Between Fish Market and Fine Dining: How much of Vietnam is there in a five-star resort?
What can a country reveal through its cuisine? And how much of that experience do guests at a luxury resort actually get? At The Anam hotels in Vietnam, quite a lot. Traditions and local ingredients are combined with influences from other cuisines that have come to Vietnam over the course of its history and have been further developed there. A legacy reflected in numerous dishes.
At The Anam Cam Ranh, a Vietnamese-run luxury hotel on Vietnam’s southern coast, guests can experience the country's culinary history from various perspectives. Traditional ingredients, French cooking techniques, and time-honored recipes provide a glimpse into the evolution of Vietnamese cuisine.
French Influences in Vietnamese Cuisine
From 1858 to 1954, Vietnam was a French colony. This period left its mark on Vietnamese cuisine. The country’s bakery and café culture, as well as the aforementioned bánh mì, exemplify Vietnam's unique development of these influences: Originally imported from France, the baguette evolved into the popular Vietnamese street food classic, which varies by region in terms of fillings and preparation methods.
At The Colonial at The Anam Cam Ranh, the historical connection is reimagined in a modern way. Executive Chef Duy Anh Nguyen pairs classic French techniques with Vietnamese ingredients. His six-course tasting menu features beef tartare, traditional fish sauce, ST25 fragrant rice with corn and green beans, and other local ingredients.
However, Vietnam's culinary history isn’t limited to fine dining at The Anam Cam Ranh. Just a few steps away, the focus is on dishes whose recipes have been passed down through the generations.
Culinary knowledge that is passed down
“Mama Cooking” at a Luxury Resort
The Anam Cam Ranh’s second restaurant, Lang Viet, specializes in dishes from various regions of Vietnam, from north to south. Every Thursday evening, this approach takes on a particularly personal touch with the “Mama’s Cooking” event: Five mothers from The Anam team take over the kitchen and prepare traditional Vietnamese home-style dishes using original, time-honored recipes.
Cook on your own, experiment, learn
For guests at The Anam Cam Ranh, exploring Vietnamese cuisine means more than just tasting the food. The resort's cooking classes start with a morning visit to a local market. Afterward, participants work alongside the kitchen team to prepare selected Vietnamese dishes step by step.
The market visit allows participants to experience not only the recipes and final dishes, but also the origins of the ingredients. Some of these ingredients come from the resort’s own farm, which guests are also welcome to visit. Fruit, vegetables, and herbs are grown there according to organic principles. Additionally, the kitchen states that it gives preference to producers from the surrounding region and avoids imported staple foods whenever possible.
Side note: Sustainability initiatives at The Anam Cam Ranh
Concrete measures to ensure the responsible use of resources are also implemented outside the kitchen. Some of the electricity comes from the resort’s own solar panels. Drinking water is treated on the premises and bottled in glass bottles that are cleaned and refilled on site. Rainwater is collected and used to irrigate the approximately twelve-hectare garden complex.
From the Market to the Sea: Fish and Seafood in Mui Ne
A look at The Anam Mui Ne, the sister resort located about 200 kilometers south, shows just how differently the question of food sourcing can be answered within Vietnam. It is located on the coast of Phan Thiet, a region where fishing has always been an integral part of daily life. Even though fish and seafood play an important role in Vietnamese cuisine, preparation methods and the types of fish available vary by region.
In addition to the high-quality cuisine served in the restaurant, the Mui Ne resort also offers its guests cooking classes. During them, the connection to the sea becomes immediately apparent. First, guests visit a nearby fishing port, then a market. There, they select the day’s catch and other ingredients before returning to the hotel to cook with the kitchen team.
Through this experience, guests learn that paying close attention to the origin of food is particularly important when it comes to fish and seafood. After all, the resort’s proximity to the sea says nothing about how responsibly a product was produced or caught. The species, origin, and method of catch or production are all crucial factors in determining a product's classification.
Street food from Phan Thiet
Since 2026, The Anam Mui Ne has offered Vietnamese street food twice a week at live food stations on the beach lawn as part of its "Vietnamese Market Favorites" series. The menu features local specialties from Phan Thiet. Signs at each station provide guests with more information about the dishes.
Cuisine as a Gateway to an Authentic Experience of Vietnam
Our detour to Mui Ne brings us back to the idea that sparked this culinary journey in Cam Ranh—that Vietnamese cuisine cannot be described or experienced as a single national cuisine. History and regional traditions shape what ends up on the plate, and each new location within the country offers a different culinary perspective.
At The Anam Cam Ranh, this exploration ranges from French influences and traditional Vietnamese recipes to cultivating their own ingredients. The Anam Mui Ne complements this with a fishing port, a market, and specialties from Phan Thiet.
About The Anam Cam Ranh
The Anam Cam Ranh, an independently managed five-star Vietnamese resort, is located directly on Long Beach in Cam Ranh Bay. The resort encompasses approximately twelve hectares of tropical gardens with about 3,000 palm trees, and its architecture and design incorporate elements of the Indochinese style as well as Vietnamese craftsmanship. The Anam Cam Ranh collaborates closely with local businesses and artisans and, through the Anam Foundation, supports social and environmental projects in the region and beyond.
About The Anam Mui Ne
With The Anam Mui Ne, the Vietnamese hotel group The Anam opened its second property in 2023. The 127-room and -suite resort is located directly on Mui Ne Beach in Lam Dong Province. It includes two restaurants, a bar, several pools, and a spa with treatment rooms, a sauna, and a steam room. The resort places a strong emphasis on Vietnamese cuisine and culture, which guests can experience through regional dishes and on-site activities. Since 2026, both The Anam Group hotels have been part of the Green Pearls® network.
