Michelin has presented its first restaurant selection of the Michelin Guide Hanoi & Ho Chi Minh City. Among the 103 recommended restaurants (48 in Hanoi and 55 in Ho Chi Minh City), four are recognised with one Michelin star for their high-quality cooking. This includes three in Hanoi and one in Ho Chi Minh City. At the same time, 29 establishments – the inspectors’ best value-for-money – receive a Bib Gourmand for offering good food at moderate prices.
“We’re very proud to finally present the first restaurant selection in Vietnam, with a total of 103 restaurants in the guide, highlighting four restaurants awarded with one Michelin Star,” said Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guide. “The first selection in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City highlights the differences and variety in what these two cities have to offer. Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, offers a very laid back and relax vibe with small shops and restaurants found mostly in the old quarter. Traditional Vietnamese cuisine with northern flavour is prevalent in this city, with a clear presentation of natural flavour, enhanced with different types of spices and herbs for complexity. Ho Chi Minh City, on the other hand, is a bustling and rapid-growing city that offers a unique energy to all travellers and has a diverse variety of cuisine. Both modern and traditional cooking techniques are well seen, and there is also a great mix of talents and young local chefs eager to present their ideas and creations on the plate. This is just the beginning of the Michelin journey in Vietnam, and our inspectors have been more than pleased to have discovered many gastronomic spots in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, and I am sure, many more in the coming years.”
Among the 103 restaurants in the selection, one Michelin star is awarded to three restaurants in Hanoi and one restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, for offering high quality cooking and outstanding culinary experience that is worth a stop when travelling to Vietnam. Anăn Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), a Vietnamese contemporary restaurant, whose chef Peter Cuong Franklin applies modern cooking techniques to street food recipes to create enticing flavours, earned the one Michelin Star recognition.
Whether you order the fresh tuna tartare, a roasted duck-mozzarella-herb mini pizza, shrimp and pork tacos, or bone marrow wagyu beef phở, every dish is a masterclass of well-balanced flavours and textures. Gia (Hanoi) is a Vietnamese contemporary restaurant, run by chef Sam Tran, receiving one Michelin star recognition for its menu that changes with the seasons and is inspired by Vietnamese culinary heritage. Deceptively complex, the beautifully crafted dishes showcase well-judged combinations of subtle flavours, with acidity and texture playing prominent roles.
Hibana by Koki (Hanoi) presents a theatrical experience at a 14-seat counter in the basement of Capella Hotel, with chef Hiroshi Yamaguchi skilfully and precisely cooked teppanyaki dishes rich in complex flavour. The menu features a distinctly opulently edge, epitomized by the premium ingredients flown in twice a week from Japan, such as abalone, spiny lobster, sea urchin, Yaeyama Kyori beef and Hokkaido hairy crab.
At the helm of Hibana by Koki culinary prowess is the esteemed head chef Yamaguchi, a visionary force in the creation of extraordinary Teppanyaki and Japanese cuisine. With unrivalled expertise and a wealth of experience over 20 years, Yamaguchi orchestrates a symphony of flavours using only the freshest, meticulously sourced ingredients from Japan. His visually stunning creations are exquisitely gratifying to the palate, reflecting the harmonious union of umami, kansha and omotenashi embodying profound mastery of the culinary arts.