Vietnam’s Best Michelin Restaurants in 2026: The Practical Guide for Conscious Travellers

11 starred restaurants, three Green Stars, and 72 Bib Gourmand picks – here is how to eat well in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang without breaking the bank

On 4 June 2026, at a ceremony in Hanoi, the Michelin Guide did something it had never done before in Vietnam. For the first time in the guide’s four-year history in the country, the number of starred restaurants reached double figures – 11 in total, across Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang. Two new stars were awarded, three restaurants now hold a Green Star for sustainable gastronomy, and the full 2026 selection covers 193 establishments. It also happens to be the 100th anniversary of the Michelin Star itself, first awarded in 1926. Here is what it means for you.

Vietnam is no longer a discovery on the Michelin circuit. It is a destination in its own right, and the 2026 guide reflects that. But a larger list creates a practical problem: which restaurants are actually worth planning a trip around, and which align with the values – local sourcing, sustainability, cultural authenticity – that bring most Asia Unmasked readers to Vietnam in the first place? That is what this guide is for.

Start here: the Green Stars

The Michelin Green Star is the award that should matter most to conscious travellers. It does not recognise the fanciest room or the most expensive tasting menu. It recognises restaurants that have made sustainability a genuine operational commitment – in their sourcing, their supply chains, their waste management, and their relationship with the land they cook from.

In 2026, Vietnam has three Green Star holders. Each takes a different approach, and each is worth understanding before you book.

Nén Danang sources 99% of its ingredients from within Vietnam, many from its own farm beside the restaurant.

Nén Danang (Da Nang) was Vietnam’s first Michelin Green Star recipient, picking up the award in 2024, and has held it every year since. Chef Summer Le co-founded the restaurant in 2017 with the aim of telling stories through food. Ninety-nine per cent of what arrives at your table has been sourced from within Vietnam – much of it from Nén Farm, which sits beside the restaurant and doubles as a research centre for sustainable agriculture. The tasting menu – known as a Sto:ry Menu – changes with the seasons and the harvest. Nén is not the most accessible restaurant in Da Nang for a spontaneous dinner; a deposit of 500,000 VND per guest is required to secure a booking. Plan ahead. Address: 16 My Da Tay 2, Da Nang. Dinner Monday to Sunday from 17:30; lunch Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 10:30.

Lamai Garden (Hanoi) occupies a 130-square-metre space on De Quai Street near West Lake that is part restaurant, part home, part kitchen garden. The owners grow more than half the herbs and vegetables served at the table, picked the same day. Seating is deliberately limited – 14 covers, with 10 in the main dining room and 4 at the kitchen counter – which means every booking is unhurried and the kitchen can give its full attention to what it is serving. The farm-to-table philosophy here is not a marketing claim; the evidence is growing in the garden outside the front gate. Reservations are essential. Address: 36B De Quai Street, West Lake, Hanoi.

Tales by Chapter (Ho Chi Minh City) is the newest Green Star in Vietnam, awarded in 2026. It is also the most ambitious of the three. The restaurant operates a closed-loop food system: its seasonal, plant-based menu is sourced from a partner eco-farm in Da Lat and the restaurant’s own rooftop garden, kitchen trimmings are transformed through fermentation into mushroom garum and corn koji, and organic by-products are composted back into the soil. Diners can engage with this process directly through installations and what Michelin describes as a seed-matching game. Tales by Chapter was added to the Michelin Selected list in 2026 before immediately receiving a Green Star – a significant recognition for a restaurant that opened recently. It sits within Ho Chi Minh City’s increasingly confident sustainable dining scene.

The starred restaurants: what you need to know by city

Hanoi

Hanoi holds four of Vietnam’s 11 starred restaurants in 2026, including one of the two new additions.

ONVIT made history at the June ceremony as the first Korean restaurant in Vietnam to receive a Michelin Star. Located inside Grand Plaza Hanoi Hotel, ONVIT is led by Chef Joon Huk Chi, who presents a Korean-Vietnamese tasting menu built around locally sourced Vietnamese ingredients interpreted through Korean culinary tradition. The name comes from a Korean word meaning “warm light.” Sommelier Mai Bich Ngoc – who won Michelin’s Sommelier Award at the 2026 ceremony – pairs the menu with an unconventional range that runs from wine to pine mushroom soju. For travellers interested in cross-cultural fine dining with a genuine sustainability angle in sourcing, ONVIT is one of the most interesting new openings in Hanoi.

The three returning stars – Gia, Hibana by Koki, and Tầm Vị – have all held their recognition from previous years, a sign of consistency in a city that has developed a well-earned reputation for balancing traditional street food culture with high-end dining. If your Hanoi trip allows for one starred meal, Gia remains the restaurant most frequently cited for its modern take on northern Vietnamese cooking.

Ho Chi Minh City leads Vietnam’s 2026 Michelin selection with six starred restaurants, including Anan Saigon, which positions itself deliberately beside Cho Cu wet market. Photo: Vietnam Tour

Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City leads the 2026 guide with six starred restaurants – more than any other Vietnamese city – and the new addition is one of the most talked-about tables of the year.

