Anan Saigon has opened for eaters with innovation with many changes and updates for the menu.
“The new Anan design is ultra-modern yet timeless, in contrast with the traditional wet market outside”
– Chef Peter Cuong Franklin –
AnAn Saigon re-opened with major changes post Covid-19
Anan Saigon finally re-opened its door to welcome dine-in guests after four-months lockdown. During their “break”, the Anan team had leveraged the time to update its menu and redecorate for a fresher look.
Chef Peter Cuong Franklin (white shirt) and the team at Anan Saigon. The Saigon Cityscape Panorama painting is on the wall behind.
Entering its entrance, the diners will notice right away the new appearance of the Anan dining room. The dimmed yellow lights create a thorough warm yet welcoming experience. What special is on the right wall of the ground floor dining room, cocktail artist Richard Fawcett dedicated a painting the Saigon Landscape Panorama with original cut-out details.
Rainbow color ANAN logo by SubyOne.
Along with Richard Fawcett’s Saigon Cityscape Panaroma, the new Anan main dining room also presents a vibrant rainbow colored Anan Logo by a French-Vietnamese artist, SubyOne, and Vietnamese artist Thầy Trụ’s Dalat Pine Wall Painting. All of which bring a touch of Chef Peter’s home town to Saigon.
Paranomic view of Sai Gon at night.
In addition, chef Peter Cuong Franklin and his team also renovated its rooftop bar – Nhaunhau. The name of the bar was inspired by the after-work drinking culture in Vietnam. From Nhaunhau, you can now enjoy the after dark panoramic view of Ho Chi Minh City and its unique vibe.
Rooftop bar Nhaunhau.
What’s new at Anan Saigon?
Harper’s Bazaar team has had an opportunity to visited Anan Saigon on its reopening day. To taste and celebrate all of Chef Peter’s post-pandemic new creations. The recipes, as he shared, are his take on the local culture, but with a modern twist.
Appetizer: Hamachi Rolls
For the appetizer, we had the Hamachi Rolls. By incorporating the Japanese Hamachi fish inside the Vietnamese traditional roll, chef Peter has elevated the dish to a fine dining experience. The chef also used cucumbers, balm-mint, red cress, a green sauce and rice paper to finish the roll. The fatty Hamachi, combined with the earthy balm-mint and a lightly aromatic red cress, created an exciting journey for your palette. In addition, the herbs were also added to elevate the look of the dish.
Lamb Tartare
The next dish that chef Peter introduced to us is the Lamb Tartare. According to him, lamb is a great substitute for the imitated dog-meat dish, which is popular among Vietnamese locals. With its distinctive scent, the combination of lamb with the original imitated dog meat spices and fermented bean sauce, create an interesting taste for the dish. On top of that, the chef also finished the dish with cilantro, lemongrass, turmeric, red onion, star fruit, coriander, lime juice and chili sauce.
Fish sauce Bonbon
One of the most notable new dishes at Anan Saigon is the Fish sauce Bonbon. In fact, this is a creative take on the chocolate from Maison Marou, a well-known local Vietnamese brand which has been rated as “the best chocolate in the world” based on the top TripAdvisor’s user reviews.
To start, the chocolate of the Fish sauce Bonbon was prepared with three kinds of cacao from Ben Tre, Ba Ria and Tien Giang. By combining between the salty umami, the sweet sugar and the spicy pepper, chef Peter created yet another excited flavor profile.
Fish sauce Ice-cream
Vanilla Anan Ice Cream is no doubt a new “signature” dessert that you should not skip at Anan Saigon. To balance the sweetness of the vanilla, our chef topped the ice cream with caramel, salt and Phu Quoc red pepper.
Anan Saigon is still a Vietnamese restaurant after, shared chef Peter. Therefore, fish sauce plays vital in most of the recipes here. However, while fish sauce is an essential ingredient of most Vietnamese main dishes, Anan Saigon has inventively used it in a dessert, making it an interesting selection for dessert.
Phe Phe Custom Coffee Blend/Egg Coffee
Last but not least, the Egg Coffee at Anan Saigon is a new outstanding drink at Anan Saigon. In fact, the coffee beans are coming from Lacàph’s Phe Phe Blend, a local coffee brand. In an exclusive collaboration with chef Peter Cuong Franklin for Anan Saigon, Lacàph’s Phe Phe Blend marries arabica beans from Da Lat – chef Peter’s hometown, with Son La arabica and Dak Nong robusta to achieve a medium body of earthy cacao and nuts with candied notes of sweet wild blueberries.
A special feature of this dish is that Jameson egg foam. It is a combination of cinnamon and marshmallows. In addition, as chef Peter shares, though he has elevated the traditional egg coffee, Anan Saigon still uses the Vietnamese coffee filter to ensure the full local experience of the Vietnamese culture.
When sharing about his upcoming plans, chef Peter Cuong Franklin also told us that it includes developing next generations of Vietnamese chefs. He is currently working with several charity organizations, notably Streets International in Hoian, KOTO in Hanoi and Saigon Children’s Charity, to help disadvantaged youth gain a future in F&B.
Harper’s Bazaar Vietnam
