ănăn Kitchen and Bar
Client
ănăn
Year
2017
Scope
Brand Design Interior Design Product Design
Location
Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam
Industry
F&B
ănăn - Kitchen and Bar
ănăn – Kitchen and Bar is one of Ho Chi Minh City's most celebrated dining destinations. Nestled inside Chợ Cũ, District 1's oldest wet market, ănăn, meaning "eat, eat" in Vietnamese, is the vision of chef Peter Cuong Franklin: a modern reinterpretation of Vietnamese street food and culinary tradition, elevated through contemporary technique.
The branding reflects this duality of the familiar and the refined, rooted in the energy of the market, yet expressing a new kind of Vietnamese gastronomy.
ănăn went on to make history as the first restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City to be awarded a Michelin star.
ănăn - Kitchen and Bar
ănăn – Kitchen and Bar is one of Ho Chi Minh City's most celebrated dining destinations. Nestled inside Chợ Cũ, District 1's oldest wet market, ănăn, meaning "eat, eat" in Vietnamese, is the vision of chef Peter Cuong Franklin: a modern reinterpretation of Vietnamese street food and culinary tradition, elevated through contemporary technique.
The branding reflects this duality of the familiar and the refined, rooted in the energy of the market, yet expressing a new kind of Vietnamese gastronomy.
ănăn went on to make history as the first restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City to be awarded a Michelin star.
Old Market - New Kitchen
We stumbled upon old maps of the market and its neighborhood, dating back to 1911. When we overlapped it with Google Map today, we found that the market was shrinking and shrinking. We knew that being a modern Vietnamese restaurant in the oldest market in Saigon means a responsibility to tell its story.
We paid homage to the market, but we wanted to reach a modern audience, so the playful use of color and typography became the counterweight to the historical influences.
Old Market - New Kitchen
We stumbled upon old maps of the market and its neighborhood, dating back to 1911. When we overlapped it with Google Map today, we found that the market was shrinking and shrinking. We knew that being a modern Vietnamese restaurant in the oldest market in Saigon means a responsibility to tell its story.
We paid homage to the market, but we wanted to reach a modern audience, so the playful use of color and typography became the counterweight to the historical influences.
Remember The Market
We wanted to preserve the memories of the Old Market, in the likely case that it follows the fate of wet markets in the city. But we didn’t want to simply transplant items from the market and display it in the space.
Instead, much like how chef Peter wakes up early to observe the vendors, to learn their craft, to put his spin on it, we absorbed various design inspirations from the market, and reimagined it.
Vendors’ corrugated metal rooftops informed the body of our metal seats. Perforated metal doors on the stalls inspire our ceiling panels. We took the ubiquitous plastic stools of the market and created a stainless steel version.
Remember The Market
We wanted to preserve the memories of the Old Market, in the likely case that it follows the fate of wet markets in the city. But we didn’t want to simply transplant items from the market and display it in the space.
Instead, much like how chef Peter wakes up early to observe the vendors, to learn their craft, to put his spin on it, we absorbed various design inspirations from the market, and reimagined it.
Vendors’ corrugated metal rooftops informed the body of our metal seats. Perforated metal doors on the stalls inspire our ceiling panels. We took the ubiquitous plastic stools of the market and created a stainless steel version.
TEAM
Agency: The Lab Saigon
Creative Direction: Tuan Le
Graphic Design: Joelle Wall,Uyen Dong
Interior: Leandro, Kim-anne Pham
Project management: Khiem Vo, Nhung Ho
Photography: Phong Chac, Thuy Truc
