Ănăn Saigon in District 1 is the first restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City to receive a Michelin star. Chef Peter Cuong Franklin — a Vietnamese-American who returned to Vietnam to cook — takes the street food of his childhood and applies fine-dining technique without losing the soul of the originals. The result is phở with hand-pulled noodles and 36-hour broth, bánh mì deconstructed and reassembled, and bo la lot (beef in betel leaf) elevated into something remarkable.
The restaurant is not expensive by international standards — a full meal with drinks runs around $40–60 per person. Book in advance; tables go quickly. The setting is a handsome restored shophouse. The menu changes seasonally but the phở is a constant.