Inside the Chapter menu, every course is a story, and every story deserves a beautiful ending. After guiding guests through a culinary journey inspired by the landscapes, seasons, and traditions of Northern Vietnam, our tasting menus conclude with something small yet meaningful: petit fours. These delicate bites are more than just a final flourish. They are the quiet coda to an immersive dining experience — full of memory, texture, and cultural resonance. At Chapter Dining, we’ve reimagined the French concept of petit fours through a Vietnamese lens, honoring Northern desserts with creative flair and reverence.
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Petit Fours at Chapter: Sweet ending with Northern soul
In French patisserie, petit fours — literally “small ovens” — refer to small confections served at the end of a meal. While in France, these often include meringues, tartlets, or buttery biscuits, at Chapter Dining, they take on an entirely different life.
Here, petit fours are a celebration of Vietnam’s culinary heritage, presented with fine-dining precision. They reflect our belief that traditional flavors can shine just as brightly as avant-garde techniques — especially when handled with respect, imagination, and seasonal awareness.
Each petit four is a modern love letter to the past — reinterpreting familiar Vietnamese treats into refined, meaningful bites that close the meal with both emotion and elegance.
A trio of Northern treats – Why Chapter does them differently
At Chapter Dining, every menu ends with a trio of petit fours, carefully crafted to reflect the essence of the season. These aren’t simply desserts. They are edible narratives — drawn from regional tradition and brought to life with contemporary techniques.
Why three? Because it reflects balance. Each petit four contrasts with the others in texture, color, and temperature — yet all are united by a Northern Vietnamese soul.
Depending on the time of year, guests may encounter modern takes on bánh gai (ramie leaf cake), bánh khảo (a sweet short cake made of roasted glutinous rice flour), or chestnut cakes. All ingredients are locally sourced, and every component is handmade in-house. These sweet bites not only capture the rhythm of the seasons but also speak to our ongoing commitment to sustainability and cultural preservation.
How Chapter chefs craft your final bite with Petit Fours
The creation of petit fours at Chapter is entrusted to pastry chef Thuy Vy, whose artistic sensibility bridges heritage and innovation. Her approach marries modern pastry techniques with the defining ingredients of Vietnam’s traditional desserts, such as glutinous rice, mung bean, sesame, banana, and chestnut.
Each petit four at Chapter Dining is thoughtfully composed with texture in mind. A crunchy shell here, a silky mousse there. Together, the trio offers a sensory journey — from flaky to creamy to crisp — capturing the refined simplicity of Northern cuisine.
But it’s not just about technique. It’s about feeling. Chapter Dining’s petit fours are designed to evoke memory — the kind that lingers long after the meal is done.
Petit Fours at Chapter Dining: What to expect?
Let’s take a closer look at how Chapter Dining brings Vietnamese petit fours to life across different seasonal menus:
From our Sunshine Menu (Summer 2025), diners experience bánh gai, a glutinous rice cake wrapped in ramie leaf. It is a familiar sight at summer festivals. Chapter Dining honors this tradition while offering a modern twist.
The signature dark hue of bánh gai is preserved, with ramie leaf lending its herbal aroma to a tender rice crust. But instead of the traditional mung bean filling, our version surprises diners with a velvety banana mousse — light, tropical, and slightly tangy.
Petit Fours, featuring traditional Vietnamese sweets like bánh gai, bánh gạo, and bánh cốm, evoke memories of childhood, especially during the summer in Hanoi when street vendors with their food trays are a familiar sight.
This light dessert marks the sweet end of the “Sunshine” experience, allowing guests to reflect on the delicious moments of today as well as the cherished memories of a bygone era in Hanoi.
As the cold months arrive and the harvest wanes, our Earth Call Menu (Winter 2024) celebrates gratitude for nature’s final gifts: bánh khảo, bánh gai & bánh quy dừa. Among the trio of petit fours is bánh khảo, a symbolic sweet deeply rooted in the culture of Cao Bang’s ethnic minorities.
Traditionally wrapped in vibrantly colored paper and made of roasted glutinous rice flour with lard and sugar, bánh khảo represents love, hospitality, and unity. At Chapter, we preserve its meaning but reinterpret its form.
Our version replaces the traditional filling with white chocolate ganache, nestled within a lightly sweetened glutinous rice casing — a tribute to Mother Earth. Each bite reflects the connection between people and land, memories, and future generations.
For the Journey to the Village Menu (Winter 2023), during the chilly winter months, the Northern mountains offer a different kind of treasure: chestnuts, gathered by hand and roasted over open fires. Inspired by a real foraging moment in Sapa, our chestnut petit four was born out of joy and spontaneity. The process of peeling the spiky outer shells, laughing together as hands pricked and pockets filled, inspired a dessert that captures the rustic warmth of village life.
Chapter’s Sapa Chestnut Cake arrives in golden, buttery, aromatic, and enriched with mashed chestnut. Occasionally, a whole chestnut reveals itself inside, adding both surprise and texture. Its warmth and richness close the meal with comfort and quiet joy.
In many restaurants, petits fours are often treated as an afterthought. At Chapter, they are the quiet crescendo of the entire dining journey. Each trio is crafted not just to delight the palate but to honor the land, the people, and the culinary wisdom passed down through generations. Each one inspired by a Northern tale, a family tradition, a memory of home. For some Vietnamese guests, petit fours often remind them of something long forgotten — a childhood flavor, a Tet celebration, or a grandmother’s kitchen. In this way, Petit Fours at Chapter Dining aren’t just a nod to fine dining convention — they are our way of saying thank you. To the land. To tradition. And to you, the guest, who completes our story with every bite.
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Chapter Dining
12C Chan Cam, Hoan Kiem, Hanoi
Mon – Sat from 18:00 – 23:00
Tel: +84 333 201 221 – Reserve a table
Email: reservation@chapter.vn
