Hanoi (VNA) – The Michelin Guide announced on October 1 that it would expand its restaurant selection in Vietnam to Phu Quoc. The island’s first listings are expected to be unveiled in mid-2027, opening up new opportunities for culinary tourism in the same year that Phu Quoc hosts APEC.
Following Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang, Phu Quoc will become the fourth destination in Vietnam to be covered by the Michelin Guide’s inspectors. Restaurants on the island are set to feature in the Michelin Guide Vietnam 2027, due to be announced in the middle of next year.
The news has already prompted speculation over which restaurants might earn Phu Quoc’s first Michelin star — and which long-established local eateries could also gain recognition. From fine-dining restaurants to humble noodle shops, the island offers inspectors a broad range of places to explore.
Restaurants to watch
Among Phu Quoc’s fine-dining establishments, Pink Pearl by Olivier E. at JW Marriott Phu Quoc Emerald Bay Resort is one of the more prominent names.
The restaurant occupies a pink mansion designed by Bill Bensley and is built around the fictional story of Madame Pearl Collins, wife of the headmaster of Lamarck University — the imaginary institution that provides the narrative for the resort’s design. The concept creates the sense of dining in a private mansion with a story of its own, in keeping with the hotel’s wider architectural theme and evoking the lavish dinner parties of The Great Gatsby.
Pink Pearl serves French cuisine with Mediterranean influences under the direction of Olivier Elzer, a chef whose restaurants have earned Michelin stars during his career. Its clearly defined culinary identity and the experience behind the kitchen make it one of the names likely to attract attention as Michelin begins assessing the island.
At La Festa Phu Quoc – Curio Collection by Hilton in Sunset Town, Seta and Mare offer two very different propositions. Seta specialises in contemporary Cantonese cuisine, with handmade dim sum and roasted meats among its signatures, while Mare focuses on Italian cooking and Mediterranean flavours.
Elsewhere across the island’s resorts, seafood and local produce feature prominently.
Corallo at Premier Village Phu Quoc combines locally sourced seafood with imported ingredients, while COCO Beach House at New World Phu Quoc offers Vietnamese-style grilled seafood. Herring Bar at Premier Residences Phu Quoc Emerald Bay, meanwhile, puts local favourites such as herring salad, roe-filled squid and lightly sun-dried mackerel on the menu.
Beyond the hotel sector, The Home Pizza has built a following by combining pizza with Vietnamese ingredients and regional specialities. Its herring salad pizza brings a distinctly Phu Quoc flavour to the Italian staple, alongside more unconventional creations such as H’Mong duck pizza and durian pizza.
At the more casual end of the market, Bun Quay Kien Xay, Thanh Hung and Bun Ken Ut Luom stand out for dishes closely associated with the island.
Bun quay, one of Phu Quoc’s best-known specialities, features freshly made rice noodles, shrimp and fish cakes, accompanied by a dipping sauce that diners mix themselves. Bun ken has its own distinctive profile, combining fish, coconut milk and fresh herbs and vegetables.
If they can maintain consistent quality while remaining good value, such establishments could emerge as candidates for Bib Gourmand or Michelin Selected recognition.
For now, these names remain speculative. The final outcome will depend on Michelin’s independent and anonymous inspection process, and the list of restaurants worth watching could expand further as the Bai Dat Do hotel boulevard and Rixos Phu Quoc Vietnam become operational.
Why Michelin chose Phu Quoc
According to Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the Michelin Guide, Phu Quoc stands out for the way its fishing-village food culture intersects with an increasingly diverse restaurant scene shaped in part by international culinary talent.
The island’s close relationship with the sea, together with local products such as fish sauce and pepper, gives its cuisine a distinctive identity.
That identity comes through in many familiar dishes, from steamed Ham Ninh crab and herring salad wrapped in rice paper to grilled sea urchin and scad. Straightforward cooking techniques allow the natural sweetness of the seafood to remain at the centre of the dish, while fish sauce and pepper add flavours closely associated with Phu Quoc.
Against this local culinary foundation, the growth of the resort sector has brought new techniques and different ways of working with ingredients.
A visitor can start the day with bun quay, eat seafood in a fishing village for lunch and choose a fine-dining restaurant for dinner. That range gives Phu Quoc the potential to develop more travel experiences aimed specifically at food lovers.
Michelin’s arrival could help bring those experiences to a wider international audience.
A Michelin-starred restaurant can become a reason in itself for travellers to plan a trip to the island. Recognition for a modest local eatery, meanwhile, can encourage visitors to venture beyond their resorts, explore surrounding neighbourhoods and spend more within the local economy.
The Michelin Guide’s expansion to Phu Quoc comes as the island prepares to host APEC 2027, giving it an opportunity to present itself to international visitors not only through major infrastructure and resorts, but also through the depth of its food culture.
As fishing-village dishes and internationally influenced restaurants reach a broader global audience, Phu Quoc has a stronger foundation on which to become a destination people are willing to travel to for food alone.
The longer-term value of Michelin’s arrival will lie in whether the island can turn its distinctive flavours into a lasting competitive advantage — one that attracts visitors, supports local businesses and continues to generate tourism revenue well beyond the APEC year./.
