La Maison 1888 - With All the Wonderful Local Food Around, Is It Worth a Visit to The Only Michelin Starred Restaurant in Da Nang, Vietnam?

Only if you're staying at the InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort. That's my straight answer, simple and clear. 

Why dining at a French restaurant in Vietnam when there're so many wonderful local food around, and perhaps with 1/100 of the price? Well, a little history background here. Vietnam was actually ruled by France from 1887 to 1954 as part of French Indochina. Put the politics aside, some culinary traces have also been left on this coastal country.

That's why trying out French cuisine in Vietnam shouldn't be a completely out of the blue option. Take bánh mì for instance, a local sandwich made with baguette can be found from the northern tip of the country all the way down south.

And that leads to our dining destination, the only One Michelin starred restaurant, also happened to be a French restaurant in Da Nang. Da Nang is city known for its beautiful beaches and vacation getaway spot in central Vietnam. The vibrant scene draws in many renowned hotels and resorts in the city. In which, might be the most luxurious and secluded InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort perched on Son Tra Peninsula, and there you'll find the restaurant La Maison 1888.

Beautiful setting, in fact, La Maison 1888 was one of the top 10 most beautiful restaurants in the world from Architectural Digest. The staffs were all so wonderful and super friendly. Then why I only recommend considering paying this place a visit if you happen to stay at the same resort? 

The food was a bit lacking I think, but don't take me wrong. The quality and presentation are still great, just perhaps not as refined and executed to perfection as I would expect to see at a Michelin starred restaurant. After a bit of research, I suspect something has to do with the chef change and the subsequent supervision wasn't tightly held in place.

You know that La Maison 1888 got its Michelin star when Pierre Gagnaire, some people think of him as the French godfather was the head chef there. However, the restaurant was handed to another famous French chef Christian Le Squer soon after the Michelin award announcement back in September 2024. 

I don't know what's going on there with the chef change, but I sure do like both chefs and believe that either one of them can bring great things to La Maison 1888. However, I'm guessing the new chef couldn't possibly be on site for an extended period of time, and definitely not there the time I visited. So I'm assuming some misses from the food-side was due to insufficient training, supervision, and possibly some crunch time during the transition. 

And that basically concludes my feedback on this recent visit in early 2025 in regards to La Maison 1888. However, it is still a lovely restaurant to dine at especially if you only need to hop on a resort buggy to the restaurant front. Maybe not really necessary if coming from the city with 20 minutes Grab ride one way though.

We started our meal with a bottle of fancy imported water - 

Waffle and Parmesan - 

Airy and almost pillowy waffle paired with savory Parmesan. A light starter for the night. 

On a side note, the tempo of the food served was rather "speedy" in the beginning. I felt a bit rushed, but eventually quite down and able to really feel relaxed once moved onto the actual first course.

Les délicates bouchées - 

Start with the foamy one with main ingredients of Campari jelly and pomelo, then moved onto the smoked salmon tart filled with sour cream and caviar. Lastly, ended with the strongest of all, duck liver with jelly on top flavored with coffee and passion fruit.

We ordered glasses of champagne on top of the Michelin wine pairing - 

Some bread to go along with our course, starting from the left are French baguette, Italian bread, and cereal bread. Apparently I've already taking one Italian bread before taking this picture - 

Understanding the English accent from few staffs can be a challenge at times, but oh well, I'll just put whatever food they brought to my mouth, no need to be so crystal clear during a relaxing meal.

All these breads can be refilled any time throughout the course. Sometimes they might even recommend you to have the bread on the side to enjoy with the sauces left from certain dishes.

Caviar "La Maison" eau forte de crustacés / blue lobster bisque and caviar -

The jelly-like thing is made with blue lobster and langoustine. Premium caviar on top, I think with pistachio sorbet in the center. It's a chilled dish and we were given cold spoons to dig in.

2018 Albert Bichot premier cru chardonnay - 

For the wine pairing, only Mister went for the "gourmand" wine pairing. In which the "epicurean" wine pairing comes with a total of seven selections, and the gourmand option with lesser amount of five. 

Langoustine de nos côtes / Dublin Bay langoustine with warm mayonnaise and buckwheat pancake -  

The red thing in the center of the grilled langoustine is dried tomatoes. The dotted greens on the plate were seaweed gelée. The triangular thing in the end is buckwheat galette. The shape reminds me of Vietnam's traditional headwear called nón lá. By the way, if you stay at the resort here, you'll also find nón lá being provided in the closet, so that guests can wear it as a shield from sun and rain by the beach. 

