Following the announcement of the Michelin Guide awards at the end of June, controversies erupted. Many articles questioned, “Does the Michelin Guide truly understand Vietnamese cuisine?” Whether you agree or not, it’s undeniable that Michelin is a prestigious and esteemed accolade, having existed for over a century. Amidst the debates surrounding the list, there is one restaurant whose recognition is undisputed: Nén Danang, the first and only restaurant in Vietnam to receive a Michelin Green Star. This accolade not only celebrates culinary excellence but also acknowledges the efforts of restaurants and chefs in environmental protection and sustainable development.
There have been many articles praising Nén, so I won’t repeat those. Instead, I want to share the lesser-known story behind it, which is about its people. One key figure in Nén’s success is its founder and executive chef, Lê Hạ Uyên (Summer Le).
I had heard a lot about Nén while working at my previous company. At that time, it had only been open for two years but had already garnered significant attention from expatriates living in the area—a small but mighty restaurant. I didn’t know much about Ms. Uyên until I met her in 2019 during a tour of the wine regions in France, where she was a guest of the company.
A Reserved and Discreet Personality
I still remember the moment I met her at Nội Bài Airport. She wore a bomber jacket, carried a backpack, and had a simple neck pillow. What struck me was her reserved and soft-spoken demeanor. I recall someone in the group asking her why she named the restaurant Nén. She replied briefly, “Nén is simply named after a familiar ingredient in Central Vietnam.” Everything Nén does is simple yet profound, much like her.
You can see this in the first signage of Nén Danang: a plain wooden sign placed at the entrance, even cracked, with no ostentation, nothing special, but to me, it exudes artistry. I witnessed the care and respect the team had when placing the signage as the restaurant reopened after the pandemic. Their marketing approach is equally subtle. Nén’s images are often in dark tones, many in black and white, focusing on depth rather than grandeur or sensationalism. Every story Nén tells is gentle and sophisticated through each detail. To me, Nén is like a girl who appears simple, not glamorous or majestic, but the more you explore, the more you discover her intelligence, understanding, and beauty that always leaves you yearning for more.
The Spirit of Vietnamese Pride
Although Uyen has studied and lived in developed countries such as Japan and Australia for a long time, I truly admire her spirit of honoring Vietnamese values. She even embodies the essence of Vietnamese farmers through her words and images, making them incredibly endearing. I know some people who move to developed countries often get influenced by their culture and lifestyle, gradually losing their Vietnamese identity. In fact, many Vietnamese people living in Vietnam are still “Việt Kiều” because they do not understand Vietnam. Sometimes, even I fall into this trap; we tend to like new and exciting things that make us go “wow.” Living in a familiar place often makes us take things for granted. However, she has transformed the most ordinary things in Vietnam, even discarded items, into something extraordinary. For instance, straw is the stalk of the rice plant after the grains have been harvested. Farmers usually dry it on the roads and use it as cooking fuel, similar to firewood. Growing up in the countryside, I hated straw because cycling to school through straw-covered roads made me sweat, and cooking with straw created a lot of smoke. Yet, Nén managed to create straw ice cream. It’s truly ingenious. Nén not only introduces Vietnamese cuisine to the world but also makes me, a Vietnamese person, appreciate the simple things from my own culture.
Unbounded Creativity
I remember when I was working on a video with Uyen about a program combining cuisine and wine, I learned a lot from the story of her salted duck salad. Even though this dish was hugely popular, Uyen decided to remove it from the menu to create something new. That is the spirit of Nén: always innovating, even when things are going well.
Nén is a unique Vietnamese restaurant with a tasting menu, focusing on the culinary experience. When you visit the restaurant, you don’t choose the dishes but embark on a culinary journey with small yet exquisite dishes. Every few months, Nén changes its menu, bringing new stories to the table. Uyen breathes life into each dish with simple yet inspiring stories about Vietnamese ingredients. Someone once asked her if she felt pressured to create story-driven menus and if she ever ran out of ideas. She laughed and said, “As long as I’m alive, I have stories to tell.”
Now, Nén also inspires a spirit of innovation and sustainable development in cuisine through ingredients sourced from its own farms.
A Leader Who Creates Leaders
Behind this quiet, soft-spoken woman who doesn’t resemble a boss or a leader, I sense the spirit of an excellent leader, a level 5 leader: humble individuals who rarely speak about themselves, pursue excellence, take responsibility for failures, but celebrate collective success. In Nén’s stories, I see not only Ms. Uyên’s image but also the entire team that powers Nén.
I’ve had the fortune to meet various members of the Nén team under different circumstances: Mr. Huy Leon (Nén’s Co-founder), Chef Thức, and Bách at Nén Light in Saigon. Somehow, I see Ms. Uyên’s image in them, embodying the essence of Nén: kind, quiet individuals focused on their work.
Once, I shared Nén’s story and Ms. Uyên with a foreign friend who became intrigued and wanted to visit Nén Light and meet her. I messaged her, but unfortunately, she wasn’t in Saigon that day. Instead of stopping there, if she wasn’t present, my friend could have visited Nén like any regular customer. However, she introduced Sena, who would share Nén’s story on her behalf. That night, my friend said that dining at Nén was the most special culinary experience of his life. A three-hour dinner felt like just a few minutes. Even without Ms. Uyên’s physical presence, her spirit remained, epitomizing true leadership.
Phuong Maxy
