Sweden’s Best Bartender Swaps Northern Europe for Vietnam

The next time Michael John begins developing a drinks menu, the ingredients will be very different. Gone will be the Nordic flavours that have defined much of his past decade. Instead, he'll be drawing inspiration from the markets, street food and culinary traditions of Vietnam. After ten years in Sweden, Michael John’s move to a Vietnamese island marks the end of a formative chapter in his career. Six and a half of those years have been spent at Gothenburg's Michelin-starred Carbon, where an uncompromising approach to ingredients has helped shape both his cocktails and his wider philosophy of hospitality. “It is one of those industries where what you give is what you get,” he says when Falstaff Nordics catches up with him before the big move. Hospitality also appealed to him because it brought together people from different backgrounds and walks of life, offering an alternative to the conventional nine-to-five career path.