Once expected to become a bustling destination, attracting people in the capital, but now, Nguyen Van Tuyet street (Dong Da district, Hanoi) is still deserted and has not achieved the expected efficiency. The main reason comes from the lack of methodical planning in organizing walking spaces combined with cuisine.
Along with Tong Duy Tan street (Hoan Kiem district) and Ngoc Island - Ngu Xa area (Ba Dinh district), Nguyen Van Tuyet street is the third culinary street in Hanoi to be recognized and officially opened. However, contrary to expectations of becoming a bustling destination, especially on weekends, this street has not really attracted people and tourists.
Many opinions say that "labelizing" the food street without careful preparation in terms of infrastructure, space planning and operations has made it difficult for this street to create attraction.
Although the street, over 800 meters long, has been renovated and has a signboard "Culinary Street", recorded at 7:30 p.m. on March 3, the number of visitors is still quite sparse. Some beer and hotpot restaurants are crowded, while most of the rest are empty.
Ms. Bui Thi Van - a trader here - said: "Customers are very erratic, mainly looking for the two evenings of the weekend, but not as crowded as expected".
According to some businesses, weekend revenue is even lower than normal days, because the walking street does not have convenient parking at both ends. Customers have to park their vehicles quite far and then walk in, causing inconvenience.
Mr. Nguyen Van - the owner of a coffee shop - said: "In addition to the inconvenience of parking, the street also lacks highlights. There are almost no booths introducing local products or traditional craft village products".
The expectation of "wearing a new coat" for Nguyen Van Tuyet Street through the culinary street model may have gone off track, lacking supporting factors such as public space, parking lots, and identity in culinary experiences.
Journalist Nguyen Ngoc Tien - who has many years of research on Hanoi culture - commented: "More than 20 years ago, Hanoi opened Ky Dong food street but it was not successful because it did not have its own identity. In the old quarter, dishes such as pho, bun rieu, bun oc, sweet soup, cakes... have been present for a long time, if you open a food street and only repeat popular dishes, it will be difficult to succeed".
According to Mr. Tien, not only Nguyen Van Tuyet Street, many other food streets also only attract customers when they have typical dishes such as fried pork rolls, bunoc... These are dishes that retain the unique identity of Hanoi.
The cuisine is very different from before. If you want to attract customers, you have to cook in the old way, preserving traditional features. For example, bun oc must have cold noodles; vermicelli with crab cannot add pig's ear, corn... because that is no longer the original flavor. Hanoi has cuisine everywhere, so if you open a food street without tradition, it will be very difficult to become an attractive destination, said Mr. Tien.
