Blinken lauds Vietnamese food during official visit

“You can’t visit Vietnam and not sample the food. Vietnamese cuisine has some of the freshest flavors and we see its influence across the U.S. in our own restaurants,” his Twitter account read on Sunday.

He visited a rice restaurant named “Com Tay Cam” on Trang Tien street on Saturday, where he tried spring rolls and rice cooked in a clay pot.

“Qua ngon! (So good)” he remarked in Vietnamese.

Blinken landed in Hanoi Friday night to begin his three-day visit to Vietnam per an invitation by Minister of Foreign Affairs Bui Thanh Son. He also broke ground on the new U.S. embassy compound in Hanoi’s Cau Giay District Saturday morning.

This is Blinken’s first visit to Vietnam as a Secretary of State. He had visited Vietnam in 2015 and 2016 as Deputy Secretary of State under the Obama administration.

Blinken left Vietnam on Sunday to travel to Japan and participate in the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.

“Thank you to the wonderful people of Vietnam and the Vietnamese authorities for hosting my first visit as Secretary. More committed than ever to elevating the U.S.-Vietnam Comprehensive Partnership and to working together to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific region,” his Twitter account read.