Photo credit: sleepbeauty (via Openrice)
⇨ Xuân
Despite the fact that chef-proprietor John Nguyen is most famous for his tenure as Chôm Chôm’s head chef, don’t expect to find any street snacks and bia hơi vibes at Xuân. This modern northern Vietnamese-style restaurant is inspired by the legendary 18th-century Vietnamese poet of the same name, whose portraits hang over the moody, stylish space. Though you will find a signature beef phở ($168) on the menu, Xuan’s broth is saltier, richer, and deeper in flavour than the light and herbaceous southern-style broth most people are familiar with, and comes topped with beef tongue and oxtail, rather than brisket. That being said, you would be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t try some of Xuan’s other signatures, like the cơm gà Hội An ($168), a modern take on chicken rice featuring hand-pulled chicken, duck egg chicken meatloaf, a fried egg, and turmeric garlic chicken rice.
Xuân, 18 Luen Fat Street, Wan Chai | (+852) 2891 1177