Interview with Tien Tiep, Founder of Ne Cocktail Bar: Vietnam’s Best Bar

Dubbed an emerging culinary and mixology destination, Vietnam’s F&B scene is on the rise and people around the world are taking notice. From debuting three bars in this this year’s Asia’s 50 Best Bars’ 51-100 List to inviting the likes of industry top dogs such as Diageo to host their annual World Class competition honouring the nation’s best mixologists. Needless to say, Vietnam’s nascent bar scene has much to be proud, notably Ne Cocktail Bar, an industry pioneer and Vietnam’s highest ranked bar on this year’s Asia’s 50 Best Bars List.

Founded in 2017 by Pham Tien Tiep, Ne Cocktail Bar is a pioneer in Hanoi’s bar industry

Hanoi’s bar scene today is a machine of bursting flavour, talent and innovation. No stranger to boisterous bars, clandestine speakeasies and hipster cafes, ask any Hanoian where to get the best cocktail in town and good chance is you’ll hear a list of names including Longer than a Summer, specialist gin bar The Alchemist and notably, Ne Cocktail Bar - Vietnam’s highest ranked bar on this year’s coveted Asia’s 50 Best Bars list.

Founded in 2017 by Pham Tien Tiep, Ne Cocktail Bar is a swanky, moody and slick bar with a sultry vibe that wouldn’t be out of place in Hong Kong or perhaps Berlin. While this seems to the be the norm today, it’s impressive to note that a mere 6 years ago, cocktail culture was basically non-existent in Hanoi. Back in 2013, Tiep reminisces on how denizens of Vietnam’s capital city could only enjoy a cocktail in a fine dining restaurant or hotel and even so, only standard cocktails such as a whiskey coke, gin and tonic or vodka soda would be available. Attributing this to a shortage of alcohol suppliers and thus variety, Hanoi’s cheerful ‘bia hoi’ beer marketplace reigned supreme in comparison to the nascent bar industry.

People were used to drinking beer priced at less than 1 USD (10-15,000 VND) on little stools that lined the streets of Hanoi till the wee hours of the morning till they got drunk. Needless to say, the number of cocktail drinkers in Hanoi was limited, small and insignificant in a country that reportedly downed 3.4 billion litres of the chilly hop-based beverage in 2015 compared to seventy million litres of spirits and wine, according to an EU Vietnam Business Network report. Recounting his experience, Tiep says “It was a little difficult for me to market this, to defeat the bia hoi or perhaps rice wine, but we’re making it for an unique fitness level, it is a lot more luxury and much more elegant.”

In 2016, the advent of cocktail culture arrived in Hanoi

This advent saw a shift in local consumption of bia hoi to cocktails. This signified an appreciation of cocktails and an acceptance and relish in cocktails consumed for pleasure and taste instead of sugars, bitters and garnish used to mask low-quality spirits. Tiep credits this movement to an increase in local exposure to social and international media as well as more local Vietnamese travelling abroad and vice-versa.

A fervent believer in travel being an integral tool that has fuelled much innovation in Hanoi’s bar industry the past few years, Tiep was invited to London as a guest bartender by a regular customer of Ne’s. During this period, he was exposed to London-style bartending and was able to gain a deep dive into cocktail culture under the tutelage and mentorship of bar industry titan Kata Simon, founder of Ministry of Men in Ho Chi Minh City. Inspired by his travels to London, Tiep thought to himself “This is exactly what I need to bring to Hanoi” and so he did and today we have Ne Cocktail Bar, Vietnam’s highest ranked bar on Asia’s 50 Best and an internationally recognised, award-winning Pho Cocktail.

Pham Tien Tiep, Founder and Mixologist at Ne Cocktail Bar, Vietnam’s Best Bar and #86 on Asia’s 50 Best Bars List (51-100)

“People were used to drinking bia hoi priced at less than 1 USD, sitting on little stools that lined the streets till the wee hours of the morning. It was difficult to market cocktails at the beginning and defeat the bia hoi or rice wine, but I believe we’re making cocktails at a more luxury and elegant level”

Famed for its Pho Cocktail, Ne Cocktail Bar has been featured in multiple international publications including South China Morning Post, CNN Travel, The Heritage.

