It happened when a young chef explained where he learned discipline, and when a kitchen manager recalled his first serious mentor. It happened again and again. Over the years, reporting on Saigon’s restaurant scene, Chef Sakal Phoeung’s name kept coming up. After finally sitting down with Sakal and learning more about his time in Vietnam and his approach to building teams and restaurants, I now understand why.

When Sakal first came to Vietnam more than twenty years ago, Saigon looked very different compared to today. Street food reigned and headlined Vietnam’s culinary scene while higher-end restaurants were mostly confined to hotels. The idea of building a long culinary career here was not yet obvious.

Born in Cambodia but raised in France, Sakal was hired by Sofitel Saigon shortly after it opened because of his experience at Michelin restaurants in Paris.

He arrived simply to work, without expecting to stay long – a common refrain for foreigners who have made their long-term homes in Saigon.

“Vietnam felt open,” he told me when looking back at those early days, adding that he saw room to try things, build a team, and to grow along with the city.

What impressed him most at that time was neither the available ingredients nor the techniques. It was the attitude of young Vietnamese cooks in his kitchen. Cooking was not yet an aspirational profession; most of them simply needed a job. But they learned quickly, listened carefully, and worked hard without complaining.

Building Le Corto

After ten years of working at the Sofitel, Sakal decided to go out on his own and opened Le Corto. "Le Corto today is very close to what I first imagined. The bistronomy spirit, the comfortable pricing, the Parisian-style service, and the intimate atmosphere are all still there,” he told Saigoneer.

A decade is a long time for any restaurant to endure. While many owners get stuck in a vortex of concept tweaking and trend chasing, Sakal his success to staying the course. “We never changed our core idea,” Sakal says. “We just kept improving.”

This improvement has been defined by sourcing better ingredients, expanding the wine selection, and above all, building a team through discipline and support. This all culminates in young chefs who stay longer, and guests who are confident in a consistent level of excellence.

While he may be reserved when speaking about mentorship, many chefs who worked under Sakal openly recall him fondly while emphasizing the same characteristic: discipline. In his kitchen, it all comes down to structure, precision, and only then creativity.

“I never saw my kitchen only as a place to train cooks,” Sakal told me. “It is about shaping people.”

Over the years, Le Corto’s prep stations, stoves, and ovens have become an unofficial incubator for a generation of young chefs. Some stayed a few years before opening their own restaurants, while others joined international kitchens. A few eventually stepped onto competition stages to represent Vietnam.

Despite it technically being a lost investment, Sakal knows that as part of their growth, they will eventually depart the nest. When he feels a young chef is ready to leave, he gives them one simple piece of advice: move for growth.

Bocuse d’Or

Bocuse d’Or Vietnam 2025 team comprised of chef/coach Daniel Nguyen, Sakal Phoeung, Chairman of Bocuse d’Or Vietnam, chef Vũ Xuân Trường, and chef Nguyễn Quang Tâm (from left to right).

Outside of Le Corto’s kitchen, Sakal seeks other ways to help Vietnam’s restaurant scene expand and develop. One way he does this is through Bocuse d’Or, one of the most demanding chef competitions in the world, sometimes described as the Olympics of gastronomy.

Teams from over 24 countries spend months preparing for a few intense hours of cooking once every two years. Thanks to Sakal and others, Vietnam now has a voice there.

Beyond the symbolic value of having Vietnam compete in the prestigious event, Sakal sees it as a way to build chefs who can perform with confidence, which pushes them to raise their level to that of their global peers in more developed culinary markets. “Talent is not the problem,” he says. “The challenge is preparation.”

The young chefs he mentors bring Vietnamese ingredients and stories to the stage, but these need to be supported by structure and calm, which Sakal preaches on a daily basis in the kitchen of Le Corto.

Staying in Vietnam

After more than two decades, Vietnam is no longer a temporary chapter for Sakal. Outside of the restaurant, he has become a fixture at early morning markets where he scours ingredients for his menu.

