Vy's Market Restaurant — Restaurant in Hội An

Really cool concept restaurant. The place is located right in the busy heart of the night market. It's set up with multiple, observable, cooking stations for different styles of food, reflecting the way the streetfood vendors are set up outside at the market. From BBQ to frying to sweets... The food is nicely presented, in part with a lovely twist to elevate, but without being pretentious. It certainly gives an unmistakable nod to its humble origins and relationship to the traditional streetfood available outside. The usual rice paper being eschewed for rice-noodle mats to roll the pork and shredded vegetables in was genius, inviting the diner to participate in the final construction of the meal, in the same way that traditional Vietnamese food so often does. Overall, the food was excellent and well balanced. The sounds and smells spilling over from the night market were an immediate reminder of the dishes' origins and the live guitar music and decor provided a wonderful atmosphere.

I docked a star from the service, which was attentive in the beginning, but dropped to zero after we moved inside due to rain. I was waiting for a menu to choose desert, but (annoyingly) it never came, so we went and paid up and got a dessert elsewhere.

Another criticism, especially for a restaurant where the kitchen stations are under full public scrutiny of diners, was that we observed one of the chefs tasting the food straight off the chopsticks she was cooking with (they went straight from her mouth back into the pan). Both from an optics and hygiene point of view, especially post-covid, this would be an unacceptable practice in my kitchen. I docked a second service...

My wife and I did the advanced masterclass cooking class and it was well worth it. There were only 4 in our class which was nice but they usually operate with 6 pax. It started with Chef Bon taking us on a short walk to the local wholesale market across the river where you get some of the ingredients you'll be cooking with later. He also talked about the culture of the market, discussed local vegetables and fish and how they cook with them or use them medicinally. On returning to the restaurant, we went around to the many stations in the restaurant and learnt about the different local dishes they make, such as cao lau and the white rose. We even (attempted) to pleat some wontons and handcut cao lau noodles. They served the wontons to us later as a quick appetizer before getting into some cooking. We made four dishes, but these change depending on what's available. We made a delicious pomelo and chicken/prawn salad, spicy clam soup, a panfried catfish and noodle dish and flamboyed bananas. I'm not a huge seafood fan but the seafood and vegetables were so fresh and the ingredients worked so well together, it was all incredibly delicious. Some of the best food we ate in Hoi An and we made it ourselves! They also give you a print out of the recipes and a cooking tool to take home with you. We loved this cooking class as it was unlike any of the others in Hoi An. We definitely recommend it to anyone who has a small amount of cooking abilities - just because the cooking part can be quite quick (as the dishes are quick to make) so you need to be able to keep up. Highly...

Dear Ms. Vy. I did not have a pleasant experience here. Upon entering the dining room, there was no hostess at the podium to escort me to a table. I patiently waited there and I looked at the menu for a few minutes until I felt enough time passed to pull aside a passing waitress and asked show me the dessert case. I asked her to explain to me what each dessert was as other places usually has a sign on the dessert plate stating what each dessert is. I ordered a chocolate cheese cake which was rock hard and half frozen. While eating the cake, I pointed to one of the pictures on the wall and asked the waitress if I could order one (a coconut, bean, jelly dessert). While trying to order, the head dessert lady interrupted us and said no! All the ingredients to make this dessert/beverage was in the display case, but from my limited understanding of Vietnamese, my take was that the ingredients were for a party coming to the restaurant that evening. Now why would you feature a menu item on wall in such a large scale if a customer can not order the item ? This his bad planing as far as I am concerned. It was late morning, so there was plenty of time to get things in order for an evening reservation. When I paid my bill, I left a generous tip, and that was only when the waitress apologized for my experience. This place is overpriced for what you get. It is all smoke and mirrors. I feel there needs to be etiquette training among some of the staff. I had better experiences dining at the street carts in the surrounding areas. From my experience this place doesn't...