Vietnamese restaurant named among Asia's best

The Anan Saigon, a restaurant that turns street food flavors into contemporary creations, was named Vietnam’s best restaurant in 2021 and 39th in Asia by the website theworlds50best.com on the 'Asia's 50 Best Restaurants' list.

The restaurant, named for the Vietnamese words "an an", meaning ‘eat eat’, is located in Cho Cu, the oldest wet market in the center of HCM City along Ton That Dam street.

The Anan Saigon was founded by Peter Cuong Franklin, a Vietnamese-American chef who studied at Le Cordon Bleu and trained at world-famous restaurants including Caprice in Hong Kong (China), Alinea in Chicago and Nahm in Bangkok.

A pioneer of modern Vietnamese and Asian cuisine, Franklin takes inspiration from Vietnam’s vibrant food culture and uses fresh ingredients from local markets while incorporating French culinary techniques.

The chef said his true inspiration is his mother, who ran a small noodle shop in Da Lat city in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.

His signature dishes at Anan Saigon include ‘Caviar Banh Nhung’ which is inspired by a traditional waffle cake found at street food markets in Vietnam, combined with a classic French tart preparation. The tart shell is replaced with a light and crispy Vietnamese rosette pastry made from rice flour and egg, topped with salmon caviar, smoked salmon and crème fraiche.

‘One Bite Pho’ is a distillation of Vietnam’s iconic national dish into one single bite. The molecular creation features black truffle and wagyu beef in a sphere of pho broth.

The ‘Hue Ravioli Foie gras & Wagyu’ is inspired by the iconic Hue dish – banh bot loc (Hue-styled transparent dumpling cake), but presents the rich flavor of slow-cooked beef cheek, shredded and mixed into a fine paste of foie gras.

The 'Asia's 50 Best Restaurants' list was created by Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants Academy, a group of more than 300 leaders in the restaurant industry across Asia.

This year, the list was revealed through a virtual awards ceremony streamed on Facebook and YouTube at the end of March.

The publication of this year’s list aims to support the region’s restaurant scene by recognizing as many great restaurants as possible across Asia.

In addition to Anan Saigon, T.U.N.G Dining in Hanoi was named in the 51-100 list.

Inspired by Nordic fine dining, T.U.N.G Dining has brought a fresh breeze into the culinary scene of Hanoi with their creative dishes using seasonal Vietnamese ingredients.