Reply to "Tradition with a twist: Hanoi's street food gets a contemporary makeover"

Other well-known local dishes, such as cha ca, also benefit from a little French wine.

"Cha ca is the perfect dish to pair with wine -- fish sauce is quite a strong flavor, so a light red, like a pinot noir, would be ideal," says Do.

Pairing Vietnamese cuisine with wine is just one of the many ways that Vietnamese food is starting to emerge from its low-budget street-eats niche.

"I'm very confident in the reputation and development of our cuisine," says Nguyen. "It can compete with the best French and Japanese food, for sure. Why not?"