A Michelin-approved feast in Vietnam - without the Michelin price tag

"Let's go to my favourite restaurant in Da Nang," says my friend Vy. "It's in the Michelin guide."

I nod yes, always eager to try local dishes in foodie hotspots. I have no doubt it will be delicious and memorable (and probably expensive by Vietnam standards), given the Michelin association. I'm game.

More than 125 years after Michelin created its original travel guide, it continues to be updated with annual restaurant ratings as hotly anticipated by chefs and proprietors as diners. The oft-referenced term "Michelin" has become shorthand for culinary excellence.

And so it is at Bep Cuon, an unpretentious Vietnamese restaurant not far from the beach in Da Nang. Show up without a reservation and you will be seated with a smile, though you might have to wait 30 or 40 minutes for a table to become available.

The seafood is as fresh as this morning's catch, prepared with ingredients and techniques influenced by Chinese and French cuisine as much as traditional Vietnamese dishes. Vy and I land a spot in the "outside" open-air section, the "inside" air-conditioned section already full of local families and visiting foodies from Stockholm to Singapore and Sydney.

Waiters move at a fast pace, dropping off plates of pineapple fried rice, Mi Quang noodles and seafood swimming in garlic butter.