Phở you can sip and a spirit crafted from H’Mong corn: familiar Vietnamese flavours are taking on unexpected new forms aboard Sun PhuQuoc Airways’ international flights at 10,000 metres, turning an inflight drink into an early encounter with Vietnamese culture.

In Business Class aboard Sun PhuQuoc Airways’ (SPA) international flights, passengers can now order something rather unexpected…a glass of “Phở”.

There are no noodles, beef or broth. Instead, the Phở-inspired drink draws on cinnamon, star anise and coriander seed, aromas closely associated with Việt Nam’s best-known dish. Alongside it is another handcrafted drink whose distilled base comes not from Scotland, Kentucky or Japan, but from 100% H’Mong corn grown in Việt Nam.

Developed by Vietnamese craft spirits brand Về Để Đi, the two creations have recently become part of SPA’s international Business Class experience.

A glass of “Phở” above the clouds

Rather than attempting to recreate an entire bowl of Phở, Về Để Đi distils the dish down to some of its most recognisable flavour cues: cinnamon, star anise and coriander seed, balanced with a subtle savoury note before being layered with botanical extracts and the bright citrus character of cam sành, a Vietnamese orange variety.

The Phở-inspired drink served aboard Sun PhuQuoc Airways

Even the citrus component reveals something of a culinary map of Việt Nam. The handcrafted orange distillate used in the recipe brings together rice from Thái Bình, sugarcane from Nghệ An and cam sành from Hà Giang, ingredients from different regions of the country converging in a single drink.

Above the clouds, Phở is no longer confined to the familiar porcelain bowl. Its flavours remain recognisable enough to evoke something deeply familiar for Vietnamese passengers, yet unexpected enough to invite international travellers to discover one of Việt Nam’s most iconic dishes from an entirely new perspective.

A centuries-old global classic meets corn from Việt Nam’s northern highlands

If “Phở” takes inspiration from a Vietnamese dish and translates it into the international language of cocktails, the second drink travels in the opposite direction: a Western classic more than a century old is given a distinctly Vietnamese character through a locally sourced base ingredient.

The Old Fashioned served aboard Sun PhuQuoc Airways

The Old Fashioned is one of the world’s oldest cocktail classics, known for a stripped-back recipe that places almost all the emphasis on the quality and character of its base spirit. Its composition remains close to the earliest definitions of a cocktail dating back to the early 19th century. With so few ingredients, there is little to distract from the distilled spirit at its core.

In the version served aboard SPA’s international flights, that base is crafted from 100% H’Mong corn, complemented by Angostura bitters and sugar, with notes of vanilla, caramel, citrus and cinnamon.

From corn grown in Việt Nam’s northern highlands to a Western recipe that has endured for more than a century, the two could hardly be further apart in geography or cultural origin. Yet their meeting in one glass shows how a local ingredient can find a natural place in a contemporary, internationally recognised form while retaining a character of its own.

Sun PhuQuoc Airways brings Vietnamese identity into the experience of international travel

Sitting aboard a Sun PhuQuoc Airways flight, watching the clouds stretch beyond the window while slowly taking in flavours rooted in the northern highlands or the familiar notes of “Phở”, Vietnamese culture can suddenly feel much closer. What lingers is not simply taste, but curiosity about the ingredients, the places they come from and the country waiting at the end of the journey.

This is also how Sun PhuQuoc Airways is adding greater depth to its “Resort in the Sky” experience, particularly as the airline continues its “Rise to the World” journey. Each new international route does more than create another connection between Việt Nam and the world; it also creates a new space in which Vietnamese culture can meet travellers long before they land.

Through food, flavour and carefully considered details on board, SPA is seeking to turn time in the air into more than a journey between two points but an experience in its own right, one shaped by a distinctly Vietnamese sense of place.