Saigon, Day Three... and it's all coming together. This episode of Over Seasoned comes to you straight from the incredible Saigon Podcast Studio, where Xavier and Tony unpack their first real deep dive into Vietnam’s food culture — from tiny plastic stools and alleyway pho shops to an ambitious Michelin-star tasting menu that somehow bleeds into a full-blown waxing poetic about herbs.

There’s more pho chronicling, tendon talk, tight-chair survival tactics, and ample Vietnamese coffee praise.

The guys also break down their dinner at Anan Saigon — a modern Vietnamese tasting menu experience blending French influence with local flavors — and compare it to some of the unforgettable tasting menus they’ve had across Thailand and Bogotá. Along the way: foie gras spring rolls, turmeric black cod, pigeon with sticky rice, and an ongoing jealousy toward the French table next to them.

Even though it's the final day... this somehow feels like just the beginning of the Vietnam food tour.

This week, The Over Seasoned Crew dives headfirst into the rise, influence, and eventual backlash surrounding some of the most important restaurants in modern culinary history... from Ferran Adrià’s legendary El Bulli to René Redzepi’s global empire of fermentation and foraging at Noma.

What started as innovation eventually became imitation, and the guys unpack how molecular gastronomy, Nordic cuisine, tasting menu culture, and “Instagram dining” reshaped restaurants around the world (for better and for worse).

Along the way, they debate the death of slate plates (thank goodness), the exhaustion of trend-chasing chefs, the pressures of culinary fame, and why so many restaurants lost the plot trying to become the next big thing (sometimes you just want a classic done... well... classically).

The conversation also gets brutally honest about restaurant culture itself: kitchen hazing, burnout, abusive hierarchies, and the complicated reality behind the romanticism of fine dining. It’s thoughtful, funny, occasionally ruthless (of course), and no doubt grounded in years of firsthand industry experience.

If you’ve ever wondered how we got from white tablecloth classics to edible moss, tweezers, and 27-course tasting menus, this episode connects the dots.

We're tuning in from Saigon after two bowls of pho, one too many iced coffees, and a full-on battle with Vietnam heat and humidity. What starts as a conversation about linen shirts and hotel laundry somehow turns into an unexpectedly deep dive into sardine fasts, shrimp tail psychology, proper s’mores etiquette, and the strange comfort of eating the same thing every day.

Along the way you'll learn about:
-> the best canned sardines they’ve found
-> laundry culture differences between Colombia, the Philippines, and the U.S.
-> growing up between Puerto Rican family parties and academic Spanish dinner tables
-> the science of a proper s’more

-> wine bottle protocol and the pitfalls of potluck dining
-> why enjoying pho on a tiny plastic stool somehow feels like a perfect dining experience

Keep up with our part food podcast, part travel diary (plus a lot of other stuff that will surely keep you entertained).

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