The famous Pho Cocktail developed by Tiep which won him ‘Bartender of the Year’

The Pho Cocktail was developed in 2012 when Tiep was working at the French colonial era Metropole hotel, influenced by his time working in a street side Pho restaurant as a teen. “My life story belongs to street food because my family didn’t have much money growing up and all we had street food,” stated Tiep.

The Pho Cocktail ($10 or VND 250,000) albeit missing the meat (chicken or beef) has made waves around the world and comprises of key aromatics such as star anise, lime, fresh coriander, cardamom and cinnamon. The aromatics are infused with a good splash of Cointreau triple sec and gin via a custom-made proprietary apparatus over a flame. The end result of sifting the gin and Cointreau through the apparatus is a hot concoction with an alluring aroma reminiscent of the famed national dish. This process continues approximately five times until the bar is thick with the smell of roasted spices. The resulting mix is then strained over ice into a glass and garnished with a cinnamon stick and a side of fresh herbs, similar to a serving of Pho that one would get on the streets of Vietnam.

“I use cocktails as a tool to showcase unique flavours and ingredients of Vietnamese cuisine. Often fine dining restaurants draw inspiration from street food so why not bars?”

For his efforts, Tiep’s Pho Cocktail has been lauded the pride of the city and for good reason.. Tiep entered the Pho Cocktail back in 2012, as his entry to the Diageo World Class competition and that same year, took home the ‘Best Bartender in Vietnam’ award. Since, Tiep has continued to push boundaries in the cocktail world whipping out other food cocktails including a Fish Sauce cocktail known as “Under the Bridge” and is inspired by Nước Chấm, a complimentary dipping sauce usually eaten with street snails. Similar to the Pho Cocktail, the meat component is eliminated and only aromatics are used, in this case ginger, kumquat, lime leaves, sugar and tequila. Another seasonal invention is Tiep’s Fish Soup cocktail which uses heart leaves, pineapple, tamarind, sugar and dill.

So why food cocktails? Simple. Tiep hopes the innovative cocktails will additionally increase the acceptance of food that is local and believes cocktails can be used a tool to promote Vietnamese flavours and ingredients to the rest of the world. He believes there’s a great deal of restaurants bringing street food to fine dining, so why not bars?

This year, Ne Cocktail Bar not only made it to Asia’s 50 Best Bar’s 51-100 list for the first time. It was also the highest ranked (#86) amongst the Vietnamese inclusions.

A crowded Ne Cocktail Bar

Commenting on the historic win, Tiep states “I am so proud of my team and the hard work that they’ve put in the past few years. I truly believe it’s out commitment to upholding consistency and quality that has brought us to where we are today. Separately, I am so happy to be able to showcase Vietnamese cuisine to the world and the talent and potential we possess in this nascent but fast-emerging and hungry (or thirsty) nation. It gives me confidence to keep trudging forward and that we’re on the right track.”

However, being the best bar in Vietnam also brings with it the added responsibility of being a beacon of innovation, creativity and quality within the bar world. Fully acknowledging this, Tiep has no intention to rest on his laurels but instead focus on maintaining consistency and adopting new techniques while holding true to his ethos of using local Vietnamese ingredients and highlighting the nation’s cuisine.

The inclusion of Vietnam in the coveted Asia’s 50 Best Bars’ List (51-100) is a significant hallmark for the bar world that Tiep believes could herald a wave of new bars and bartenders entering the industry with a newfound sense of confidence. Traditionally, Tiep says ‘Many bartenders would leave the industry after a few years quoting few ‘stages’ to showcase their passion and skill but these inclusions in Asia’s 50 Best might inspire them to return to the industry and retain existing talent as they now see “Hey, there’s a chance I can actually be recognised globally”

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