a symbol of Hà Nội's culinary culture.

At the event, Ước Lễ villagers demonstrated and shared their traditional sausage making techniques. They also presented a 120kg cinnamon pork sausage measuring 2.4m in length to serve the public.

Đặng Hồng Sơn, chairman of the Ước Lễ Traditional Pork Sausage Association, said: "Ước Lễ pork sausage is a long-standing brand and very close to the lives of Hà Nội residents.

"We introduce this special cinnamon-flavoured sausage at this festival because its preparation is highly elaborate and the most challenging among all varieties. Through this, we hope to promote our brand to both domestic and international visitors, reaching people across the country and beyond."

“Hà Nội cuisine has its own unmistakable identity. If you’ve ever enjoyed breakfast dishes such as Phú Thượng sticky rice or Thanh Trì thick rice paper, or specialties like Mơ tofu and Ước Lễ pork sausage, they are unforgettable,” said Phạm Anh Đức, a resident of Hai Bà Trưng Ward.

Ước Lễ cinnamon-flavoured pork sausage is made to serve visitors.

“I’ve travelled to many places, especially overseas, and at every mealtime I find myself missing these simple, familiar flavours. It’s fair to say that nowhere else offers dishes that are so unique and delicious, with such distinctive tastes.”

Meanwhile Susan Thomas from Australia was excited when taking part in the chưng (square sticky rice) cake wrapping workshop. She said it looked easy but actually required various techniques of layering, folding and tying that were really challenges for anyone.

Visitors can also participate in other demonstration activities such as cooking traditional Bát Tràng feast, making lotus-scented tea, cooking cold snail noodle soup and making preserved sugared or salted fruits.

These activities, according to organisers, are not only a culinary experience but also an opportunity to “touch” the heritage stories passed down through generations.

Music and and dance are performed all day long.

The festival also includes many performances by artisans, cooking competitions between students from different schools, and many more.

Alongside food and drinks, the festival also offers traditional and contemporary art programmes such as circus performances, folk singing, street art, photo exhibitions promoting Vietnamese culture, tourism, and cuisine, and book exhibitions and mobile libraries serving a wide range of audiences till the end of December 21. VNS