New set menu of Le Corto in 2026

I asked him what he hopes people remember about Le Corto. “Without Michelin stars or global rankings, Le Corto’s reputation has been built by diners themselves. That kind of recognition, coming directly from the public, means more to me than any award."

He wants guests to stay longer than planned, and in a city like Saigon, where people don’t often linger at restaurants unless actively engaged in an all-engrossing nhậu session, this is an achievement on its own.

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From harvest to finished product, how long does it take to make a bar of chocolate?

Typically, the process lasts one and a half to two years, but Saigon-based The Cocoa Project's chocolate has shortened it to just 60 days and is celebrating the achievement with a collection of six unique chocolate bars.

To make a bar of chocolate, cocoa pods must be harvested and their contained beans fermented, dried, and roasted before tempering and molding. These processes, along with the soil in which the cocoa plants were grown, are the main determinants of a chocolate's flavor. By executing the steps with precision and strict control in only 60 days, The Cocoa Project's chocolate collection preserves the distinct flavor notes of Vietnamese cocoa beans.

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Six flavors all passed the rigorous testing and challenge of creating “a chocolate bar inspired by happiness.” Amongst them is milk chocolate with osmanthus tea and peach that invites consumers of all ages to return to youthful lightness; dark chocolate with oranges and lemons that calls to mind memories of sundrenched moments in family gardens; dark chocolate with salted lemon with roselle jam, a bright and tart product of the highlands; and a milk chocolate with mint tea and jackfruit that is as relaxing and familiar as a childhood afternoon. Meanwhile, a 74% dark chocolate underscores how sometimes chocolate in and of itself is all one needs. 

The most interesting of the approved group, the milk chocolate spices bar, proved to be the most contentious choice. Inspired by a home-cooked meal and made with onion, pepper, garlic, and chilli, it drew mixed reactions for both taste and sales potential. Ultimately, one particularly passionate member of the marketing team half-jokingly promised to “take responsibility” for it, and the chocolate spices bar was added to the inaugural 60 Days chocolate lineup.

The availability of Vietnamese chocolate made with intriguing local ingredients has experienced a boom in recent years, which The Cocoa Project considers a cause for celebration. Achieving sustainable, local chocolate that everyone can enjoy makes it easier to reach their goal of supporting appreciation for and integration of Vietnamese agricultural products while providing “chocolate for the people.” People are taking notice as well, with four flavors from The 60 Days lineup winning medals at the world's largest competition this month. The entire collection can be found at The Cocoa Project’s first store and the recently-opened Cocoa Kitchen, their website, and familiar online retailers, are a great place to experience this delicious aim. 

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A restaurant where vegetables speak of home.

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It's a story-led restaurant.

Born in Saigon sometime in the late 1970s, Miss Thu had a pleasant childhood scampering around an apartment block with her friends, sitting on the back of her parent’s vintage motorbike for rides to and from school and savoring simple street food alongside home-cooked meals. She was privileged to go abroad. She explored foreign arts, cultures, and cuisines from around the world before returning to Saigon.

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“Granola Guy” wasn’t a name that Peter Gluckstein expected to answer to when he moved to Vietnam two years ago.

After selling his marketing agency in the United Kingdom, Peter planned to rest and relax with his wife and two young children in Hoi An, a city they’d fallen in love with during previous vacations. But while he loves pho, after a month of eating it for breakfast he had an insatiable craving for granola, one of his favorite morning foods.

Invented by John Harvey Kellog in the late 19th century to serve at a radical health-focused retreat, granola is a staple in many western countries, where it is typically eaten with milk or cereal for breakfast or munched on by the handful as a snack. When he went searching for the tasty blend of baked oats, fruits and nuts, however, Peter could only find a few expensive imported brands.

