Vietnam’s culinary landscape is entering an exhilarating new chapter. As Gourmet Vietnam Awards 2026 – Season 2 returns, Epicure Vietnam celebrates the restaurants, chefs, resorts and hospitality visionaries bringing fresh energy, imagination and confidence to the country—and shaping the way Vietnam eats, drinks, travels and welcomes the world.
A NEW APPETITE FOR VIETNAM
Something exciting is happening around the tables of Vietnam. You feel it in the warmth of an open kitchen, where fire transforms beautiful local produce into something unexpected; in a chef returning to the flavours of childhood with a more contemporary vocabulary; in the ritual of a perfectly prepared steak; or in the quiet pleasure of breakfast overlooking one of the country’s extraordinary coastlines. From Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi to Nha Trang, Huế, Côn Đảo, Hồ Tràm and Cần Thơ, a new hospitality landscape is taking shape—one that feels increasingly confident in where it comes from, while remaining wonderfully curious about where it might go next.
It is within this changing landscape that Gourmet Vietnam Awards 2026 – Season 2, presented by Epicure Vietnam, returns. More than a celebration of where we eat, the Awards capture how Vietnam now dines, drinks, stays and travels, recognising the chefs, restaurateurs, hoteliers, bartenders and hospitality personalities behind the experiences that stay with us long after we leave the table.
Nephele Restaurant
This year, that story has grown richer. New names such as Nephele Restaurant, Aiii House Saigon, CieL Dining, La Cala Nha Trang, ONVIT and Lumiere Byblos Villa bring fresh character to the Awards, each reflecting a different expression of contemporary dining. Some are driven by fire and seasonality, others by technique, storytelling or the meeting of cultures. Together, they reveal a generation of restaurants increasingly comfortable with individuality. There is no longer a need to fit neatly into one definition of Vietnamese dining; instead, chefs are drawing from memory, travel, local ingredients and international experience to create something personal.
NEW CATEGORIES, NEW STORIES
That evolution is also reflected in the Awards themselves. New categories such as Best Fusion Cuisine Restaurant, Best Restaurant Storytelling and Best Creative Culinary Concept & Plating recognise that the modern dining experience extends far beyond taste alone. A restaurant today communicates through its ingredients and cooking, but also through its design, philosophy, provenance, presentation and the story it chooses to tell.
SEAR Steakhouse
Fusion, at its most interesting, is no longer simply the meeting of two cuisines, but a conversation between cultures. Presentation is not decoration for its own sake, but another language through which a chef can express an idea. Storytelling can turn a dinner into something guests carry with them as a memory.
At the same time, there remains something irresistible about returning to the essentials. SEAR Steakhouse and El Gaucho Steakhouse represent the enduring attraction of cooking over fire: exceptional ingredients, intense heat, patience and precision. The pleasure may appear simple, but simplicity leaves nowhere to hide. From sourcing and ageing to temperature, service and wine, the finest steakhouse experience is built upon countless details, reminding us that sophistication does not necessarily mean complication. Sometimes, it is simply the art of doing one thing exceptionally well.
BEYOND THE TABLE
Perhaps one of the most beautiful developments in Season 2 is how far the Gourmet Vietnam Awards journey now reaches beyond the restaurant. Vietnam’s hospitality story is increasingly inseparable from its landscapes, and some of its most memorable experiences are found where architecture, gastronomy and nature meet.
El Gaucho Steakhouse
Amanoi, Zannier Bãi San Hô and Six Senses Con Dao embody a quieter interpretation of luxury, where privacy, wellbeing and a profound sense of place become part of the experience. Le Palmier Ho Tram Resort, Legacy Mekong Can Tho, Autograph Collection®, Banyan Tree Lang Co and Angsana Lang Co further expand that journey, taking us from the coast to the Mekong and through destinations where the landscape itself sets the rhythm.
This geographical diversity matters. Vietnam’s hospitality conversation is no longer centred solely on Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Nha Trang brings the generosity of the sea; Huế carries centuries of culinary memory; Cần Thơ opens a window onto the produce and traditions of the Mekong Delta; Côn Đảo offers nature and stillness; while destinations along the central coast continue to develop their own distinctive identities. Each place contributes something different, and together they reveal not one definition of Vietnamese hospitality, but many.
Zannier Bai San Ho
Behind all these restaurants, hotels and resorts, however, are people. Hospitality remains profoundly human. It lives in the chef who arrives long before the first guest, the sommelier searching for the bottle that will transform a meal, the bartender discovering a new expression for a Vietnamese botanical, the restaurateur willing to take a risk on an idea, and the hotelier quietly orchestrating hundreds of details so that the guest experiences only ease.
Season 2 celebrates established names, but importantly, it also creates space for rising talents—the generation now experimenting, travelling, returning home and asking what Vietnamese gastronomy can become.
THE CELEBRATION AHEAD
That is perhaps what makes Gourmet Vietnam Awards 2026 particularly compelling. Vietnam is not moving towards one culinary identity. It is becoming many things at once: more local and more international, increasingly sophisticated yet refreshingly relaxed, deeply respectful of heritage while willing to question convention. A tasting menu and a beautifully grilled steak can belong to the same conversation. So can a resort hidden between mountains and sea, a new restaurant in the heart of Saigon, or a chef transforming a familiar childhood flavour into something we experience for the first time.
Six Senses Con Dao
On 4 December 2026, these many stories will come together at Park Hyatt Saigon for the Gourmet Vietnam Awards 2026 – Season 2 Gala Dinner. Chefs and restaurateurs, hoteliers and beverage professionals, established leaders and emerging talents will gather not simply to discover who takes home an award, but to celebrate an industry that continues to grow through creativity, courage, friendship and a shared pursuit of excellence.
From Nephele Restaurant, Aiii House Saigon, CieL Dining, La Cala Nha Trang, ONVIT and Lumiere Byblos Villa to SEAR Steakhouse and El Gaucho Steakhouse; from the intimate pleasure of the restaurant table to the destination experiences of Amanoi, Zannier Bãi San Hô, Six Senses Con Dao, Le Palmier Ho Tram Resort, Legacy Mekong Can Tho, Autograph Collection®, Banyan Tree Lang Co and Angsana Lang Co, Season 2 is ultimately a celebration of possibility.
Some stories begin with fire. Others begin with the sea. Some look towards the future, while others rediscover the beauty of memory and tradition. Together, they are writing the next chapter of Vietnamese hospitality.
Amanoi
The table is set. The stories are unfolding. And on Friday 4 December, we come together to celebrate how far Vietnam has travelled—and where it is going next.
GOURMET VIETNAM AWARDS 2026 – SEASON 2
GALA DINNER · 4 DECEMBER 2026 · PARK HYATT SAIGON
THE STORY CONTINUES.