A Journey to Hoi An with Chef Viet Pham at Namia River Retreat

In Chef Viet Pham’s early memories, there is always the aroma of herbs—steaming, roasting, smoking, filling the house where he grew up in Southern Vietnam. A child of two local doctors who practiced traditional medicine and offered natural remedies, the scent of herbs was a constant at home.

The new Executive Sous Chef at Namia River Retreat credits his mother as the reason he got into cooking, saying simply, “She was a master.” 

Growing up in Saigon, Viet’s culinary foundation was built by his mother, who instilled in him an early passion for cooking. From the age of six, she guided his first attempts in the kitchen, from basic staples to classic Southern specialties such as thịt kho tộ (caramelized pork belly in a claypot.)

Viet’s own foray into the culinary world began during high school, when he attended culinary school and began stewarding tables at hotels in Ho Chi Minh City, working his way up to the busy world of hospitality kitchens. 

Over the next 20 years, Viet would deepen his culinary knowledge through a diverse array of techniques and traditions, each step different from the last, opening his eyes and palette to the unlimited possibilities of food and flavor. 

From perfecting dimsum in Cantonese restaurants, to pressing sushi for patrons in downtown Japanese sushi bars, to plating flawless breakfasts for guests in five-star hotels, Viet approached cooking from multiple perspectives. 

The day he tried modern French fare opened his eyes to the world of Western cuisine. He worked for chef David Thai at Le Bouchon, before moving on to Australian and American restaurants, where he added molecular cuisine and fermentation to his roster of skills. 

Eventually it was another chef, Marcos Rosso, who invited him to take his career overseas to Char Restaurant in Muscat, Oman. The following six years Viet spent studying South American cuisine, Mastering the art of charcoal grilling, and leading the team of the award-winning steakhouse.

When Viet at last felt a desire to go back to his country, it was not the urban streets of Ho Chi Minh City he longed for, but another quieter place, one he’d seen only online and in videos. In March 2026, he visited Hoi An, and was taken by the peace, the people, and the produce of the place.

“I love the ingredients here,” he says. “The herbs, the fish, they’re so fresh and amazing. They started me thinking about my food, and how I could use the ingredients my way.” 

After two decades of travel and training in techniques from around the globe, Chef Viet found a home to express his culinary perspective along the fertile banks of the Thu Bon River. 

“When I arrived at Namia, I felt very peaceful. I saw the herb garden, the river. Everything I saw I loved,” he says. 

Most appealing for him was the quality of the ingredients grown in nearby fields, farms, and forests, and caught in the waters off Vietnam’s central coast. The herbs of Tra Que village, the seafood in the Hoi An Market, and even the harvest of Namia’s own gardens inspired him.

“In our garden we have tomatoes, grown without chemicals. The first time I ate one, it was crunchy and sweet, and the flavor was very clear,” he recalls. “It was the best tomato I’ve eaten in my life.”

In the open kitchens of The Merchant Restaurant, surrounded by the river and Hoi An’s nipa palm forest, Viet intends to meld techniques from his long culinary journey with the region’s exceptional produce to shape a style of his own: modern Vietnamese cuisine, guided by an intention which he describes as “sophistication in simplicity.”

Each dish carries its soul — the just-caught fish, the foraged herbs, the small-farm ingredients — with a loving reminiscence of ‘home’.

“My style is to follow the seasons,” he says. “I want to serve food that is balanced in the five tastes, with a modern style of presentation and a deep focus on flavor.” 

Like his parents, Viet favours herbs to bring balance to his dishes and enhance the aroma at the table. His first set menu, for The Merchant’s Riverside Duet Dinner on May 1, was a tribute to his father and mother, who filled his childhood with the scent of spices. 

“Taste, presentation, and aroma are very important to me,” he says. “Every dish is inspired by a place or moment in my life.”