Spectacular modern Vietnamese cuisine at Nén in Da Nang

In January 2020 I started my Asian Spring Festival travels landing in Da Nang, in central Vietnam. I had a specific goal: dining at Nén. This was a detour from my usual itinerary including Ho Chi Minh City and Chiang Mai and I am really glad I took it. The restaurant offers a modern take on Central Vietnamese cuisine and is helmed by chef Summer Le, a native of Da Nang. The name in Vietnamese indicates an obscure edible bulb from the region that can be described as a hybrid between garlic and shallot. Chef Le aims at highlighting underrated if not unpopular local ingredients and turns them into high cuisine.

The visit

I had a reservation made through their website. The restaurant is housed in a modern villa in a quiet residential district of Da Nang. They only served two set menus, Excursion and Journey. I chose the shorter one, Excursion (I wish I could have mixed the dishes of the two menus).

My “work station” was very comfortable and the staff was professional and happy to answer my questions about the dishes in English.

The service began with what they called an aperitif: amberella (a local fruit) and apple juice drink. Normally they serve liquor, but since I mentioned that I do not drink alcohol, they thoughtfully made a substitution. This happens to me in the best places.

Then there was trio of appetizers. The first was a cracker filled with eggplant topped by fermented grilled pork and coriander. Very nice taste all around.

Then there was a piece of squid with mango mousse and ginger (very tender and the final kick of the ginger was nice).

Finally, the third appetizer was fermented pig ears on a sesame cracker with some mayonnaise (a bit spicy).

The first dish was a pumpkin and carrot soup with crab paste from a small freshwater crab found in Da Nang countryside, hidden beneath a shrimp. The sophistication of the dish did not betray the authenticity of the single ingredients.

The dish was followed by its palate cleanser… yes, every dish was paired with a different palate cleanser. This was jack fruit ice cream.

The second dish was thinly cut curated veal with herbs and sauces. I like cold cuts and I enjoyed this dish.

The palate cleanser was a nice passion fruit granita with jelly.

The third dish was duck breast cooked sous-vide and later lightly pan fried with mango jelly, dried apricot powder, topped by Vietnamese basil and Vietnamese chili satay sauce with cashew nuts. I wish the meat had been a bit more tender, but was another great dish with unexpectedly satisfying flavor pairings.

The new cleanser was coconut milk with black jelly, fresh jack fruit, and shredded coconut. Clearly inspired by local desserts, it could have been a dish by its own.

The fourth dish was sticky rice and fish, soft boiled quail egg, gac fruit (a type of melon) used to color the rice.

It came with a trio of homemade pickles: cabbage, mango, mungbean sprouts.

The dessert: was a dish with sun-dried banana and banana ice cream, complemented by kumquat granita.

Finally I was offered Nén’s version of the local egg coffee. While I am not a coffee drinker, I enjoyed this conclusion of the meal.

The check

The check after tax and service charge was 1,263,000 VND or 54 USD, an absolute bargain for this kind of menu.

The goal of the chef was to offer a modern take on local ingredients and I think it succeeded. The attention to details was admirable (having several palate cleaner between dishes was impressive) and there was a lot of thinking behind every dish (some of this was shared through a page of chef notes that was handed at the end of the dinner, but could have been provided at the beginning). For example, duck is an overlooked meat in Vietnamese fine dining, but chef Le with the use of modern techniques (sous-vide) brough it to the next level. The use of sun-dried banana was very meaninful as sunshine is an integral component of life in Da Nang and it has always been exploited by the locals to cure their food.

I place Nén on par with other great restaurants I enjoyed in Asia such as Anan Saigon, Labyrinth in Singapore, Paste in Bangkok, and even, to some extent, Nabeno-Ism. They all revolve around the theme of reviving traditional cuisine with the use of modern techniques. And I think it is a great way for chefs to play their creativity and pay homage to their heritage.

Where in Da Nang:
16 đường Mỹ Đa Tây 2, Khuê Mỹ, Ngũ Hành Sơn.
Website: https://restaurantnen.com/.