"Saigon's most assured new tasting room — Michelin-listed in 2025, ten wood-fired courses at ₫3.2 million. Book it to impress clients."
Ten courses, ₫3,200,000 plus tax and service, dinner only. Nephele sits down a lane off Nguyễn Cửu Vân in Bình Thạnh, a short hop over the Thị Nghè channel from District 1, inside a renovated building that kept its old bones. Chef Francis Thuan Tran cooks the Vietnamese seasons over wood fire, and the Michelin Guide added the room to its Ho Chi Minh City selection in 2025, the same year sommelier Paul Vo took the guide’s Sommelier Award. One menu, no à la carte.
Francis Thuan Tran runs a single tasting menu that changes with the season and answers to the hearth: most of the ten courses touch live fire or charcoal at some point before they reach the table. The test dish is the bread — a 36-hour-fermented sourdough baked over charcoal to a dark crust, served with local beeswax and a house-made black truffle butter. If the kitchen lands that, the rest of the menu follows.
The cellar is the other half of the argument. Paul Vo, who received the Michelin Guide’s Sommelier Award for Vietnam in 2025, runs pairings that lean unforced rather than trophy-driven; a non-alcoholic pairing exists and is not an afterthought. Tatler put Nephele on its Best New Restaurants list the same year. In a city where the top tables split between hotel rooms like Akuna and chef-owned counters like Anan Saigon, Nephele belongs firmly to the second camp — see our guide to the world’s best tasting menus for where that approach is heading.
A renovated old building with the patina left on: timber, brick, low light, and a hum that stays conversation-easy once the room fills. The ground floor holds Ethereal, the house bar, which works for a cocktail before the first course or a nightcap after the last. Tables are spaced for privacy rather than capacity; dress is smart casual and nobody will blink at a jacket without a tie.
Book this room to impress clients because the format does the work: one menu removes ordering friction, the wood-fire courses give the table something to talk about, and the ₫3.2 million price lands below the hotel flagships while reading just as serious. Pair it with a pre-dinner drink at Ethereal downstairs. For the wider field, see Best Restaurants to Impress Clients and the rest of the Ho Chi Minh City dining guide.
Not for diners who want to order à la carte or eat in under two hours — Nephele serves one ten-course menu, dinner only, at the kitchen’s pace.
Yes — for the price of a mid-tier hotel tasting menu you get one of the most distinct kitchens in Saigon: chef Francis Thuan Tran’s ten wood-fired courses, a Michelin Guide listing earned in 2025, and a wine programme run by an award-winning sommelier. It sits comfortably alongside rooms like Anan Saigon at the top of the city.
Easier than the hotel flagships, for now. Reservations run through TableCheck, dinner only, and weekends fill first. Book a week or more ahead for a Friday or Saturday table; midweek is usually available a few days out. The ground-floor bar, Ethereal, takes walk-ins for cocktails if you want to scout the room first.
The single tasting menu is ₫3,200,000 per person plus tax and service — roughly US$125 before drinks. Wine pairings by sommelier Paul Vo, who took the Michelin Guide’s 2025 Sommelier Award for Vietnam, are extra, and a non-alcoholic pairing is offered. There is no à la carte option.
Ho Chi Minh City. Nephele is at 125/12 Nguyễn Cửu Vân in Bình Thạnh, just across the channel from District 1 — some listings have placed it in Hoi An in error. For dining in Hoi An itself, start with our Hoi An dining guide.
Yes — book it. The single-menu format keeps the evening frictionless, the wood-fire cooking gives the meal a point of view worth discussing, and the bill stays defensible. Read the seven signs of a great restaurant and count how many this room hits.
Reservations via TableCheck. Dinner only; the single tasting menu is ₫3,200,000++ per person.
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Nephele appears in our global guide to client-dinner rooms — the tables where the format, the bill and the room all work in your favour.
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