Opening night «Phố đi bộ ẩm thực đêm thành phố Hải Phòng»

   Once a week the centre of the port city stops being a roadway. This Friday evening the central garden strip and the forecourt of the City Theatre belong to cooks, musicians and street performers: a military band parade, a lion and dragon dance, a ribbon cutting, and then a pedestrian quarter that stays open until midnight. If you want to start the National Day break with a plate of local street food rather than a restaurant queue, this is where to go.

   The full name of the space is «Phố đi bộ ẩm thực đêm thành phố Hải Phòng» — Hai Phong's night food street; its commercial name is ShopeeFood - Hai Phong Night Market. The city People's Committee runs it together with Foody JSC under the national night-economy scheme, as a pilot: every Friday and Saturday evening, from 18:00 to midnight, through 24 October 2026. The zone stretches from Quang Trung street, at the monument to the woman general Lê Chân, to Trần Hưng Đạo street, taking in the theatre square and the Cột cờ flag ground, with 25 to 30 stalls of food, local specialities and OCOP products.

   The opening evening comes in three parts:

• — a military band and lion-dragon parade, a welcome art programme and the ribbon cutting
• — the cooking show «Món ngon Hải Phòng» («Hai Phong's good food») from 19:00 to 21:00: chefs and craft cooks work through bánh đa cua crab noodle soup, nem cua bể sea-crab rolls, steamed bánh cuốn rolls and dishes made with rươi sandworms, each served with the story of where it comes from
• — Japanese and Korean dishes appear alongside the port city's own

   After the opening the street settles into its own rhythm: three stages run from 20:00 to 22:30 on every weekend evening. The theatre square is for professional companies — chèo opera, traditional puppetry, song and dance. The Trần Hưng Đạo side is curated by the city Youth Union and leans towards young pop and street art. The Quang Trung side belongs to clubs and arts schools, where students get a real audience.

   The format suits families with children, groups of friends and the large foreign community that lives, studies and works in Hai Phong: the Department of External Relations has been tasked with informing international organisations and foreign business associations, and with scheduling visiting art troupes during the pilot.

   Two practical notes. Traffic across the area is rerouted for the whole operating window, so park early. Stalls encourage QR payment, the central strip has free wifi, and the city's digital food map is being built into the Smart Hải Phòng app. In October the theatre square also gives two days to the esports festival «Games ON: Hải Phòng 2026».

   Hai Phong is usually remembered as a port and as a stop on the way to Cát Bà. This Friday the city invites you out on foot, on the strength of its own cooking and its own stages.