Vedana: the most beautiful restaurant in Vietnam
Nature is one of the best free things! that we are lucky to be able to enjoy: walk through the mountains, swim in the sea, listen to the sounds of the forest, breathe fresh air, contemplate beautiful landscapes, feel free...
And what is another of life's greatest pleasures? Eat, of course. You can't always unite the gastronomic experience with nature, but how wonderful when we find places where we can enjoy both at the same time!
The latest edition of Restaurant & Bar Design Awards , held virtually, awarded the prize for the best restaurant in the world to Garden Hotpot, located in the middle of a eucalyptus forest on the outskirts of Chengdu (China).
Not so far away, in Sweden, we find Bord för En, a place in the middle of the countryside where you can eat stress-free with a menu that combines Swedish and Spanish tradition.
Our latest discovery? Vedana, a restaurant designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects and located in Cuc Phuong National Park, the largest nature reserve in Vietnam, which has a spectacular bamboo dome.
Nature and gastronomy under a bamboo dome
ON A LAKE AND WITH MOUNTAIN VIEWS
The Vedana restaurant is located within the Vedana Resort holiday complex and is built on an artificial lake in front of the mountains of the Ninh Binh province, in the Red River Delta of Vietnam.
The restaurant's bamboo dome is 16 meters high and 18 meters wide and it is the tallest bamboo structure created so far by the Vietnamese studio Vo Trong Nghia Architects –previously designed a spiral bamboo roof for a café in Vinh–.
This circular roof, which extends up to 1,050 square meters, is made up of three concentric rings emulating traditional Vietnamese roofs and although they look like three separate gabled structures, the truth is that the dome is a single structure made with 36 bamboo modules.
The oculus located at the apex of the dome projects a beam of light and the bamboo arches, crossing each other, create a flower-like structure.
The Vedana restaurant is located in the Cuc Phuong National Park
THE OTHER PROTAGONIST
With permission of the bamboo, the large 4.2-hectare turquoise lake also plays a leading role in this particular restaurant, as it offers spectacular views.
Along with its aesthetic role, the lake also acts as a natural air conditioner during the hot and humid summers that characterize the area, cooling the air as water evaporates from its surface.
Water from rain and runoff from the mountains accumulates in the lake and it is also used to irrigate the trees and plants that grow around the 16.4-hectare complex, including 15,000 flowering trees – which are part of a long-term plan.
On the shores of the lake and with views of the mountains
In the lake we also find trees planted in pots and distributed around the Vedana restaurant.
The forest of flowers will make up an ecosystem that will awaken all the senses and in which they will coexist banana trees, phoenix flowers, grapefruit flowers, sesame...
The four typical seasons of northern Vietnam will come together in this resort surrounded by mountains, packed with walking trails, and lulled to sleep by the sound of running water.
It has been built emulating traditional Vietnamese roofs
THE RESORT
The Vedana restaurant is part of the Vedana Resort and both projects have been in charge of VTN Architects.
The resort has the capacity to accommodate 1,350 guests in various locations: 135 villas, five condotels and eight bungalows.
The restaurant is located in the center of the resort. Used to serve meals during the day but can be converted to house larger events like weddings and parties.
We have a new excuse – architectural and gastronomic – to visit Vietnam!
Vedana Resort, in the heart of a nature reserve