Vietnamese restaurant group Quán Ăn Ngon has a lot to celebrate. At the 8th World Top Gourmet Awards, held in Kuala Lumpur earlier this week, the brand walked away with two major honours: Top Outstanding F&B Brand 2026 and a place in the top ten for The Most Popular Restaurant.
The awards recognise businesses and individuals shaping the food and beverage industry, and for Quán Ăn Ngon they mark a milestone in what is now a 21-year run. Founded to showcase dishes from all three of Vietnam's culinary regions — north, centre and south — the chain has served millions of local and international diners over two decades. Its menu spans more than 200 street dishes and specialities, many built on recipes said to be over a century old and passed down through generations of cooks.
Phạm Bích Hạnh, general director and CEO of parent company Phúc Hưng Thịnh, described the double win as motivation to keep introducing Vietnamese cooking to diners at home and abroad. The ceremony also honoured Phạm Sơn Vương, chairman of the Việt Nam Chef Association, as Top Outstanding Entrepreneur Chef — his third time holding the title after 2022 and 2024. Vương praised the restaurant for staying true to traditional regional cuisine while finding fresh ways to cook familiar dishes.
So what's actually on the table? Think a tour of Vietnam on one menu: chả cá Hà Nội (turmeric grilled fish), bánh tôm (crispy Hanoi shrimp cakes), bánh khọt — the mini savoury pancakes from Vũng Tàu — and a set of Huế's signature royal-style cakes. It's the kind of breadth that would otherwise take a food traveller weeks of street-stall hopping to cover.
For visitors to Hanoi, the recognition is a useful shortcut. The restaurant started as a collection of relocated street-food stalls and has grown into a trusted gateway to Vietnamese classics, popular with tourists who want authentic flavours in more comfortable surroundings. With a top-ten regional award already under its belt from last year's ASEAN Strong Brands list, the brand is clearly having a moment — and it's an easy, low-risk first stop for anyone who's just arrived and doesn't know their bánh khọt from their bánh tôm yet.
