This is a question NÔM is answering. Committed as much to culture, research, storytelling, design, branding, and operations as to food, NÔM positions itself as a journey into Vietnamese culture and history, more than a familiar fine dining experience. 

The meaning of NÔM

The importance of the name NÔM comes into immediate focus when one arrives at the exterior Hán-Nôm walls. The result of meticulous research in collaboration with academic experts, the three walls feature 75 different Nôm characters, including everyday vocabulary and common surnames. Chris Phùng Gia Hào, NÔM’s founder and co-owner, explained to Saigoneer: “Chữ Nôm is important because it is a part of Vietnamese written cultural heritage that deserves greater awareness and understanding … At first glance, the characters may appear Chinese, but once you begin to study them, you discover how Vietnamese language, thought, literature, and cultural wisdom were expressed through this early writing system.” The Singapore-born and raised restaurateur with a background in cultural studies continues: “That is precisely why it matters; not because it looks Chinese, but because of what Vietnamese people created and expressed through it, which then eventually led to their own language … It is to understand another layer of Vietnam forgotten by modern history.”

Exposing guests, locals and foreigners alike, to layers of lost history is central to NÔM’s goals. An evening spent at the restaurant should share elements with a trip to a well-curated museum where one can explore Vietnam’s distinct cultures and the histories that fostered them. Rather than simply showing diners to their tables and bringing dishes, the NÔM team wants guests to feel as if a local guide is inviting them into an authentic home where they can “walk around the house. Have casual conversations ... and share stories about the city and its culture.”

A visit to the museum

Stories often benefit from physical objects, which explains the so-called Dynasty Cellar. With lighting and placards akin to a museum’s, it contains numerous Vietnamese artworks and authentic antiquities of high historical and cultural value. Such artifacts are relevant to the complete NÔM experience because, as Chris explains, “To truly understand Vietnamese cuisine, you need to understand what defines its different regions: their climates, ingredients, histories, communities, palates, and waves of migration. Cuisine does not develop in isolation. Centuries of movement, exchange, adaptation, and integration have shaped what we eat today.”

Inside the Dynasty Celler, a fifty-kilogram bronze ngọc lũ drum attests to centuries of meticulous craftsmanship, with the values held by ancient Vietnamese clear in its motifs, which include the mythic Lạc bird, people pounding rice and dancing, and war boats. The drum is displayed beside ancient coins from Vietnamese ruling dynasties and various ceramics. They all foster conversations between guests and the NÔM team regarding the nation’s history and the migrations, movements, and cultures that all explain the current nation. 

A place for food at NÔM

NÔM does not aspire to attract conventional foodies or those drawn to the hype cycles of trendy fine dining. Sometimes, Chris says, guests won’t even talk about the food at all. “The goal is not simply to serve a fine-dining meal. It is to make people feel that, for a few hours, they are being personally introduced to Vietnam.”

From left to right: bánh canh cá, bánh chuối, and bún riêu

But NÔM is still a restaurant, after all, and it does serve full meals, just in a way that respects the histories and cultures that surround them. For example, before a single bite is taken, guests may see the Nôm character 米頗 on the exterior wall. Meaning phở, it reveals the logical and creative mindset of Vietnamese people, according to Chris.”The character "米頗" is constructed using the phono-semantic principle, combining the "Mễ" (米 - rice) radical for its meaning, and the "Phả" (頗) character for its pronunciation. This is quite fascinating. It demonstrates that the Vietnamese categorized "phở" by its core ingredient rather than its shape.”

Cơm tấm hiền (left) and mì quảng (right).

This tantalizing discourse about phở is not followed by an actual bowl of phở, but by ones that look beyond items that have already achieved global notoriety. The dining journey brings guests from north to south via familiar regional dishes. Served across three floors, items include Northern-style canh chua and cơm rang dưa bò; Central cơm hến and bánh canh cá; and Southern bún riêu and bánh chuối hấp. Eschewing fine dining tropes of simply adding expensive ingredients to common dishes, NÔM does distinguish them from street food versions via surprising preparations and presentations. Meanwhile, the hospitality team that brings each item provides historical and personal details the dishes so diners can have a better understanding of the role of food in society.

An ecosystem awaits

A visit to NÔM is not aiming to compete with a fine dining meal nor a stop at a street stall. Chris explains that its aim is “not simply to build a restaurant around one chef, but to build a platform where Vietnamese culture, history, communities, ingredients, and traditions remain at the center of the experience.” 

The platform’s current manifestation is just the beginning. Chris summarizes:  “Eventually, this will expand beyond the restaurant into curated cultural tours around Saigon and Chợ Lớn, and Hán–Nôm script and cultural masterclasses. The restaurant is only one part of what we are building. Over time, food, history, language, art, cultural research, tours, and education will all come together as one interconnected ecosystem one complete NÔM experience.”

NÔM’s vision may sound strange, and Chris admits it is likely ahead of its time. But if it succeeds, it will be in service of bringing Vietnamese culture to the world. He notes: “The opportunity is to help build a future where Vietnamese cuisine inspires people from all over the world to fall in love with it, study it, master it, and eventually carry it into their own countries and cultures. That is when a cuisine becomes truly global—not only when its migrants bring it abroad, but when people with no Vietnamese heritage choose to dedicate themselves to learning and sharing it.”