KOTO Restaurant

Travelsphere Cares is proud to include a visit to the KOTO Restaurant as part of our Invitation to Vietnam and A Journey through Southeast Asia tours. The restaurant helps disadvantaged youth to train in the hospitality industry to provide a better future.

Photos courtesy of Christian Berg

KOTO Villa is where great cooking and social impact meet. Specialising in both Vietnamese and Western dishes, all prepared by the Head Chef, Phong and trainees participating in the program. The mouth-watering menu features a selection of dishes with an explosion of fresh herbs and Vietnamese spices that provide a uniquely delicious experience. They believe that each meal cooked and served by their trainees carries hope for a brighter future.

When you book our Invitation to Vietnam & the Temples of Angkor or A Journey through Southeast Asia tours, you will visit KOTO on the first night of the trip, giving you a special introduction to Vietnam.

KOTO is a non-profit social enterprise that provides a 2-year hospitality training programme to encourage positive, permanent change for at-risk and disadvantaged youth. Those who graduate from this programme, receive an internationally recognized accreditation and go on to lead long and rewarding careers in the hospitality industry.

Photos courtesy of Christian Berg

The impact of tourism

KOTO is providing at risk and disadvantaged youth with an opportunity to break the poverty cycle forging better futures for themselves, their families and their communities.

  • KOTO has trained over 700 students in Hanoi and Saigon, with 200 of them currently enrolled. Graduates now include executive and sous chefs, hotel and resort general managers, business owners as well as university graduates.
  • Through working in the kitchen as a trainee chef or as a server or bartender Front of House, the KOTO Villa empowers at-risk and disadvantaged youth. At the training restaurant, you watch the trainees develop their skills under the guidance of qualified staff - many who were once in the KOTO program themselves. 
  • The focus of the training program is not to simply make trainees ‘job ready’ but to ensure graduates are employed upon leaving the program and are empowered to stay off the streets and out of exploitative employment.

The food was amazing - we were served about 10 courses but it was all so light, fragrant, tasty and every course was different - we managed to eat the lot and still have room for dessert. The staff were super friendly and explained the Vietnamese etiquette of always serving 2 spoons of rice (never one) and gave us the essential lesson of how to use chopsticks!!

Charlotte, Travelsphere Marketing Director

KOTO Beef Pho 800X500

Photo courtesy of Christian Berg

KOTO Exterior2 800X500
KOTO Barramundi 800X500

Photo courtesy of Christian Berg

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Visit the KOTO Restaurant on tour

  1. Invitation to Vietnam & the Temples of Angkor

    This fascinating introduction to the diverse landscapes of Vietnam also includes a visit to Cambodia's Angkor temples.

    • 24 meals: 11 breakfasts, 8 lunches, 5 dinners
    • 10 nights in 4-star hotels, overnight cruise, plus 2 nights in flight
    • Return flights

    14 days from
    £3,224
    was £3,399
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  2. A Journey through Southeast Asia

    Vietnam's stunning Halong Bay, Cambodia's magnificent Angkor temples, Mount Phousi in Laos and a cruise of the Mekong to Thailand – this epic journey includes so much.

    • Return flights
    • 18 nights in 3 or 4-star hotels, overnight cruise, 2 nights in flight
    • 43 meals: 19 breakfasts, 13 lunches, 11 dinners

    22 days from
    £4,749
    was £4,999
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