Rừng brings a bold new vision of Vietnamese dining to Fortitude Valley
Rừng, the latest venture from the team behind Ngon and Quê, is pushing beyond the familiar to present a broader, more expressive take on Vietnamese cuisine. Set within a character-filled warehouse in Fortitude Valley, the 110-seat restaurant pairs industrial grit with lush, jungle-inspired touches. Here, regional flavours and reimagined kitchen-table classics take centre stage.
Between his long-running Paddington restaurant Ngon and canal-fronting Newport dining spot Quê, Tuan Nguyen has invested a lot of time in giving classic Vietnamese cuisine a modern makeover.
For his next venture, he is thinking a little bigger.
“I’ve always wanted to elevate Vietnamese cuisine,” says Tuan. “I want to offer a different type of Vietnamese food that isn’t readily available in the Brisbane market.”
That’s the prime directive of Rừng, Tuan’s brand-new 110-seat restaurant and bar, now open on Alfred Street in Fortitude Valley. The site itself is a rare find – a back-street brick beauty with a cavernous multi-level warehouse-style interior and heritage-style personality to spare.
“When we came in here, there was nothing – just a lot of dust and a bunch of timber that was around 60 years old,” recalls Tuan. “But there’s so much character in this building … we saw a lot of potential in it.”
Tucked away in the shadow of FV Peppers Residences, the old-meets-new juxtaposition between Rừng’s facade and its location mirrors Vietnam’s own mixture of heritage and modernisation.
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“Vietnam is very rustic – there are all these old quarters and, obviously, new buildings as well, but amongst the high-rises, there are old shacks that people have lived in for generations,” Tuan explains.
It’s this collision of old and new that not only informs Rừng’s interior (a tiered space that leans into the industrial grit of the building, contouring it with jungle-inspired decorative touches and furniture handmade in Vietnam), but also the offering, which Tuan tells us is a region-spanning menu encompassing styles and flavours.
“Vietnamese cuisine is varied – from one town to the next, the flavour profiles of the same dish can be very, very different,” says Tuan. “What we’re trying to achieve here is to showcase different regions and flavour profiles, and reinvent the dishes that are on our kitchen tables five days a week.”
Rừng’s menu is divided neatly between snacks and mains, with a few sides and desserts in the mix for good measure. Of the small plates, Tuan is especially proud of dishes like chargrilled octopus with pickled fennel, sweet paprika and chilli sauce, pork and taro chả giò (fried spring rolls) with nước chấm, and the bún riêu chawanmushi – a dish that hybridises Vietnamese and Japanese influences.
“Prove me wrong, but I don’t think anyone else in Australia has done that,” says Tuan.
As for mains, highlights include an aromatic take on bún bò huế (spicy beef broth), bún chả (pork two ways, served with lettuce, herbs and vermicelli), chả cá Hà Nội (turmeric barramundi with vermicelli and herbs, best enjoyed with a side of charred hispi cabbage with kho quet).
Subscribe for updates“When we told people we’re opening another Vietnamese restaurant, everyone was like, ‘Oh, are you doing pho? Are you doing banh mi?’ We said, ‘No, we’re not’,” says Tuan with a chuckle.
“I had a pho this morning for breakfast, so I’m not dissing that part of our cuisine, but there’s a lot more to Vietnamese cuisine than those dishes.”
The beverage program is equally distinctive, featuring Vietnamese vodka and gin as house spirits alongside a 40-50 bottle wine list and Vietnamese-influenced cocktails. Of the latter, must-try concoctions include the Bloom & Shade (Lady Triêu gin, house-made matcha and orange blossom syrup, lemon and aqua faba), the Rừng Dragon Herb (Nhâu vodka, red dragon fruit, elderflower, Thai basil and lime) and the Charred Canopy (smoky mezcal, cold-brew tea, citrus, palm sugar and salt).
"What we’re trying to achieve here is to showcase different regions and flavour profiles, and reinvent the dishes that are on our kitchen tables five days a week."
Though dining is a key component of the Rừng experience, there’s more to this venue than meets the eye – two distinctive private function spaces on the top level are equipped with karaoke gear and poker tables, giving guests the opportunity to curate an experience that goes beyond the meal.
Rừng represents the culmination of Tuan Nguyen’s long-held ambition to push beyond the expected and present Vietnamese cuisine in a more expansive, expressive way. Here, he’s looking to boldly redefine what Vietnamese dining can look like in Brisbane.
“We have high ambitions here,” says Tuan. “We want to be the best Vietnamese restaurant in Queensland. That’s what people want to experience – they spend their hard-earned money expecting good food and good service.”
Head to The Directory for operating hours, booking details and menu info.
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