Pot au Pho – a dish celebrates the connection between Vietnamese national dish, phở, and French cuisine, hence the name which is adapt from French iconic dish Pot-au-feu. The Anan Saigon, a restaurant that turns street food flavoursinto contemporary creations, was named Vietnam’s best restaurant in 2021 and39th in Asia by the website theworlds50best.com onthe '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 centre ofHCM City along Ton That Dam street.
The Anan Saigon was founded by Peter Cuong Franklin, a Vietnamese-American chefwho studied at Le Cordon Bleu and trained at world-famous restaurants includingCaprice in Hong Kong, Alinea in Chicago and Nahm in Bangkok.
A pioneer of modern Vietnamese and Asian cuisine, Franklin takes inspirationfrom Vietnam’s vibrant food culture and uses fresh ingredients from localmarkets while incorporating French culinary techniques.
The chef said his true inspiration is his mother, who ran a small noodle shopin Da Lat city in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong.
His signature dishes at Anan Saigon include ‘Caviar Banh Nhung’ which isinspired by a traditional waffle cake found at street food markets in Vietnam,combined with a classic French tart preparation. The tart shell is replacedwith 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 onesingle bite. The molecular creation features black truffle and wagyu beef in asphere of pho broth.
The ‘Hue Ravioli Foie gras & Wagyu’ is inspired by the iconic Hue dish – banh bot loc (Hue-styled transparentdumpling cake), but presents the rich flavour 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 RestaurantsAcademy, a group of more than 300 leaders in the restaurant industry acrossAsia.
This year, the list was revealed through a virtual awards ceremony streamedon Facebook and YouTube at the end of March.
The publication of this year’s list aims to support the region’s restaurantscene by recognising as many great restaurants as possible across Asia.
In addition to Anan Saigon, T.U.N.G Dining in Hanoi was named in the51-100 list.
Inspired by Nordic fine dining, T.U.N.G Dining has brought afresh breeze into the culinary scene of Hanoi with their creative dishes usingseasonal Vietnamese ingredients./.
VNA
