From authentic conical bamboo hats and a vibrant variety of costumes to traditional art and crafts and photographs of heritage sites, the Sridan restaurant at Shangri-La Hotel, Doha, was awash with all things Vietnam on Thursday morning as the Embassy of Vietnam in Qatar and the hotel announced the opening of Vietnamese Culture and Cuisine Festival, a fascinating cultural insight into the Southeast Asian country.
Slated to be held at the Shangri-La from October 30 to November 12, the festival, the Vietnamese Embassy believes, is important because it will be the first time “Vietnam’s best traditional dishes served by Chef Vu Van Dang from Vietnam and traditional handicrafts from Vietnam will be presented to the people of Qatar”. Chef Vu Van Dang, the visiting chef from Shangri-La, Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi’s Hoi An restaurant, is set to work some culinary magic at Sridan by using fresh, traditional ingredients, and invoking the gastronomic flavours of Vietnam, and of course, his creative chops.
Nguyen Hoang, the Ambassador of Vietnam to Qatar, told Community, “This is the first time that we have organised such an event in Doha, focussing on our culture and cuisine. It was very important for us to showcase our cuisine through a Vietnamese Chef, because so far we haven’t had them here. To exchange our culture with people from other countries and communities, I feel it is very important to present to them a taste of authentic Vietnamese cuisine. We would like a lot of people to attend this event — not only Qataris, but also expats living in Qatar.”
Hoang, who has been posted in Qatar for two years now, says that while there are “several Vietnamese agricultural products” being sold in some supermarkets in Doha, there are no authentic Vietnamese restaurants here. “Across the world, like in Poland, Russia, France, the US, Canada and Australia, there are quite some Vietnamese restaurants and Vietnamese street food stalls to choose from. I wish that during my tenure here in Doha, I get the opportunity to inaugurate a Vietnamese restaurant here that offers original Vietnamese food to the people in Qatar.”
Thursday morning saw Hoang announcing that the opening ceremony of the festival will feature the performance of a traditional Vietnamese dancer. This unique opportunity will allow guests to take in the lesser-known traditional dance techniques of Vietnam, the embassy believes.
The Vietnamese Culture and Cuisine Festival will run at Sridan for both lunch and dinner, and will feature iconic dishes, such as Hanoi Crispy Seafood Rolls, Steamed Sea Bass in Banana Leaf and Indochina Devilled Crab Cake. Not to mention that the experience won’t be complete without having a bowl of traditional national favourite, Pho, for which diners can choose between beef or chicken broth infused with fresh coriander, lemon and chilli. While the lunch buffet is priced at QR109 per person every day, excluding Friday, between noon and 3pm, the dinner buffet is priced at QR139 per person daily from 6:30pm to 10:30pm. 
Traditional Vietnamese cuisine is marked by delicate spicy and fresh flavours, incorporating five essential elements. Each Vietnamese dish has a distinctive flavour which reflects one or more of these elements. The cuisine is celebrated for its fresh ingredients, minimal use of oil and reliance on herbs and vegetables with a perfect balance between herbs, meats and a selective use of spices to reach a fine taste. Vietnamese food is also regarded among the healthiest cuisines worldwide.
“As in any country, Vietnam’s cuisine reflects its geography and history. Geographically, it consists of two great river deltas separated by a belt of mountains. Vietnamese describe their country as two great rice baskets hung on either end of a carrying pole. The Red River Delta surrounding Hanoi provides rice for the residents of North Vietnam. The tremendously fertile Mekong Delta, centred by Ho Chi Minh City, produces rice plus a wide variety of fruits and vegetables both for itself and the central strip of the country whose principal city is the former imperial province of Hue,” says a note issued by the Vietnamese Embassy, on the upcoming festival. 
“With more than four million Vietnamese overseas, (most of) who are living in Eastern European countries, France, the UK, the US, and Canada, Vietnamese food has long been discovered and appreciated in these countries. Skilful Vietnamese chefs like to refer to their cooking as the nouvelle cuisine of combining Asian and European culinary traditions,” the note explains, “And indeed, with rice as the most important staple, along with wheat, legumes, fresh herbs and vegetables; minimal use of oil, and treatment of meat as a condiment rather than a main course; Vietnamese food has 10,000 kinds of dishes. Some of the Vietnamese dishes nowadays have become some of the most famous dishes and also the symbol of Vietnamese food to the world, such as Nem (Vietnamese Spring Rolls) or Pho (Pho Soup).”