“At last year’s festival we had great success with traditional dishes like beef and chicken pho, spring rolls, vermicelli, grilled chopped meat, fried shrimp and a few other specialties,” said Chef Huyen.

This year, said the Chef, we added Banh hoi (grilled pork on angle hair noodle with lettuce) banh cuon (steamed rolled rice pancake) and Hai Phong barbecued meat to our list of menu choices.

“We received immensely positive feedback from almost all of our customers,” said Chef Huyen.

Monika Kanakova, a representative of the organizing board, said the event drew an estimated 10,000 guests, enjoying dishes served by some 80 pavilions showcasing foods from nearly 30 different countries.The visitors also had the opportunity to watch winning movies from international film competitions and attend various topical lectures, discussions and workshops, said Miss Kanakova.