The taste quest from hometown

140 minutes… of fear

Arriving at Tien Son Sports Hall, teams of North Central Coast regions had quickly gathered necessary ingredients before the cooking session started as well as brought the banquet table display into group discussion. Among all hustle and bustle of the surroundings, a young chef was calmly concentrating on his team’s table presentation. That chef is Phan Duy Quy – leader of Team no. 63 from Grand Sunrise Hotel Da Nang.

People usually recognize him for his tall, brawny shape and sweats streaming continuously from his face; which drew him even more attention from the crowd in the cooking session. During 140 minutes, Quy and his team briskly carried out the intended menu within the time allotted. His moves were sharp, showing the professionalism and desire to win. He seemingly involved in every stage from processing, cooking, seasoning, garnishing to displaying on the table.

Chef Phan Duy Quy is prepping for his team’s table display.

During the competition day, Quy didn’t seem to take a break. The chef, born 1993, rushed back and forth from the cooking station to the oven, from the display table back to the cooking station. His energy was greatly applauded by spectators, among who are his students from Netspace School of Culinary Arts. Quy did well until the last minute. When the time was up, he dropped his tools in relief. The chef profusely perspired after a 140-minute marathon in the cooking station.

In a brief interview after the cooking session, Quy said, “This is the first time I competed in the Golden Spoon Awards, so I do not have much experience. I also would want to showcase various types of spice and herbs that I myself found, however, there was not enough time. Luckily, I finished everything just in time. In the end, things went pretty well thanks to my team’s support including my girlfriend’s”.

Taste quest in Hon Tau

Articulating fluently while hurriedly finalizing the menu, Quy told us the story of his team’s journey to find new spices. “In order to create our own menu, I spent a lot of thought. Coming from the theme Hometown flavor in the age of global integration, I decided to introduce specialties of Que Son – my maternal hometown. The place is famous for different types of spice and inexpensive ingredients that not many people have heard of. It is also where I lived most of my childhood”, said he.

Unhesitant, Quy and his teammates started a “pilgrim” to the forest of Hon Tau, a mountainous area forming the provincial border between Duy Xuyen, Nong Son and Que Son of Quang Nam with the area of nearly 100 sq. km consisting of rugged cliffs of Nha Muoi, Cu Hang, Mat Rang and multiple large caves. Hon Tau is known for being the military base of revolutionary forces during the final years of Resistance War Against America.

The journey in search of spices lasted two days one night. “Although we already have some spices in hand to use, we still embark this trip in hope of building a more colorful and diverse menu. This is the first trekking trip we have made, hence, were quite inexperienced. Day one, everything went on well until the sun came down. We didn’t bring enough food; and it began to rain so heavily that we could not either retreat or move forward. We decided to camp there one night. The morning after that, on the way down, we fortunately met a local who showed us where to find the wild leaves such as shiny-leaf prickly-ash, peperomia, gamboge, bush okra, pandan, ixora, moringa, etc.”.

The men brought all the leaves they found from the trip to the prelim, incorporating them with Quang Nam’s produce to create an impressive menu. Besides the seafood, meat and dessert courses, they cooked three different entrées which includes: Spurdog salad with tamarind leaf and chay fruit fish paste – Yam bean noodle rolled salad and Cau Mong veal with Tra Que herbs – Three-layer seafood roll – Hot stoned giant river prawn with Hong Dao wine, A Mot pepper, smashed purple sweet potato, pandan leaf and assorted greens salad; Deo Le chicken and wild star fruit vine served with Que Son yam bean noodle; Que Son sweet potato served with moringa nitrogen ice cream.

Quy said, “The menu I created follow our intinerary in search for wild moringa at the foot, star fruit vine in the middle, pandan leaf, gamboge, shiny-leaf prickly-ash, bush okra on the flank and tamarind leaf on the top of the mountain. Our banquet table is also arranged in this way”.

The banquet table is inspired by the journey to Hon Tau of Team no. 63. At the bottom – foot of the mountain – is Que Son sweet potato served with moringa nitrogen ice cream; the middle Deo Le chicken and wild star fruit vine served with Que Son yam bean noodle; the peak spurdog salad with tamarind leaf and chay fruit fish paste– Yam bean noodle rolled salad and Cau Mong veal with Tra Que herbs – Three-layer seafood roll.

Bring local produces to a new level

Not only leaving audience and the judge panel with admiration for the aforementioned journey, the menu also introduced various local produces such as Cau Mong veal, Tra Que herbs, Non Nuoc stones, Hong Dao wine, A Mot pepper, Que Son sweet potato and yam bean noodle. Team no. 63 brought along new tastes for the dishes by exploring and improvising in the ways to process ingredients.

Quy was not hesitant to mix all leaves and wild flowers found into a unique, tasty leafy salad which was served with giant river prawn steamed using Non Nuoc hot stones and Hong Dao wine, and A Mot pepper, smashed purple sweet potato with pandan leaf.

The young teacher of Western kitchen shared, “This is the first time I made this kind of salad. It is an experiment that crossed my mind after the trip. The salad includes gamboge which gives fresh acidity, peperomia that tastes slightly sour, shiny-leaf prickly-ash that provides minty and citrus flavors, moringa that possesses great health benefits and bush okra which has umami taste. All of them create a mixture of sweet-sour flavor and aroma which enhance the distinct taste of giant river prawn.

Hot stoned giant river prawn with Hong Dao wine, A Mot pepper, smashed purple sweet potato, pandan leaf and assorted greens salad received a lot of compliments from the judge panel.

One more special thing about this dish is the giant river prawn cooked with Non Nuoc hot stones. Quy told us he used lava stones from Non Nuoc mountain. The advantage of cooking food using hot stones is that the dish can reserve its healthy nutrients, the meat will be cooked through but still better remains juiciness and meaty sweetness than normal grilling methods.

Judge Vu Kim Anh – former Deputy Director, Ho Chi Minh City Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, commented on the menu, “I was impressed by your team’s performance. Especially, I really like A Mot pepper from the forest of Tay Giang that you adopted in your recipes. It is a special condiment that Co Tu ethnic community prefers. Besides, you make good use of Vietnamese local spices into your dishes, which helps elevates their tastes to a whole new level. However, the spurdog salad with tamarind leaf and chay fruit fish paste is too sour for me”.

After the competition, his team was one of eight second place finishes and qualified for the final round. When asked about his future plan, Quy said, “During the prelim, I had a mild success introducing local specialties of my maternal hometown, Que Son. In order to prepare for the coming final round, I intend to showcase those from Thang Binh, my paternal land. Though that could make or break our team’s performance, our ultimate purpose is to learn and introduce delicious fare to promote our local cuisine”.

By Cong Minh - Phuong Tram