Going to Hai Phong to enjoy food is becoming a trend, after many introductory videos appeared, with word of mouth effects.
Seeing friends taking the train back to Hai Phong to experience the food tour, Dieu Huong, 26 years old, left for the holiday on April 30. According to Huong, Hai Phong is a close destination, easy to move around during the day, and can do familiar things that friends often do in Hanoi such as dating, eating, chatting, and sitting for coffee, but different, maybe “change the wind”.
Huong said that in the last 1-2 months, she continuously watched videos of food tours in Hai Phong. Eye-catching images, beautiful colors and inviting voices of travel bloggers stimulate food demand. The trip plan and train tickets were booked by Huong a week in advance. “Take a test train, though bumpy and slow”. The train is also a means of transport chosen by many tourists from Hanoi to conduct food tours because Hai Phong station is located right in the center, convenient to move to many restaurants.
Dieu Huong’s food tour includes vermicelli, pickled coconut, spicy fish vermicelli, spicy bread, Banh Beo , snails . She commented that Hai Phong has a variety of cuisines from savory to sweet snacks. The dishes are plentiful, making her want to come back. “80% of the introductory videos point to good restaurants, 20% are not really special restaurants, depending on taste,” Huong said. Of the dishes she ate, she found spicy fish vermicelli, and the rest were not delicious “as rumored”, for example, spicy bread, bun cha nem with crab.
Dieu Huong shared that the famous restaurants are crowded but there is no jostling, chopping and slashing, it just takes time to queue. She had a memorable experience at a spicy bread shop when she ordered 300 pieces to buy as gifts but could not because there were too many customers. To be quick, most customers come to buy pate and cakes separately to spread. If you want to buy a ready-made spread, you can experience cutting bread yourself, then give it to the staff to spread the pate. “I feel like a ‘group’ activity, a very good cultural experience,” Huong shared. The staff was busy but still guided to do the same, helping Huong have a fun and memorable trip.
Son Tung, 35 years old, cherished to carry out the Hai Phong food tour in 2021 but can only now do it due to the Covid-19 epidemic. In Tung’s imagination, Hai Phong is still most famous for its dry wharves and containers, so he wants a different experience at idyllic street corners and street snacks. This year, he decided to hit the road, choosing the train because of his hobby of taking photos, wanting to check-in in on the train and in front of the station. “If you are not in a hurry to handle personal work, traveling by train is safe, fast and on time. The train has been forgotten by many people for a long time,” Tung said.
Tung chooses typical dishes that only Hai Phong has such as spicy fish heart vermicelli, crab cake, seafood crab vermicelli, porridge, steamed rice cake, beef skin, broken bean sprouts, spicy bread, Banh Beo , tea . chrysanthemum, pickled coconut, coconut coffee… According to him, every dish is delicious, but the most impressive is spicy bread served with chi Chuong (a type of Hai Phong chili sauce). In total, he enjoyed 19 dishes, but still regretted not having enough time to eat some more dishes such as snails, vermicelli and crab spring rolls. Although some dishes have a real experience that is not as delicious as introduced, Tung still wants to come back next time because “delicious, nutritious, cheap”.
Hoang Huy, 25 years old, also went on a food tour to Hai Phong after reading the comments, especially mixed opinions. After the practical experience, Huy thinks that many dishes are “too flattering” by reviewers.
“When I rented a taxi to go to a delicious crab cake shop, the driver said, ‘No one in Hai Phong eats there, don’t believe it online’. But out of curiosity, I decided to still come, it’s true. When I went back to Hanoi to share my feelings with some people who had eaten like me, everyone said that they shouldn’t believe too much in videos introduced online,” Huy said. The advice when going on an Hai Phong food tour is to ask more locals to be pointed to delicious restaurants, not just watch online, from there to have a full experience.
Working in Hanoi, Hoang Phuong, 25 years old, from Hai Phong, is “both sad and happy” when the number of tourists coming to Hai Phong to conduct a food tour suddenly increased. “Happy to see that my hometown is interested in tourists. Sad because I have a rare opportunity to return to my hometown to enjoy specialties every year, but everywhere I go, it’s crowded or out of stock,” Phuong confided. However, Phuong still hopes that the Hai Phong food tour will be known to more and more people to promote homeland tourism.
On May 7, the Hai Phong Department of Tourism published an online culinary map, and there will be a free printout at Hai Phong station in the near future. The map makes it easy for visitors to choose restaurants and know about delicious dishes in Hai Phong. To avoid overload. Each dish on the culinary map is suggested by many restaurants, serving diverse tastes for visitors. The shops appearing on the map are selected with the criteria of deliciousness, recognized by locals, and ensuring food safety and hygiene. In addition, the Department is also coordinating with other departments to build a tram route to transport passengers from the train station to the restaurants at an affordable price.
Mr. Vu Huy Thuong, Deputy Director of Hai Phong Department of Tourism, said: “Food tour is a feature of Hai Phong tourism”. During the 4 days of public holidays April 30 to May 1, the number of tourists coming to Hai Phong to conduct a food tour by train is more than 25,000. Which, the two days of April 30 and May 1 are the peaks with 6,000-7,000 turns per day.
“We have noticed the recent ‘boom’ of the Hai Phong food tour. This type of tourism has been implemented for several years, coordinated to promote through many media channels, social networks, and tour groups,” he said. The bonus said and added, the security and order when the restaurant is crowded is always guaranteed. Police will be present at crowded shops, but to make visitors feel comfortable, they all wear plain clothes.
