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 Việt Nam, chef Vu Xuan Truong, and chef Nguyen Quang Tam (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.