Upstairs

A tasting room above a wine bar

Upstairs is a small tasting-menu restaurant in Thảo Điền, Ho Chi Minh City, on the floor above the wine bar Little Bear. It opened quietly in late 2024, from founder Long Trần, and won its first Michelin star in the MICHELIN Guide Vietnam 2026. The room is softly lit, with curved lines, pink and beige tones and a semi-open kitchen facing a handful of tables.

The restaurant replaces the final S of its name with a question mark, a sign, it says, of a team that keeps learning and trying things.

Chef Hiệp Trương and Central Vietnam

Head chef Hiệp Trương, previously chef de cuisine at Little Bear downstairs, grew up in a farming family by Chứa Chan mountain, with family roots in Huế. The restaurant says he draws on the traditional dishes of Central Vietnam, reimagined with care.

The Michelin feature of June 2026 describes a thirteen-course menu with add-ons such as bò kho. Gỏi bò cà, on the menu since opening, sets Wagyu tartare with fish sauce, baby aubergine purée, egg yolk and herbs in a crisp pie-tee shell. Cá nấu mẻ becomes red-spotted grouper in a broth of house-fermented rice, with pickled mussels and dill.

The wine

Sommelier My Trần runs a list focused on boutique producers, with around thirty wines by the glass in 2026, from natural and orange wines to Champagne, saké and fortified wines. Michelin’s inspector praised the restaurant for trading theatrics for something “more restrained, intimate, and quietly self-assured.”

Sources: Michelin Guide; Michelin Guide (Inspector Reveals); Upstairs