A taste of home

In the middle of Saigon’s noise and speed, Nephele offers a serene escape. Guests step through the doors of a restored French villa and into a vinyl-soundtracked lobby bar on the ground floor — a warm, glowing space where the evening begins with a welcome drink or a small first taste. Only after this gentle pause are they led upstairs to an intimate dining room adorned in traditional giấy dó. 

From the very first moment, the restaurant slows the senses and quietly lifts diners into a “house of clouds” — as the name suggests — familiar yet surprising, calm yet full of wonder. In just one year, Nephele has earned both a MICHELIN Selected distinction and a Sommelier Award in the MICHELIN Guide 2025.

At the center of it all is Chef Francis Thuận Trần — calm, focused, and deeply fluent in the language of wood fire. His cooking is rooted in Vietnam’s landscapes: the highlands, the coastline, the markets, the gardens. Menus shift with the seasons: mandarin orange salad brightened with pickled zest and an oil pressed from Binh Thuận marigold leaves grown exclusively for Nephele; catch-of-the-day fish poached in fish broth with samphire, fennel, Buddha’s hand lemon, and Vietnamese olives, then finished with herbs from the restaurant’s garden; and even a roasted rice gelato served with caviar and fish-sauce–caramelized walnut. These dishes are Francis’s way of expressing terroir — and honoring the possibilities of local ingredients.

What makes this story remarkable is that Francis never planned to become a chef. Raised in a modest family in Buôn Ma Thuột, he studied civil engineering to follow his father’s path, only to realize almost immediately that it wasn’t the life he wanted. After quitting his first job, he moved to Saigon and took on whatever work kept him close to a kitchen — delivering food, washing dishes, watching chefs move. Somewhere between the heat of the stove and the laughter of diners, he found a calling.

From 2010 onward, he worked through Mediterranean, Western, and Asian kitchens, even spending a brief stint cooking at Everest Basecamp and a year living with farmers in Dalat to understand Vietnam’s ingredients at their source. He eventually rose to become Head Chef at one of Saigon’s most respected restaurants, Quince Eatery, alongside chef Julien Perraudin. By 2019, ready for a new challenge, he opened Esta with his partners — a place where he could fully explore fire as a modern culinary language.

Nephele is the culmination of this journey — the first place where Francis fully expresses his take on elemental, wood-fired cooking. “Fire is the first cooking method of humankind — and to me, it is a storytelling language.” His multi-course tasting menu moves like chapters in a book: gentle openings, deeper layers of smoke and texture.

Real fire doesn’t hide anything. Fire demands focus, respect, and patience. Fire teaches me how to listen to ingredients, and how to listen to myself.

Ask him what still inspires him, and he returns to one image: his first time stepping close to a professional stove, still smelling of dish soap and steam, watching the fire flare against the pan and light up the chefs’ faces. “Throughout the years working in many different restaurants in Saigon, what drove me never changed: curiosity, courage, and the fire of the craft.”

With the help of his partner, MICHELIN-recognized sommelier Paul Vo, Francis has shaped Nephele into an immersive experience that feels like being welcomed into someone’s home. A tightly curated wine list brings bottles from distant regions that pair unexpectedly well with Vietnamese flavors, deepening the emotional arc of the meal. He does not cook to show technique; he cooks to tell stories — about seasons, landscapes, ingredients, and his own path from the Central Highlands to Saigon.

And the farther I go, the more I believe that what motivates me each day is the desire to create moments that someone will remember forever.

For him, that belief begins with family. “Food is memory — and family is where memory begins,” he says. Growing up in a home that was not wealthy but always warm, he learned that a simple meal could communicate abundance. When he left Buôn Ma Thuột for Saigon, those dishes became a source of comfort. Today, as a husband and father of two, he understands that cooking is a legacy. “I built my entire life from the kitchen fire, from meals, and from the love I give to my family.”

How to make Francis Thuận’s favourite vermicelli noodles with spring rolls

And as the holiday season arrives — a time of gathering and reconnecting — Francis returns to the dishes that have grounded him throughout his life. For this recipe, he chose a simple, deeply personal one: bún chả giò, the comfort food that has accompanied him from childhood to the early days of his career and now into his own home kitchen. 

“This dish has been with me everywhere — from my childhood in Buôn Ma Thuột to the early days in Saigon when I had nothing but hope. It’s simple, warm, and honest. And every time I make it, I feel like I’m home again.”

Prepare the filling

Place all filling ingredients into a large bowl (excluding the rice paper and oil) and mix well until fully combined. Portion the mixture into 100g each. Lay the rice paper flat, place the filling in the center, roll tightly, and brush the edges with beaten egg to seal. Refrigerate the rolls for 30 minutes to help them set. Heat oil to about 120°C and fry the spring rolls until evenly golden and crisp. Remove and drain excess oil.

Make the dipping sauce

Combine 1 part chili sauce, 2 parts sugar, 2 parts vinegar, 2 parts fish sauce, and 8 parts water in a saucepan. Gently heat until the sugar dissolves, then let cool. Add minced garlic and chili to taste, along with 100g shredded green papaya and 100g julienned carrot. Mix well.

Serve

Arrange 2 fried spring rolls per serving, 100g fresh rice vermicelli, 10g crushed roasted peanuts, and a mix of herbs (perilla, cilantro, mint) with bean sprouts in a bowl. Serve with the prepared dipping sauce.

Image courtesy of Nephele