There’s a clear contrast between the old and the new as we approach ANAN on District 1’s That Dam Street, home to a wet market, that while closed, adds to the old Saigonese ambience with its darkened stalls and cats casting shadows beneath the street lights. But ANAN is all about the new. It’s a beacon on the dark street, with all modern lighting and a showy facade that often invites a crowd.
The main tasting menu at ANAN has been reinventing Vietnamese food for a while now, but we’re not here on a humid night in Saigon for that. It’s the odd concept restaurant tucked away upstairs in the bar that we’re here for. It’s the promise of not just a reinvented Pho, but a deconstructed Pho, a moleculaised Pho, a smokey Pho, a Pho as a Feu, and a Pho on a spoon that we’ve made our way to Saigon for.
Pot Au Pho is a tasting menu crafted by ANAN’s head chef Peter, that seeks to explore the flavours of THE Vietnamese icon: Pho. We’re led to a small table by a bar, via the main floor and a tiny elevator, and brought a couple of cocktails. The flavours are good, the presentation is cute, and the skyline with all those neon towers just beyond the window makes a fine background and a reminder that we are indeed in Ho Chi Minh City. Each dish on the Pot au Pho menu is brought to us with an explanation from one of the waitresses or head chef Peter, telling us tales of old dining traditions down smokey back alleys in Hanoi and eatery staples imported in from the streets to be elevated to the level of fine dining.
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The Pot au Pho Tasting Menu at ANAN
First, we’re brought the Caviar Egg Pho with an Onsen egg cooked in Pho broth — inspired by Trung chan pho from Hanoi — served with a Pho consomme jelly and Dalat Caviar. It’s a good starter with lots of flavours but it doesn’t give a good impression of what’s to come. The same can be said of the next dish, the Scallop and Coconut, which while extremely delicious with creamy coconut sauce flavoured with fish sauce, topped with a Hokkaido scallop, is nothing I wouldn’t have expected to find downstairs on the ANAN menu. But this is where anything ordinary is defenestrated to the streets of Saigon because each dish that follows is a highly creative jaunt through the flavours and stories of Pho. At this point, Peter Cuong Franklin, head chef of ANAN and Pot au Pho greets us while he finishes the next dish at the bar. He tells us how this dish, the Pâté Chaud is directly influenced by Patê Sô, a Vietnamese puff pastry often served as a side at Pho shops, but he uses the remains of the pigeons from the main menu to create a divinely rich stock, bolstered by foie gras and fresh herbs. It’s a sublime little pastry that melts on the tongue a bit like a mini Wellington. Exactly the kind of dish that Pot Au Pho excels at.
I’m not a fan of sorbets, but as a palette cleanser, the Soursop sorbet is a nice diversion, made with Soursop fresh from the Mekong Delta. The dish is finished at the table with a squeeze of homemade Gin from a tiny bitters bottle, one of many little theatrical productions put on at the table.
The Beef Tartlet that follows is sublime. The beef is diced and served atop a crispy pastry shell that splinters and cracks before glittering across the tongue. It’s served in smoked beef fat, soy sauce and lime, with the flavours of Pho bursting through from the addition of fresh herbs and lemongrass.
Perhaps one of Pot Au Pho’s most interesting dishes, and one that gets me thinking of a one-bite Pho cocktail that needs to exist, is the Molecular One Bite Pho, a squishy delicate sphere of pho broth with truffle and wagyu beef (using the same technique popularised by Ferran Adria). Oftentimes spherification can be gimmicky and it certainly is here, but the flavours and the production work extremely well. First, the two spheres (one each) are delivered encased in a service plate with a glass top, when set on the table the smoke is wafted across the table setting an olfactory stage for the main event. When the sphere is bitten it creates a burst of Pho across the mouth, like liquid fireworks, conjuring the flavours of the eateries of Hanoi and Saigon. As the flavours simmer down, the smoke settles. It’s a momentary experience that requires multiple days of work with the pho broth and the spherification process and is a sublime way to experience Pho.
Next, the most traditional of the dishes is Chef Peter’s take on Pho Bo. This is the most traditional dish on the menu. At its simplest it’s a beef pho with stock made over several labour-intensive days, finished with A5 Wagyu, Angus tenderloin, short rib, tongue and tendon. It’s a hearty dish, and superbly well crafted with a balanced flavour profile, topped with fresh Pho herbs and a hint of truffle that adds a delicate burst of umami to each bite.
The highlight for me is Le Pot Au Pho, a love letter to the two worlds of French and Vietnamese cooking. The dish is based on Paul Bocuse’s Black Truffle soup and is served with a pastry hat. Chef Peter watches as the two dishes are brought to the table before recommending taking off the pastry to inhale the broth. He then suggests eating the broth as it is served, before adding the Saigon Bouquet Garni (a bundle of typical Vietnamese herbs) to experience the change of flavour, it feels a bit like pouring spring into a dish full of autumn. The strong beef flavours and scents remain but are emboldened, refreshed and enlivened by the addition of the herbs. It’s a charming and considered experience and is stunning in flavour and texture, evocative of France and Vietnam in equal measure, a testament to the unique experiences showcased at Pot au Pho.
The two desserts served on the Pot au Pho menu are exquisitely experimental. The first is the Caviar and Mekong Delta Banana. A salty, creamy and sweet dessert that while delicious is difficult to categorise beyond its contrasting flavour profiles and textures. The second is the excellent Shisho Ice Cream, made fresh in the restaurant’s Pacojet. The Vietnamese shisho used here is much more aromatic than the Japanese Shiso and, with the volcanic smoke that undulates from the bowl, creates a delightfully sweet, savoury and smokey ending to an explorative journey through the flavours of Vietnamese Pho.
Book the Pot Au Pho Menu at ANAN
You’ll find the Pot Au Pho restaurant upstairs at 3F in the ANAN restaurant in District 1. And while it wasn’t too busy when we were there, the Pot Au Pho menu must be booked in advance and is only served from Wednesday to Sunday.
