Linh Nguyen

📍 Hanoi, Vietnam

🗣 Vietnamese, English, French

Born in the Old Quarter, 50 metres from where the guild street for paper still runs. My family has been in Hanoi for four generations and every generation cooked. I am not a chef — I am a person who eats very seriously and grew up watching my grandmother make pho broth from 4am, who knows which bun cha stall has the right charcoal smoke, and which alley in Hoan Kiem serves banh cuon that the rest of the city lines up for. Hanoi's food culture is specific, regional and old. It is completely different from Saigon and almost nothing sold to tourists is real. I want visitors to eat what we eat.