What's New In Vietnam

A year on from reopening, the country offers luxury stays, elevated cuisine, hip cocktail bars, and more, finds David Kaye

- David Kaye

From the capital Hanoi in the north to the central coast and down to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam is buzzing with some deliriously good new places to eat, drink, and sleep. Here's a pick:

HANOI

HOTELS The Capella Hanoi (doubles from *30,000: capellahotels.com) boldly threw open its gilded doors in early 2021. Never one for understatement, its designer, Bill Bensley, created a 'petite auberge' inspired by the nearby Hanoi Opera House. Each floor has a theme: drama, actors, artists. And each of its 47 rooms highlights one of them with hand-painted murals and portraits of era-defining figures. Inside are marble bathrooms, alluring king beds, and wrought-iron balconies that add a touch of vintage.

RESTAURANTS

A Bån Mountain Dew draws from Chef Viet's memories growing up in the Son La province west of Hanoi to serve tangy, textural dishes, and some fun, outré servings like fried bugs amidst atmospheric decor that references paddy fields and ethnic 'upside down' architecture. On the hip Chân Cầm Street, Chapter Dining & Grill Hanoi serves technically accomplished cuisine with a lick of flame and a twist of smoke. You enter through the open kitchen chef Quang Dung's way of stimulating the diners' expectations and introducing them to the people behind the food. The cuisine plays around with street food as fine dining, like the spreadeagled chicken foot stuffed with homemade chorizo.

At Khỏi Restaurant, Chef Hoang Tung has brought in George Bloomfield to infuse Vietnamese ingredient-centric dishes with flavours of the grill and Japanese accents. Expect quick bites like duck liver, bacon furikake, and onion soy, small plates of sake brined black chicken and wasabi-marinated baby octopus, and sharing plates like the seven-day dry-aged pigeon with umeshu.