East meets west: Michelin-selected pho tartare at Hanoi restaurant

As one of the capital city’s most revered restaurants, located in the JW Marriott Hotel in South Tu Liem District, French Grill gained global recognition when it became Michelin Selected 2023.

The grill’s signature offering comes with a name as unique as its ingredient combo and flavor profile – pho tartare.

The delicacy combines the tartare raw meat in French culinary tradition with uniquely Vietnamese style tastes.

Tartare has long been a staple of high French cuisine. Instead of cooking the beef, the dish uses fresh cut tiny pieces of raw meat mixed with various spices and sauces. Inspired by “Hanoians’ balanced culinary style,” chef Jean Francois Nulli infuses his tartare with beef pho flavors to manifest an entirely new creation.

The pho-inspired tartare is served on a plate that highlights the natural colors of the ingredients. Photo courtesy of French Grill

The renowned hashslinger’s experimentation process took about a month. The raw beef wasn’t a challenge for Nulli as he already had access to his favorite type – Wagyu tenderloin from Australia. He said this particular cut is the most delicious and tender part of the beef, both rich and highly nutritious.

The next step was to research Vietnamese flavors that pair well with beef.

Pho was selected somewhat ironically.

Although chef Nulli has lived in Hanoi for eight years, he is quite particular about mainly dining on familiar western food items like bread, cold cuts, cheese, and avoiding strongly flavored Asian dishes, including Vietnam’s world-famous noodle soup.

“Nulli doesn’t eat pho but is captivated by its aroma and is confident that the flavor of pho would complement tartare,” said French Grill manager Nga Nguyen.

The pho flavor is most evident in the broth, and beef pho usually requires hot broth when served.

This posed a problem for the chef.

Tartare is a chilled appetizer, so it could not be combined with hot broth.

“I thought of chilling the pho broth,” Nulli said.

Eventually, he found a way to turn the pho broth into a jelly and then puree it.

Diners thus now experience the concentrated and aromatic pho flavor without ruining the dish’s texture with hot broth. The broth, as specified by Nulli, had to be prepared by a local chef. This is still a must at the restaurant every time the meal is cooked and served.

For the sauce, he replaced the traditional tartare recipe, which includes strong spices (capers, black pepper, shallots, mustard, tabasco pepper), with a simpler mayonnaise sauce infused with lime, basil oil, and ginger – flavors that accompany pho-familiar palates. Basil is used after transforming it into oil form for a pronounced aroma. Ginger, with its mild spiciness, balances the dish.

To complete the meal of tender beef, mayonnaise sauce, and pho jelly, crunchy and sour elements were added. Nulli tossed in some charcoal-flavored croutons and Vietnamese pickled carrots and daikon for harmony in color and taste.

The beef is molded into a round shape of about 2 cm. Photo courtesy of French Grill

The tartare is presented simply. The beef is molded into a round shape, topped with basil mayonnaise, crouton, pickled vegetables, pho-flavored jelly, and perilla leaves. The plate is drizzled with basil oil for color.

As a cold appetizer, it should be enjoyed at the start of the meal, mixing all the ingredients and paired with a glass of white or rosé wine. Many diners believe red meat should always be paired with red wine, but chef Nulli’s tartare is an exception.

“The richness of mayonnaise, the freshness of pickled vegetables, the sweetness of raw beef combined with the acidity of white or rosé wine is the best,” said Nga.

The French chef wants diners to remember the dish through its multi-layered combination of flavors, aromas, and textures.

“I like to innovate, breaking the usual structure of ingredients,” Nulli said.

He added that he has found the real joy of cooking in elevating traditional French dishes with Vietnamese elements.

All of Nulli’s dishes adhere to his “everything together” principle. The ethos is that enjoying all the ingredients on the plate together is the best way to enjoy food, according to the great cook.

Due to the meticulousness involved in utilizing each ingredient and his understanding of the significance of the structural layers, each bite, for chef Nulli, must be a perfect combination.

Pho-flavored tartare is often served with rosé or white wine. Photo courtesy of French Grill

The pho-flavored tartare uses raw ingredients, so diners who cannot eat raw food or have sensitive digestive systems, pregnant women, and the elderly should avoid it.

Besides pho-flavored tartare, the French Grill restaurant offers other French-Vietnamese fusion dishes, such as snails with hot pho broth and basil oil, seared foie gras with green mango salad, slow-cooked beef ribs with fish sauce, soy sauce, and lemongrass for 24 hours, and desserts inspired by Vietnamese coffee and mixed sweet soup dessert.