Tinh Gia Vien

A bonsai garden inside the Citadel walls, cooking Hue vegetarian food in the court tradition.

Tinh Gia Vien sits behind a wall inside the Citadel and opens onto a garden of trained bonsai, which is the owner’s other life’s work. The kitchen cooks Hue vegetarian food — com chay — in the elaborate court style, so dishes arrive carved and arranged rather than simply plated.

Hue has a genuine Buddhist vegetarian tradition rather than an afterthought version of the meat menu, and this is the most formal expression of it in the city.

Call ahead: much of what they do is prepared to order.