{"id":4543,"date":"2026-08-11T00:22:36","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T15:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/news\/pho-omakase-saigon\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T00:22:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T15:22:36","slug":"pho-omakase-saigon","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/vietnam-gift.com\/en\/news\/pho-omakase-saigon\/","title":{"rendered":"Saigon's First Omakase Pho: Inside the 13-Course, $170 Experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pho, the kind of dish you can get from a street stall for around 60 yen, has been transformed in Saigon into a $170 (about ¥25,500) omakase dinner. Peter Cuong Franklin, the chef behind Michelin one-star ANAN Saigon, served a 13-course pho omakase dinner limited to 14 seats in August 2026 at his counter Pot Au Pho in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. Reported by VnExpress on August 8, the venture upends travelers' assumptions about “cheap Vietnamese food.” With a trip from Japan in mind, here is a practical breakdown of the price, the dishes, and the location.<\/p>\n

A Michelin-starred chef's “pho omakase,” served at a 14-seat counter<\/h2>\n

The venue, Pot Au Pho, is Franklin's own restaurant on Ton That Dam Street in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City — a tiny 14-seat space wrapped around the kitchen like a sushi counter, open evenings only and by reservation. This particular dinner was a joint project with Japanese chef Shozo (of FUME restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, a Vietnam resident of nine years), who cooked alongside Franklin, and was built as a 13-course tasting menu.<\/p>\n

Franklin is a Vietnamese-American born in Da Lat. After working as an investment banker at Morgan Stanley, he trained at Le Cordon Bleu and honed his craft at restaurants including nahm in Bangkok and Alinea in Chicago. ANAN Saigon, which he opened in 2017, made Asia's 50 Best Restaurants in 2021, and in 2023 won Ho Chi Minh City's first Michelin star in the inaugural Vietnam Michelin Guide. This is the chef taking pho, the national dish, apart and rebuilding it course by course — the concept behind this “pho omakase.”<\/p>\n

$110 for the course plus pairing brings the total to $170 — a breakdown in dong and yen<\/h2>\n

According to the report, the tasting menu costs 2,900,000 dong (about $110), with a drink pairing adding 1,600,000 dong on top, bringing the total to roughly $170. Compared with a single bowl of street-stall pho (10,000–15,000 dong, about ¥60–90), the food alone works out to over 100 times the price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Item<\/th>\nLocal price (dong)<\/th>\nYen conversion (approximate)<\/th>\nReference (USD)<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Tasting menu (13 courses)<\/td>\n2,900,000 dong<\/td>\nAbout ¥17,400<\/td>\nAbout $110<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Drink pairing<\/td>\n1,600,000 dong (additional)<\/td>\nAbout ¥9,600<\/td>\n\u2015<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Total (including pairing)<\/td>\nAbout 4,500,000 dong<\/td>\nAbout ¥27,000<\/td>\nAbout $170<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The conversion used here is 10,000 dong ≈ ¥60, and 1 USD ≈ ¥150. On a dollar basis, the $170 total comes to about ¥25,500; on a dong basis, about ¥27,000 — a gap that falls within normal exchange-rate fluctuation. A diner named Nhan Hien Nhi was quoted saying, “For an omakase this original, a price close to 5,000,000 dong isn't expensive” (VnExpress). At about 4,500,000 dong including the pairing, that “close to 5,000,000” feeling lines up with the actual bill.<\/p>\n

From sea urchin beef tartare to aged duck pho: what the 13 courses take apart<\/h2>\n

The course breaks pho down into its components — broth, noodles, meat — and reassembles them into different dishes. Reported courses include the following.<\/p>\n