Show «LOALOA: Việt Nam Bừng Sáng» (Vietnam Shines)

   Lunch in Ho Chi Minh City can now come with a stage attached. From early September a daytime programme runs inside the grounds of Dinh Độc Lập, where every course is carried out to match the act playing at that moment: bronze drums, a court dance, a village rite, and a dish invented for each of them.

   The running order is built from images the country recognises instantly. Âm vang Đông Sơn reaches back to the bronze drums of the Đông Sơn culture and the Lạc bird circling their rims. Múa Xuân Phả draws on old court dances. Lễ hội Tịch Điền stages the ceremonial first furrow that once opened the farming year. Múa Nghê brings on the Nghê, the mythical guardian of temple gates, and Xẩm vui thi Trạng turns xẩm street singing into a comic scene. The kitchen runs alongside the music: local produce is handled with international fusion technique, and each plate extends the act it belongs to.

   The essentials:

• — the daytime acts: Âm vang Đông Sơn, Múa Xuân Phả, Lễ hội Tịch Điền, Múa Nghê and Xẩm vui thi Trạng
• — each act has its own dish, from the opening «Lời chào đất Việt» to the «Bạch ngọc long nhãn» dessert
• — 168 seats in all: 104 in VIP and 64 in VVIP, the two front rows being closest to the stage
• — the room is built as a 360-degree space across 500 m²
• — a costume room opens an hour before curtain: áo Nhật Bình, áo dài with khăn đóng, áo ngũ thân, and northwestern highland dress
• — the performers stay in the room afterwards for photographs

   The address is unusual for a dinner show. Performances take place in the park section of Dinh Độc Lập, one of the city's defining historic sites, a place most visitors see on a guided tour rather than over a meal. The programme is directed by Nguyen Huu Thanh (Nguyễn Hữu Thanh), a television director behind the Vietnamese «Giọng hát Việt» and «Giọng hát Việt nhí», The Remix and «Bước Nhảy Hoàn Vũ Nhí»; he trained as a graphic designer, which shows in how the light and the framing are handled.

   This is not the venue's only show. «Đan di sản — Chạm cảm xúc» plays here in the evening, but it is a separate production with its own acts and its own menu. The daytime programme leans towards the festive, fairground side of tradition rather than the restraint of the court.

   Who it suits. Anyone hosting visiting family who wants Vietnamese tradition shown on a stage and on a plate rather than behind glass. Long-term residents who know the food from street stalls but have never met it plated by a chef. And anyone who likes a good photograph: you will leave with pictures in clothes you would never otherwise wear.

   The full run is already published: daily from 3 to 24 September, a pause from 25 to 28 September, then daily again from 29 September to 7 October. Nothing beyond 7 October has been opened for booking yet.

   The organisers ask you to arrive 60–90 minutes early — that window is what the costumes and photographs are for, and latecomers lose exactly that part. Costume hire is charged separately at 300,000 VND. Online orders are capped at fifteen seats each, with a separate request form for larger groups. Both seating categories include the menu and the post-show meeting with the cast; what differs is how close you sit.

   If Vietnamese culture has so far been a set of postcards to you, this is the rare occasion to hear it, watch it and taste it over a single lunch.