28/08/2026
We made the Gourmet Traveller Top 100 and we are very proud to be included.
There is another reason, which means more to us.
Of the Victorian restaurants on the list, only two of us sit outside the broad categorisation of ‘Asian’ and are instead identified by a specific Asian cuisine.
Vietnamese, in this instance.
For years, we’ve talked about Vietnamese food being shaped by region, migration, diaspora, history, circumstance and the places people of Vietnamese heritage make their home. We have tried to present food, and even more broadly, a restaurant, that can explore all of those things while still being allowed to call itself Vietnamese.
There was a time when this level of specificity was so limiting. For years, we pitched ourselves as ‘modern Asian’ to give ourselves permission to move around. We are mature enough now to be confident naming our cuisine and not be hindered by the expectations of borders or what someone else’s idea of where these borders ought to be.
It is so nice to see Vietnamese next to Anchovy on a list of Australia’s best restaurants.
Here’s to being Viet Kieu.
Thank you Gourmet Traveller.
JY & Thi
