Published:  02:59 Sunday - May 12, 2013

Hosting the Red River Delta Tourism Fair, Hai Phong city has become more bustling than usual in these days. One of events attracts a lot of local people and foreign tourists is Cuisine Fair taking place in Arts and Exhibition Center.

Visiting the cuisine area, tourists will have a chance to enjoy famous dishes in Hai Phong such as red-noodle with crab, crab hot pot, “Nem cua be”, Mackerel fish ball, Tien Lang duck, sweet gruels, Cat Hai fish sauce, squid, etc.

Hai Phong red-noodles with crab - one of ten Vietnamese dishes won Asian record

According to the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Hai Phong crab noodles was recognized as one of 10 Vietnamese dishes to win Asian record.

Each bowl of crab-noodle has 5 colours: pink of crab, brown of rice-noodle, green of spinach, onion leaves, lemon, red of chili and yellow of dried onion.

Haiphong’s cuttle fish ball - a tasty seafood speciality

There are many ways to make a dish from squid such as boiling, steaming, frying, and deep-frying, etc. however, cuttle fish ball is believed to be the most extraordinary dish.

In order to make this dish, fresh cuttle fish is cleaned by peeling off the skin and sepia bone, then washed and chopped. Hence, the white pieces are spiced with pepper, salt, spring onion, dill, laksa leaves and crushed. When all are done to become a sticky thick mixture, the cook makes flat balls by his hands, then drops into a pan of boiling oil.

People enjoy the food in different ways such as with chili sauce or fish sauce, lemon, garlic, andfresh chilli.

Nem cua be (Deep fried spring roll with “sea crab”)

Nem cua be, made with fresh crab meat, are particularly good.

In order to make the best “nem”, the crab must apparently be very fresh so that it does not lose its colour or aroma. The spring roll is deep-fried and then dipped in boiling fat to make it yellow and brittle.

At the on-going cuisine fair in Hai Phong city, tourist also have a chance to see a giant crab pot and a giant fried mackerel recognized as national records.

A giant crab pot

Thirteen leading chefs in the northern port city of Hai Phong have processed a fried piece of fish from 130kg of fresh mackerel. According to Mr Mai Quang Van, the owner of Gia Dinh Quang Minh restaurant, the final product is two meters in length and weighs 100kg. It can serve about 1,000 diners.

A giant fried mackerel

After hard working in two days, the chefs completed the speciality dish by using many ingredients such as fish sauce, pepper, seasoning glutamate, garlics, onions and dill.

In regard to a giant crab pot made by Chien Tinh restaurant, it can serve 1,500 people. In order to make this giant crab pot, chefs had to use 40 kilograms of crab, 20 kilograms of pork bone and spices.

The cuisine fair will take place from May 10th to May 16th at the Arts and Exhibition Center on Pham Van Dong street, Hai Phong city. therefore, tourists have a lot of time to explore this beautiful city's cuisine an take part in many other activities.

Below are some photos of the fair.

 Nguyen Quynh