Plait’s open at NHAAN Resort and Spa Hoi An, and the restaurant’s menu starts each morning at Duy Hai Fish Market rather than on a supplier’s order sheet. Golden rabbitfish, silver pomfret and moray eel come off the local boats, get picked by hand, and shape a menu that shifts with the weather and the tides.
The room sits on the Cổ Cò River inside the first Tapestry Collection by Hilton resort in Vietnam. Charcoal does most of the cooking, and the guests pick their fish before the kitchen touches it.
The catch picks the menu every morning
Executive Chef Dương Danh Linh was born and raised in Central Vietnam, and Plait’s built around his read of the region’s ingredients and seasons. Guests choose their fish and how it gets cooked, either charcoal-fired on the Josper grill or lowered into an aromatic hot pot, which turns ordering into a short conversation at the table rather than a scan of a fixed list.
No two nights run identical.
The resort around Plait backs the restaurant’s local pitch with hardware: an eforea spa and health club, an outdoor pool, a ballroom and two meeting rooms spread across the nipa waterways of Vong Nhi Village. Dinner at Plait lands differently when the walk back crosses water gardens instead of a hotel corridor.
That market-first structure suits Hoi An, where fishing boats have shaped daily life for generations and the morning catch still sets the town’s rhythm. Plait leans into the theatre of it instead of hiding the sourcing backstage, so the menu reads like a tide chart with dishes attached.
Around the whole-fish centrepieces, the kitchen runs raw and chilled plates, wok-fried seafood and chargrilled Quảng Nam tiger prawns, Bình Ba lobster and prime wagyu for anyone skipping the catch entirely. Oyster congee covers the comfort end of the list, and dessert finishes with Hoi An Tàu Phớ, the street-food favourite that’s drawn travellers into the old town for years.
Cooking classes that start at the market
Plait extends the resort’s Meet the Artisans programme, which already pairs guests with potters from Thanh Ha and carpenters from Kim Bong, the village whose 500-year craft legacy inspired the resort’s design. The cooking version starts before breakfast, with Chef Linh escorting couples, families and groups through the market as the catch comes in off the boats.
General manager Sridhar Thota’s framing for the whole resort is that travellers should explore Central Vietnam’s traditions actively rather than watch them through glass. A market run at dawn, followed by a class with no fixed menu, is about as literal as that philosophy gets.
Back at the resort, there’s no fixed syllabus waiting. Chef and guests decide the dishes together, guided by whatever the market gave up that morning and by Hoi An’s traditional techniques, and the session ends with a personal meal at Plait built from the ingredients everyone picked out together hours earlier.
Then comes the No Menu class.
It’s a smart extension of the resort’s whole idea. NHAAN takes its name from nhà, meaning home, and an, meaning peace, and the property sits about five kilometres from Hoi An Ancient Town and 750 metres from Cua Dai Beach, close enough to plug into the town’s food culture without sleeping inside its crowds.
Fire, theatre and a riverside table
Signature dishes arrive with heat attached. Tân Thành squid gets seared over volcanic stone, Ninh Hòa Babylon snails get flambéed at the table, Phu Yen yellowfin tuna is dry-aged then kissed by fire, and a whole fish can be baked in clay and cracked open in front of you.
Drinks follow the same local logic.
Plait’s one of four dining venues across the 174-room resort, alongside all-day dining at Keng, riverside drinks at Bong Lounge and poolside plates at Nipa Pool Bar. Architect Vo Trong Nghia designed the property around Hoi An’s heritage and local materials, so the restaurant’s river setting isn’t decoration. It’s the floor plan.
The cocktail list draws on the riverside setting and the area’s artisan heritage, with a Lantern Glow nodding to Hoi An’s lantern-lit nights and a Garden Breeze built to evoke a walk through a floral garden. General manager Sridhar Thota frames Plait as Central Vietnamese cuisine lifted with contemporary technique, and the drinks programme keeps that same register.
Practical note for planners: Plait’s one of four food and drink venues on site, so a multi-night stay can rotate between the Josper grill, Keng’s all-day menu, Bong Lounge by the river and Nipa Pool Bar without repeating a room. The signature restaurant still books out first.
Reservations run through the resort’s Hilton page, and Hilton Honors members can earn and redeem points across the stay. For Hoi An trips built around food, Plait gives the Tapestry resort a signature table that competes with the old town rather than sheltering guests from it.
Go hungry, and let the morning boats decide your dinner. That’s the whole design, and it sounds like a fair deal.