Upstairs earned its first Michelin Star in 2026. It is an intimate four-table room above a wine bar, led by Chef Hiep Truong, whose modern Vietnamese tasting menu draws from the culinary traditions of Central Vietnam. The restaurant has been operating for just 18 months. Four tables, a kitchen with clear influences, and a chef whose identity is firmly rooted in Vietnamese culture rather than European fine dining conventions – this is the kind of table that the Asia Unmasked audience should know about.

Among the returning stars, Anan Saigon stands apart for its deliberate rejection of the hotel dining room model. Chef Peter Cuong Franklin set up in a narrow tube house on Ton That Dam Street, beside Chợ Cũ wet market, and the food – modern New Vietnamese cuisine, using fresh local ingredients with French technique – reflects that grounding in street-level Saigon. The restaurant takes reservations by email ([email protected]), with two weeks’ advance booking recommended. Two tasting menus are offered at seatings of 5:30pm and 8:30pm. For a starred meal that still feels like it belongs in this city, Anan Saigon remains a strong choice.

The other returning Ho Chi Minh City stars – Long Trieu, Akuna, CieL, and Coco Dining – each represents a distinct register, from Long Trieu’s opulent Cantonese fine dining to CieL’s contemporary Vietnamese tasting menu. The breadth of styles across six restaurants in one city makes Ho Chi Minh City, for the first time, a genuinely compelling destination for a dedicated food trip.

Da Nang

Da Nang has one starred restaurant in 2026, and it has held that recognition for three consecutive years.

La Maison 1888 at InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort is the only Michelin-starred restaurant in Central Vietnam. The experience begins before the food arrives: the resort sits on the Son Tra Peninsula, and reaching La Maison 1888 involves a cable car ride to the hilltop. The restaurant is built inside a recreated Indochinese colonial mansion designed by Bill Bensley, and the menu – overseen by Chef Christian Le Squer, who held three Michelin Stars for 23 consecutive years in France – is French haute cuisine with Vietnamese seasonal ingredients woven through. A five- or eight-course tasting menu is offered. Reservations: [email protected] or call +84 236 393 8888. Smart casual dress code; no shorts.

The Bib Gourmand: where the list gets interesting for everyday eating

The Bib Gourmand category – restaurants recognised for high-quality food at reasonable prices – expanded to 72 venues in 2026, including 11 new entries. This is where the guide becomes most useful for travellers who want something more than a tasting menu every night.

The Michelin Bib Gourmand category is where Vietnam’s street food culture meets the guide’s recognition – 72 venues in 2026, 11 of them new entries.

In Hanoi, three new Bib Gourmand entries reflect the city’s street food depth: Banh Cuon Gia Truyen Thanh Van on Hang Ga Street (traditional steamed rice rolls), Mammom, and Pho Ha Hang Hom. These are not fancy rooms – they are the kind of places where the food has been refined by decades of repetition and local expectation rather than culinary ambition in the conventional sense.

In Da Nang, three new Bib Gourmand additions join the list: Ba Vui, Banh Beo – Banh Dap, and Le Gia Khang. Da Nang’s cuisine – Central Vietnamese, built around rice paper snacks, freshwater fish, and intensely aromatic herbs – is consistently underestimated by travellers arriving via Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. The Bib Gourmand list offers a structured way into it.

In Ho Chi Minh City, five new Bib Gourmand entries were added, including Banh Canh Cua Ba Ba, Chi Mo, and La Lola. The full 2026 Bib Gourmand list across all three cities is searchable on the Michelin Guide’s Vietnam page.

The sustainable angle: what the 2026 guide tells us about Vietnam’s direction

Three Green Stars in a country that only entered the Michelin circuit in 2023 is not nothing. The presence of Nén, Lamai Garden, and Tales by Chapter on the same list – each with a distinct model for sustainable sourcing, waste reduction, or closed-loop farming – suggests that sustainable gastronomy in Vietnam is not a niche positioning. It is becoming a genuine competitive advantage.

The two new starred restaurants also reflect something worth noting: ONVIT’s cross-cultural Korean-Vietnamese identity, and Upstairs’ deliberate intimacy, both reject the large-restaurant model in favour of something more personal and site-specific. For conscious travellers who have grown wary of luxury dining that feels interchangeable regardless of location, this is encouraging.

Vietnam’s tourism numbers are tracking toward a record summer, which means the more famous destinations in Hanoi, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City will be noticeably busier than they were two years ago. Booking ahead is no longer optional – it is the only way to guarantee access to the tables that are worth booking. Most starred restaurants in Vietnam operate reservation systems; several require advance deposits. Plan ahead, and you will eat exceptionally well.

For more on Vietnam’s growing reputation as a destination for conscious travel, read our assessment of Vietnam’s conscious luxury tourism moment – what the country is getting right, and where the gaps remain.

For more on sustainable dining and responsible travel across Southeast Asia, follow Asia Unmasked on Facebook and X.

---