From pho to banh mi to bun cha, the evolution of Hong Kong’s Vietnamese food scene

The late US celebrity chef and travel personality Anthony Bourdain was a big fan of Vietnam and its cuisine. He even invited former US President Barack Obama to appear on the Hanoi episode of his food and travel show Parts Unknown in 2016.

Like the chef, Hong Kong – known for its love of international cuisines – is not immune to the charms of Vietnam and there are plenty of Vietnamese restaurants to be found in the city. The ties between the two, however, go much deeper than food.

More than 200,000 Vietnamese refugees entered Hong Kong between the end of the Vietnam war in 1975 and the 1997 handover of the city from British to Chinese sovereignty. In 1991, Hong Kong had around 64,300 Vietnamese asylum seekers, the highest number ever according to government statistics.

The 1998 Hong Kong Yearbook – a government publication covering the year’s developments in the city – states that more than 143,000 Vietnamese refugees were resettled to other countries between 1975 and 1998, while more than 70,000 migrants were repatriated home.

Bun cha was made famous by former US President Barack Obama’s 2016 appearance on Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. Photo: Pho Viet Authentic Hanoi Cuisine
Bun cha was made famous by former US President Barack Obama’s 2016 appearance on Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown. Photo: Pho Viet Authentic Hanoi Cuisine

As of 2024, the Migration Policy Institute, a US think tank, estimated that only 12,000 people from the Vietnamese diaspora live in Hong Kong, accounting for 0.16 per cent of the city’s total population. Hong Kong, it seems, has mostly served as a transit port for Vietnamese people in their efforts to relocate elsewhere.

Vietnam has, at times, previously fallen under foreign rule, from its long history of on-off Chinese domination to its French colonial period between the mid-1800s and the mid-1900s.

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