By the final day of Vietnam Grand Chapitre 2026, expectations were already sky high. Yet Le Comptoir in Da Nang still managed to exceed them.

Le Comptoir was the location for the farewell lunch under the direction of Chef Olivier Corti - one of central Vietnam's most accomplished culinary voices. With a smaller group gathered around the table, the pace slowed, attention sharpened. What unfolded over several hours was, by many accounts, the finest meal of the four days.

The menu carried the title “The Best for Last” … and it earned it!

It opened with surprise canapés and a Cham Island sea urchin and veal carpaccio that set an immediate tone: local ingredient, classical technique, zero compromise.

A Saint-Brieuc scallop with Maison Kaviari Krystal caviar followed - the kind of pairing that needs no explanation - before a fish soup and blue crab course that brought warmth and depth to the progression.

Throughout, the wines were impeccably chosen and precisely matched: Baron de Luze Bordeaux, a Sicilian rosé, and a Vermentino di Sardegna that found its perfect counterpart in the Binchotan-grilled grouper with fregola and Buddha’s hand.

Then came a granité of Trà Quế herb sourced from the village just outside Hội An famous for its aromatic gardens. A palate cleanser that was also, quietly, a sense of place on a spoon.

The main course divided the table in the best possible way.

The Japanese beef drew near-universal admiration. Slow-cooked, deeply flavoured, paired with a 2019 Château Haut-Madrac Cru Bourgeois that matched its weight without overwhelming it.

Those who chose the chicken and morels found themselves equally rewarded: a traditional preparation from the Franche-Comté. Slow braised in a velvety cream sauce until tender through and through. The earthy morels pulled the dish into the kind of depth that reminds you why French countryside cooking has endured for centuries. Joseph Faiveley Bourgogne Pinot Noir - vibrant, precise - was its natural companion.

What the farewell lunch delivered was something rarer than a Michelin-starred meal: the perfect ending. Four days of exceptional dining, ceremony and fellowship, closed on the highest note possible. The National Bailliage’s Grand Chapitre 2026 could not have asked for a better final chapter, and those who were there knew it.

Joey Thinh
Interim Chargé de Presse