Banh xeo at Banh Xeo restaurant 46A, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. The restaurant has just been voted into the Bib Gourmand list of Micheline Guide 2024 - Photo: NHA XUAN
Last year, the Michelin Guide, which was first launched in Vietnam, also received great attention from the public, along with many opinions agreeing and disagreeing with the dining establishments honored in each category.
This year, the Bib Gourmand list was announced a week before the official announcement of the entire Michelin Guide Vietnam, and quickly became a hot topic.
There is controversy over the taste of the food, because each person has different tastes, and the Michelin Guide is also somewhat biased towards reference for tourists coming to Vietnam.
However, with Bib Gourmand, people have more questions about the prices of the selected restaurants, because this is a category to honor delicious restaurants with reasonable prices.
According to the Michelin Guide, the Bib Gourmand list of dining establishments is monitored by the Michelin Guide community “in search of affordable, delicious meals that still guarantee quality and taste.”
Among the many opinions disagreeing with this year's Bib Gourmand list, some people said that many restaurants have "sky-high" prices but the quality is not commensurate, while there are also delicious restaurants but the prices are high, cannot be considered "affordable".
So what exactly is the “ceiling” for a Bib Gourmand restaurant in Vietnam?
400,000 VND per meal
According to an article published by Michelin Guide last May, since 1997, Bib Gourmand has been a title given to restaurants and eateries with good quality at reasonable prices.
This “reasonable price” is based on a three-course meal including appetizer, main course, and dessert.
The price limit for a restaurant to be considered for Bib Gourmand status varies from country to country and depends on the cost of living there.
Specifically in Vietnam, a restaurant with a three-course meal like the one above for around 400,000 VND or less would be considered for Bib Gourmand, according to Michelin Guide.
Banh xeo at Banh Xeo 46A costs from 110,000 to 180,000 VND each. The cake is big, enough for two people to eat - Photo: NHA XUAN
Similarly, this price in Thailand is 1,000 baht (about 693,000 VND).
However, the Michelin Guide insists that their inspectors hold themselves to the same quality standards, no matter where in the world they are.
“What Bib Gourmand restaurants have in common is a simpler style of cooking that is easy to recognize and eat. A Bib Gourmand restaurant will also give you the satisfaction of eating very good food at a reasonable price,” the Michelin Guide writes.
Why is there fish in beef noodle soup, Michelin Guide?
The Michelin Guide does not disclose how it scores dining establishments, nor who the inspectors are, when they visit and evaluate…
This somewhat raises questions for the public, because people do not know why that restaurant was chosen, and whether the inspector fully understands the local culinary culture in order to evaluate it.
When the Bib Gourmand list in Ho Chi Minh City this year was announced, many people "cried out" when there were too few broken rice and noodle shops selected, or even banh mi, one of the city's most famous dishes, was nowhere to be seen.
Even funnier is that in the description of Bun Bo Hue 14B - a new face in this year's Bib Gourmand, the Michelin Guide website wrote "This take-out only stall specialises in noodle soup topped with sliced beef, beef tendon and fish fillet".
Description of Bun Bo Hue 14B restaurant on Michelin Guide website - Screenshot
This sentence roughly translates to “This take-out-only stall specializes in serving noodles with sliced beef, beef tendon, and fish fillet.” Fish fillet? Needless to say, beef noodle lovers were shocked.
Based on the photo of the beef noodle bowl, we can guess that the so-called "fish fillet" could be a piece of grilled pork served with it.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/quan-ngon-gia-re-kieu-michelin-guide-400-000-dong-mot-bua-an-phi-le-ca-co-trong-bun-bo-2024062414331087.htm
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