SON - Bếp Nhà Đãi Khách / Jonathan Ng Cheong Tin

Architects: Jonathan Ng Cheong Tin
Area: 520 m²
Year: 2026
Photography: Quang Dam, SON – Bếp Nhà Đãi Khách
Lead Architect: Jonathan Ng Cheong Tin
Architects Team: Tran Tran
Design Team: Tran Tran
Contractor: Rex Interior
Developer: Ampersand Management
Service: Architecture/Interior Design
Materials: Rubberwood, handcrafted encaustic tiles, terrazzo, locally sourced bamboo, handmade ironwork, lacquer-red accents
City: Ho Chi Minh City
Country: Vietnam

SON – Bếp Nhà Đãi Khách, or SON Vietnamese Kitchen, is a Vietnamese dining space in Ho Chi Minh City that translates the spatial organisation of a domestic home into a contemporary restaurant setting. Designed across the third and fourth floors of an existing urban building, the project draws on the familiar sequence of veranda, kitchen, living and dining room, and formal sitting room. These references are expressed through the arrangement and character of the spaces rather than through literal decorative reproduction. The third floor brings cooking, gathering and dining together within an open volume, defined by an interior pitched timber roof and a merchandise area conceived as a small veranda. The fourth floor provides a more intimate sequence of rooms, with folding partitions and sliding screen doors allowing the spaces to open or close according to different occasions. The material palette includes rubberwood, handcrafted encaustic tiles, terrazzo, locally sourced bamboo and handmade ironwork, complemented by SON’s lacquer-red accents. Details such as a pendant inspired by the traditional lồng bàn and a glass-fronted food cabinet further connect the contemporary interior with familiar elements of Vietnamese domestic life.

What matters most is how the material serves the narrative of the project.
Interview with Jonathan Ng Cheong Tin of NU architecture & design

Son - bếp nhà đãi khách / jonathan ng cheong tin

SON – Bếp Nhà Đãi Khách begins its architectural sequence at the lift lobby, where traditional encaustic tiles establish a threshold between the urban building and the restaurant. This transition introduces the project’s domestic reference through material and spatial experience rather than through a literal representation of a house. The existing building also forms part of this context. Its neo-Haussmannian façade, finished in pebble-wash render, provides an architectural backdrop for the interior intervention and establishes a relationship between the restaurant and the existing character of the building.

On the third floor, cooking, gathering and dining are organised within a single open volume. The arrangement recalls the role of shared domestic spaces in Vietnamese homes, where the kitchen and dining areas can function as places for both food preparation and social interaction. A pitched timber roof form is brought into the interior, creating a distinct overhead profile and reinforcing the reference to the sheltering qualities of the Vietnamese house.

The merchandise area occupies one corner of this level and is designed as a small veranda within the restaurant. Rather than being treated as an entirely separate element, it forms part of the overall spatial composition, allowing objects, color and material details to contribute to the interior experience.

The fourth floor adopts a more intimate arrangement. Folding partitions and sliding screen doors provide flexibility between enclosed and connected spaces, allowing the rooms to be adjusted for different occasions. Timber and woven bamboo ceiling elements define the space overhead, while baluster details draw from characteristics associated with Vietnamese modernist houses.

The material palette continues the project’s connection to domestic architecture. Rubberwood, handcrafted encaustic tiles, terrazzo, locally sourced bamboo, and handmade ironwork are combined throughout the interior. These materials are paired with SON’s lacquer red, which appears in steel frames, furniture accents, and custom dining elements. The color therefore becomes part of the architectural composition rather than functioning solely as a separate identity element.

Several details reinterpret familiar household objects and architectural features. A pendant light takes its form from the traditional lồng bàn, or food cover, while a glass-fronted food cabinet recalls the household garde-manger. Baluster details from modernist houses are similarly reinterpreted as ceiling elements. Each reference is adapted to the requirements of the restaurant while retaining a connection to Vietnamese domestic life.

Across its two levels, SON – Bếp Nhà Đãi Khách organises the restaurant around the relationship between communal and intimate spaces. The project takes the spatial logic of the Vietnamese home as its point of departure, translating familiar patterns of cooking, gathering, hosting and dining into a contemporary hospitality environment. The resulting architecture uses material, proportion and spatial sequence to connect the restaurant with the domestic traditions that inform its concept.