In the heart of New York City, a quiet table is set for a different kind of dinner party—where memory meets artistry, and every dish tells a story from home. With rare ingredients flown in from Vietnam and menus shaped by childhood recollections, Ăn Cỗ Vol VI is more than a dining event; it’s a personal, immersive love letter to Saigon.
For chef and culinary artist Thư Phạm Buser, Ăn Cỗ isn’t just a meal. It’s a homecoming.
Born from her deep-rooted love for Vietnamese culinary heritage, Ăn Cỗ is a limited dining series that celebrates lesser-known regional dishes and traditional food artistry—each menu a thoughtful curation, each event a chapter in an ongoing cultural memoir.
.jpg)
Held in intimate settings and hosted in the spirit of a true Vietnamese banquet, Ăn Cỗ—meaning “to attend a feast”—isn’t just about the food. It’s about reconnecting with one’s culture and coming together through shared history and the dishes that shaped childhood memories.
Saigon Echoes: The Most Personal Chapter Yet
The latest edition, Saigon Echoes, is Thư’s most intimate menu to date. Inspired by her childhood home in the heart of Saigon—a lush, shaded oasis of orchids, starfruit trees, and koi ponds—it revisits the sights, scents, and sounds of a city forever alive in her memory.
In her words, it’s a “flavorful dance through the decades,” where the clink of glasses, the sizzle of pork fat, and the tinkling bell of the ice cream cart still echo like a soundtrack of youth. Each dish in this menu reimagines a memory: from alleyway snacks to recipes passed down from her mother’s restaurant kitchen.
And in commemorating 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War, Saigon Echoes also becomes a tribute—not just to a city, but to resilience, reinvention, and the quiet ways food preserves identity.
A Banquet Of Emotion And Craft
What makes Ăn Cỗ singular isn’t just the rare ingredients flown in from Vietnam, or the flawless presentation. It’s the way Thư weaves storytelling into each course—pairing dishes with drinks, anecdotes, and personal fragments that invite diners to not just eat, but feel.
Standout dishes from Saigon Echoes include dê nướng chao, a grilled goat dish with fermented bean curd, charred okra, and starfruit, balances bold, rustic flavors with tropical acidity—a vibrant harmony of smoke, umami, and freshness.
.jpg)
The playful heo lắc ăn cỗ, or shaken crispy pork belly, comes alive with mango, pickled eggplant, lemongrass, chili, and a hint of sansho.
.jpg)
Her gỏi khô bò reimagines the street-side beef jerky salad with a spicy maple twist, tossed with shredded papaya, roasted peanuts, fermented hot sauce, and Saigon-style croutons for crunch.
For warmth and depth, mì vịt tiềm offers a soulful bowl of herbal duck noodle soup with shiitake and choy sum in a slow-simmered broth, with pickled papaya adding a gentle tang that brightens and balances the richness.
The meal closes on a sweet note with kem ký và các món bánh xưa—a nostalgic dessert flight featuring homemade jasmine-lychee ice cream and time-honored Saigon treats.
A Taste Of Home
Rooted in memory and reimagined through the lens of diaspora, Ăn Cỗ resonates deeply with the Vietnamese community abroad. It’s a space where tradition and imagination co-exist, where dishes become dialogue, and where food does what it’s always done best: bring people home. With the theme for Vol VII set to be unveiled this June, the journey of Ăn Cỗ continues—one banquet, one memory, one story at a time.
