On Wednesday night we decided to treat ourselves to a bit of luxury.  Laura wanted us to all get dressed up and go somewhere nice for dinner.  A splendid idea.  Most of the restaurants in Hoi An are very casual and I am not that familiar with the restaurants in Da Nang so if in doubt let your fingers do the typing.  “fine dining Da Nang” produced the InterContinental Da Nang Sun Peninsular Resort – it has three fine dining restaurants.  

La Maison 1888 captures the essence of haute French dining, with the distinct gourmet experience of delectable à la carte menu of distinguished classic French cuisine. This signature restaurant is fast becoming the number one gastronomic destination in Vietnam.

Barefoot is a relaxed beachfront restaurant which offers chic and casual dining accompanied by an ocean breeze. 

Citron, located on the highest level of the resort, makes a striking first impression.  Citron has a full menu that travels the culinary map of Vietnam with signature dishes from the North all the way down to the Mekong Delta.  The piece de resistance, however, were the private dining booths in the shape of inverted non la (Vietnam’s iconic conical hats) that float out over the hillside 100 meters above sea level, with spectacular views of the entire bay and surrounding mountains. 

InterContinental Da Nang Sun Peninsula Resort is 5 star luxury resort & spa.  It is one of the flagship resorts under the management of InterContinental Hotels Group in Vietnam. The resort opened on June 1, 2012.  InterContinental Da Nang Sun Peninsula Resort is located in the Sơn Trà Peninsula of Da Nang, which is also known as Monkey Mountain.  The resort occupies 39 hectares of the peninsula which also includes a  700-meter private beach.  There are four levels to the resort – Heaven, Sky, Earth and Sea.  Each level is reached by a funicular.

This resort was designed by Bill Bensley, a Harvard-educated architect and landscape designer. The design of the resort is inspired by the culture of traditional Vietnamese with luxury and contemporary elements. The resort was under construction for over 6 years before the official opening date.  Apparently Mr Bensley oversaw every single detail right down to the crockery and cutlery.  The construction standard and attention to detail on this property are definitely a world above the rest of Vietnam where the standards are quite poor compared to what we are used to.

We chose to dine at Citron – there was no beating the views and the private dining booths were something else.  We are also enjoying the Vietnamese cuisine and it was nice to enjoy some specialities from the north and south too.  After dinner and a bottle of red we caught the funicular down to the sea where we checked out the beach and the Long Pool which sits on top of the Long Bar.  It sure is a very nice resort and we enjoyed our few hours of luxury before returning to our home away from home on the golf course.