Việt Dũng

For my wife’s birthday earlier this month I hit upon an indulgent and rather extravagant idea: fine dining on the higher floors of Landmark 81.

While the iconic building in the former district of Bình Thạnh is a favourite hangout spot for us as well as many other HCM City residents, we usually resign ourselves to the Vincom Centre below, fearing the restaurants and observation deck on top of Landmark 81 would be too fancy and pricey.

But we agreed a luxurious exception could be made for the special day, and so, after spending some time researching, we made a reservation for Tenku - Japanese Modern Kaiseki & Bar on the 67th floor.

One thing that struck us was how the ascent to the restaurant was quite a journey: you have to get into a specific elevator, get off on Floor 48 and switch to another elevator to reach the restaurant.

The restaurant staff did send us detailed directions beforehand, so that even directionally-challenged I could find it easily.

In any case, there are helpful building staff along the way who no doubt have had to guide many confused visitors to the restaurants at the top of Landmark 81.

Arriving at Tenku, my wife was immediately surprised by the beautiful décor, a blend of Japanese and Western aesthetics with tables arranged well away from each other to give guests space and privacy.

Visitors can order a la carte or a fancy set menu featuring many small portions to taste, ranging from seafood to wagyu beef. The selection of alcoholic beverages was also extensive.

We ordered the “11 Course Manten Set”, which was described to us by the waitress as a combination of Japanese and European cuisines.

Before getting to the food, there is one thing I have to say: Looking down at the glittering HCM City skyline at night, with columns of shining cars neatly moving along the roads and on Saigon Bridge, and tall bright buildings as far as the eye can see, all while sipping fruity cocktails makes for a wonderful experience.

My wife thought it was a great photo opportunity, and the adorable birthday decoration for our table provided by the restaurant definitely helped.

The waitress brought us the dishes one-by-one, allowing us to take our time sampling each item but never leaving us without food for too long.

We got to try out many different dishes that we have never even heard of, such as shokupan bread and savoury butter with a hint of tomato, jamon Iberico (a type of ham) with cheese and Hokkaido tomato, and hikari egg with truffle balsamic vinegar, slowly cooked at low temperature to retain the flavours of all the ingredients.

We were also provided a pack of colourful postcards with information on each dish, a fascinating read for me, and the waitress also helpfully guided us on how best to enjoy each dish.

She even explained to us why they served lemon and lime sorbet in the middle of the course as opposed to last, my new learning for the day!

They were all pretty good, some more memorable than the others, but for us, two dishes stood out.

The first was the snow crab with homemade squid ink tapioca cracker shaped like a taco shell and with filling made from flavourful snow crab bits, fresh minced fruits and a tiny slice of lemon which I had tried to discard before the waitress said I should eat them all.

The light and crispy cracker paired extremely well with the sweet and savoury crab, and the lemon, which I feared might be sour and bitter, actually lent the whole dish a nice tang.

My wife described it as “an explosion of flavours”, and I am inclined to agree.

​The second dish was the grilled Iberico pork with teriyaki sauce.

The lightly charred edges made it look very appetising, but when we tried it we were amazed by how good it actually was.

The delightfully tender meat was bursting with a rich umami flavour, and when dipped in the slightly sweet pear sauce it made the entire dish simply irresistible.

Even as I am writing this a week later my mouth waters just by thinking about the dish.

But it set the bar so high that we found the dining experience going a bit downhill from there. The smoked wagyu steak was nice, the beef and tofu in the wagyu sukiyaki (a type of Japanese hotpot) melted in our mouths, and scallop pasta with violet cream sauce was rich and creamy in the right amount, but none wowed us as the teriyaki pork had done.

Our dinner ended with matcha roll cakes, which we really like as the texture felt nice and firm. My wife got a free panna cotta for her birthday.

The bill for two set menus and two cocktails came up to VNĐ3.38 million (US$130), including VNĐ500,000 for birthday decoration - rather high by our usual standards, but I am told that the price is very reasonable for fine dining.

So if you are looking for a fancy cocktail or fine dining experience with helpful staff and a great HCM City view, Tenku in Landmark 81 is a good choice even if first-time visitors might need assistance from staff just to get there. VNS

 

Tenku - Japanese Modern Kaiseki & Bar

Address: Floor 67, Landmark 81 building, 720A Điện Biên Phủ Street, Thạnh Mỹ Tây Ward, HCM City

Tel: 090 695 87 66

Opening hours: 10:30am to 11:30pm

Comment: A great fine dining experience with a scenic view of HCM City in the Landmark 81 building and attentive staff.