2022 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc - 

Saint-Jacques bretonnes / Silky mousseline scallops, cauliflower cream, and caviar -

I was happy to finally found out what's the tiny asparagus-looking thing there. It has a grassy and almost sourish taste, a rare ingredient in Taiwan. I asked for the vegetable's info to the server at Oncore by Clare Smyth in Sydney's fine restaurant once but didn't get an answer. This time around, I was told it's like a sea asparagus then I successfully Googled it. Let it be sea asparagus or glasswort, I got it now.

Foie gras en galets / Foie gras like a pebble, poached in iodized vinegar broth - 

I think it's one of the new chef Christian Le Squer's signature dishes. However, I'm quite certain the version here can be very different from the one with chef supervised on site. 

The texture of that grey coating was off, so it's also like a unpleasant coating to the foe gras. In fact, my pebble was "cracking" on the other side, which I purposely turned the plate around so it won't show on the picture. 

2014 Bouchard Pere & Fils Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Cailles Premier Cru -

Even though the wine pairing at La Maison 1888 is very pricey, but at least these were all good wines, and I'm glad the sommelier put these selections together so we can enjoyed them all at once. 

Poularde et truffe noire des landes / chicken and black truffle old fashion cooking, crispy smoked rice - 

A delicate contrast between the melt in your mouth chicken and crispy smoked rice. Served with sauce made with butter, foie gras, and truffle. 

Mignardises - 

Givré laitier / iced diary, yeast flavor - 

This one was also one of the signature desserts at Le Cinq, Chef Christian Le Squer's three Michelin star restaurant in Four Seasons Hotel in Paris. The presentation was almost fairy-like though, so does its mild milky and yeasty flavor.

I also got some hot tea since I know there're always tons of sweets toward the end of a fancy French meal. Mister got hot coffee instead. In which thumbs up to the hospitality here, both the tea and coffee were not charged to our bill, a complimentary gesture from the restaurant manager that night.

Last wine pairing of the night, 2018 Mas Amiel Vintage Charles Dupuy - 

Chocolat noir au lait de caramel / dark chocolate with caramelized milk and peanuts - 

A comforting dessert to end the night.

As we walked out the restaurant passing the view of La Maison 1888's open kitchen - 

There's also a pretty bar up front, I noticed some guests actually went in there for a few drinks before starting dinner. 

By the time we had dinner at La Maison 1888 the sky was already dark. So the next few days at the resort, I grabbed the chance of taking some pictures of the exterior of this beautiful restaurant during daylight -

If budget is not your biggest concern, I would highly recommend staying at InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort when visiting Da Nang in Vietnam. On top of La Maison 1888, there's also a new teppanyaki and sushi restaurant at the resort, equally expensive I would say. 

In fact, I was going to try the Japanese restaurant instead of La Maison 1888, but it wasn't open on Monday so we sticked with French in the end.

And some additional insights, if you are planning to visit Da Nang, I think the Marble Mountains would be a fun place to go. A little hike involved but if you're moderately fit, Some steep stairs shouldn't be a problem.

We bundled our Marble Mountains trip together with Hoi An ancient town. So a bit exercise during the day then a nice stroll, seeing the sunset and lantern on the river at night.

And if you do visit Hoi An, there's this banh mi place that Anthony Bourdain visited once named Bánh Mì Phượng. I'm no expert on banh mi, but where Anthony Bourdain went, I follow. 

If you happen to see "Cộng Cà phê" during your visit in Vietnam, go give it a try. It's like the Starbucks of Vietnam. My favorite was their coconut milk coffee. The pictures shown here were from the branch in Da Nang city with address showing 23 Lý Tự Trọng -

Some tourists also visit Sun World Ba Na Hills, the place with Instagram-popular Golden Bridge - 

Well, I'm not really a big fan of Sun World Ba Na Hills, too touristy and artificial in a sense. However, if you travel with family, especially kids, they might enjoy some amusement park rides and little shows here and there. If you don't have that many days in Da Nang, I would suggest skipping this spot but definitely a must for Hoi An.

La Maison 1888 currently holds one Michelin star status. 

La Maison 1888

InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Resort

Tho Quang Ward, Son Tra District, 

Da Nang, 55000, Vietnam

+84 236 393 8888

Restaurant/resort website: La Maison 1888

Online reservation: La Maison 1888 booking

Opening hours:

Daily 6:30 p.m. ~ 9:00 p.m. (9:00 p.m. last order)