By Olli · Updated 29 September 2026
There is something about the language of fine dining that has always bothered me. French technique, imported ingredients and elaborate service arrive carrying the idea of sophistication. Vietnamese food is more often praised for being affordable, comforting or a good street-food discovery.
Neither description tells us much about the knowledge behind a meal. A broth simmered for hours or a carefully fermented fish sauce does not become less complex because it is served beside the road.
That is why the direction of fine dining in Saigon interests me. Chefs are putting Vietnamese ingredients, regional traditions and personal food memories at the centre of ambitious menus. The change is not that Vietnamese food is finally becoming sophisticated. It is that more restaurants are making that sophistication the starting point.
Vietnamese cooking at the centre
Michelin’s 2026 Ho Chi Minh City selection includes contemporary Vietnamese cooking at Upstairs, Miên Saigon and ST25 by KOTO. Coco Dining describes its seasonal tasting menus through Vietnamese memory, emotion and culture. These are different restaurants, but each gives Vietnamese cooking room to lead. Inclusion in the Michelin Guide does not necessarily mean a restaurant holds a star.
Upstairs earned its first star in 2026. Chef Hiệp Trương draws on Central Vietnamese traditions for a modern tasting menu. The award matters because it brings attention to that cooking, although Michelin cannot confer complexity on a cuisine that already possessed it.
Vietnam offers plenty for a chef to explore: coastal seafood, regional fish sauces, mountain-grown tea, tropical fruit and fermentation traditions. Local ingredients do not need an imported luxury garnish to deserve sustained attention.
Outside influence still has a place
Saigon’s food has always been shaped by migration, trade and adaptation. Rejecting techniques from elsewhere would make little sense.
Voyage, led by chef-owner Jonathan Koh, offers a different approach. Its own description emphasises ingredients and techniques from around the world, including Japan and Europe. That belongs in Saigon too. Valuing Vietnamese cooking does not require every restaurant to tell the same story.
A chef can use French sauces, Japanese techniques or a tasting-menu format without treating European food as the standard against which everything else must be measured. The distinction is between exchanging ideas and assuming one tradition is inherently more refined.
An expensive menu is not proof of progress
There is a contradiction here. Restaurants challenging old ideas of luxury often retain long tasting menus, formal service and prices beyond the reach of many Vietnamese diners. Moving a family recipe onto handmade ceramics does not automatically make a restaurant culturally important.
The more useful questions are who receives credit, where the ingredients come from and whether the meal deepens our understanding of the cooking. A higher bill alone tells us very little.
That is also why I am wary of “elevated Vietnamese food”. It sounds complimentary, but implies that the food began somewhere lower. Modern, personal or experimental are more precise descriptions.
Saigon does not need to become Paris
Fine dining cannot replace the plastic stool, and it should not try. What it can offer is time and attention: another way to explore an ingredient, a producer or a food memory.
The restaurants that interest me most begin with something rooted here, then use whichever techniques help express it. Saigon already has the markets, regional communities and everyday cooking to give them plenty to say. It does not need permission to call that sophisticated.
Read our Thảo Điền guide for more about the neighbourhood around Upstairs and Voyage.