He thus decided to make his own. He tried some online recipes, tweaking them to his liking and baking it in his kitchen’s small toaster oven. He was so pleased with how it turned out that he posted about it on a Facebook page for expats. The response was quick and overwhelmingly positive, and he began selling it to people hankering for their home country flavors, as well as a few curious locals.

Reaching the Local Market

Thuy Nhung Nguyen first tried Peter’s All Day Crunchy Granola when a guest at the golf club where she worked offered her a sample. She immediately fell in love with it and reached out to Peter inquiring if she could sell it on his behalf. Relying on her experience in the tourism industry and familiarity with Facebook sales, she quickly began selling more of it than Peter was. She later joined his team at Pete’s Luxury Wholefoods full-time and has proven to be a crucial partner.

In addition to her adeptness at online promotion patterns in Vietnam and translating marketing materials, Nhung has helped introduce granola to Vietnamese customers who aren’t very familiar with it by offering samples at events and posting explanatory videos. Peter notes that Vietnamese people will initially try to eat each element individually, rather than consuming it all at once, so as to best savor the complex taste. As with many foreign foods, Vietnamese have in turn adapted it to some of their local preferences, and Peter was surprised to learn it works well paired with hot tofu and even sprinkled on watermelon with peanut butter.

Moving Out of the Home Kitchen

As demand for Pete’s All Day Crunchy Granola rose, they needed to scale up their operation. They established a deal with a local banh mi bakery to use their ovens in the afternoon, but quickly outgrew that and rented a residential home where they could install their own ovens. Two full-time bakers were hired to keep up with the orders; and to make everything official, the team filled out all the necessary business licensing and registration information and undertook health and safety tests.

Peter’s first order of raw oats from Australia was a mere four-and-a-half kilograms, and now they order by the half-ton. Their orders for Vietnamese cashews, mangos and coconuts, as well as imported pecans, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, cranberries and almonds, have all increased as well, which brings down consumer costs considerably. The recent arrival of new packaging will help them get their products into a range of grocery stores, in addition to steadily adding cafes and coffee shops in Saigon, Hoi An, Da Nang, Nha Trang, Quang Binh, Thanh Hoa and Hanoi, as well as direct ordering.

More than Just Granola 

Trail mix is essentially granola without oats, while muesli is granola with oats that have not been baked. Considering the overlap of ingredients, it made sense for Peter to roll out versions of each. Trail mix is perfect when eaten on its own, while muesli is best consumed with milk or yogurt. They can even be mixed together to adjust the ratio one prefers of fruits and nuts to grains. Peter’s also experimented with new variations of the core All Day Crunchy Granola with a special Tet mix that incorporates watermelon seeds, pomelo, passion fruit, crystallized ginger and tangerine, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and allspice, and a similarly festive Christmas version. And most recently, he’s made use of his coconut supplies to produce Crispy Coconut Clusters which consist of coconut strips, sunflower, pumpkin and chia seeds and a little ginger and raw sugar cane.

One of the aspects of his business that Peter is most proud of is the involvement of his family. For example, he wanted to make granola bars but hasn’t yet been able to source the necessary machines, so in the meantime, he bakes them in muffin trays. Upon seeing them, his eight-year-old daughter, Lottie, dubbed the snackable morsels Granola Jacks. His family also designed the company’s coracle boat logo.

“It’s completely random, so bizarre,” Peter says as he struggles to comprehend the unexpected direction his life has taken. He attributes the success of Pete’s Luxury Wholefoods to the simple fact that his products taste really good. “If I actually get someone to try it and can explain it to them, they’ll buy it five times out of five,” he says.

People appreciate that the products use natural ingredients and don’t include extra sugars or high-fructose corn syrup. The versatile and unique snacks, therefore, meet people’s desires for healthy, vegan options. In the future, Peter may have to move back and forth between Europe and Vietnam for the sake of his children’s school, but he has a good team in place and is certain that regardless of where he is in the world, the “granola guy” will have a presence across the country.

Pete's Luxury Wholefood's website

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Phone: 079 572 7798 

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