Food– category –

"Pier Dessert," which opened in June 2025 in an alley of Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City. Its booking-only format limited to 10 people at a time, and its staging of digging out palm-sugar ice cream buried in artificial "earth" with a shovel, became a talking point. We organize the touches you can experience — palm-sugar caramel sauce reduced at 190°C, a full seasonal menu overhaul, and a wooden box appearing with smoke — an experience of Vietnamese ingredients x Asian and European confectionery technique. We lay out the commitments of owner Tran Ngoc Tien, formerly of the electrical industry.

"Banh Mi Festival 2026," held April 23-26 at Le Van Tam Park in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. This fourth edition had 167 shops and drew over 200,000 visitors. The 40-year-old famous shop Banh Mi Huynh Hoa had 20-minute lines, and Trang Bread sold out in the morning at discounted prices. Displaying 50 kinds of vegetarian banh mi set a national record, making it a venue for internationally promoting the street food that represents Vietnam.

In the "2026 Tastemakers Awards" announced by U.S. Food & Wine magazine on April 22, the 15-seat fine-dining "CieL Dining" in the An Khanh area (formerly the District 2 area / Thu Duc City) of Ho Chi Minh City ranked third among the world's best restaurants. Chef Le Viet Hong is a young talent who won the 2025 Michelin Young Chef Award, offering an East-West fusion 10-course menu in a Nordic-meets-Japanese-minimalist interior. Its signatures are fish maw prepared with French technique and egg custard. In this prestigious award chosen by over 400 judges, it also draws attention as a Michelin one-star shop within Vietnam.

In the Asian meat-soup TOP 66 announced by TasteAtlas on April 28, 2026, five of Vietnam's noodle and soup dishes ranked. First is China's beef noodle, but Vietnam's entries are Phở bò (beef pho) 6th, Phở bò tái chín (northern style) 11th, Phở gà (chicken pho) 15th, Miến gà (chicken and glass noodles) 32nd, and Lẩu gà đen (Sa Pa black-chicken hotpot) 53rd. From the north's light chicken pho and Hanoi-style separately served sauce to Sa Pa's black-chicken hotpot, regional differences rode onto the world's evaluation axis.

The long-established "Moca Dining" on Nha Tho street (Nha Tho) in Hanoi's Old Quarter announced its closure on Facebook on April 9. Over 30 years since its 1996 founding (including its predecessor Moca Cafe), it served, in a French-colonial mansion near St. Joseph's Cathedral, an Indochine-meets-Gothic interior and a seven-course contemporary Vietnamese cuisine incorporating French technique. On its final night, regulars crowded in, and a thank-you message from the owner's family is spreading on social media.

On the site of “New Saigon,” beloved for about 40 years in Denver's Little Saigon, the five Nguyen sisters will open the Vietnamese restaurant “Re Tre (bamboo root)” in summer 2026.

Dinh Van Kien, a young man from Son Tay Thuong commune in Quang Ngai province, turned the vocal technique he learned at the Hue Conservatory into “a storyteller of cuisine.” At three stilt-house restaurants built from bamboo and natural materials, he's turning gong music and the Co Tu people's mountain table into a tourism resource.

Korean chicken major BHC announces its first entry into Vietnam. Partnering with Singapore's Hao Open Foods, it plans 50 shops in 10 years across Hanoi, HCMC, and Da Nang. We break the news on the contract details and a competitor comparison.

Da Nang holds "Food Tour 2026" on May 20-24. A first look at the full picture of this five-senses food festival, where 70 carrying-pole stalls parade along the beach and more than 100 booths serve everything from local seafood to international cuisine.

In 2026, the 100th anniversary of Michelin's star ratings, the announcement ceremony for the 4th Vietnam edition will be held in Hanoi on June 4. We break the news on the selection lists for three cities, guest-chef information, and three-year trend data.