The first 5 participants in the final round

This strategy presents a competition between two styles. One is a modernizing of traditional dishes using eye-catching presentation and following easy to use modern concepts. The other is about combining expensive ingredients with spices, imported from abroad; butter, milk or Italian Vinegar etc. both styles seem to have their merits.

In the afternoon, there were plenty of traditional dishes that used unusual spices: “rau xứng” and “lá mỏ đỏ”-wild vegetables, Physalis angulata and bina. It was good to see wild vegetables from the Cham Islands or from the distant Lao Cai province goes up against each other in this important contest. The pure and rustic flavors of large veal chop or the fried fish fillets have a strong sour and acrid taste, which is more attractive and tasty. Importantly they all combined together, yet retained their own features as Vietnamese dishes.

The closeness of the competition was evident in the fact that judging went on until 6 pm. It was with a great sense of relief when they could finally announce the names of the winning teams. These will move on to the final round and closer to that VND 1 billion prize and the honor Chef Cup.

First prize went to the Lotte Hanoi hotel team with a menu that included jellyfish with pennywort salad, shrimp soup with tea and pumpkin and grilled venison with local spices from Northwest Vietnam and tofu.

Four prizes for the second place went to:

Sofitel Plaza Hanoi Hotel who presented Hanoi Pho Shrimp soup, which was actually made using beef stock and traditional noodles then flavored with shrimps; Japanese scallops cooked with the specific taste of 3 regions; sautéed pork ribs Hanoi 1000; squash longan tea and durian cake.

Flamingo Dai Lai (Vinh Phuc) team brought “võ cần Hương Canh” - a kind of salad that made of celery and it is more special when this celery grown up in a place called Huong Canh in Vinh Phuc province and “lá ngõa” leaves rolled with fish and rice powder (rice powder is made by pan frying rice until brown/yellow then grinding to a powder); buffalo tail stewed with “Morinda officinalis ”root and red beans served with potato noodles, named in honor of the view of evening smoke in the villages;

Novotel Danang Premier Han River (Da Nang) team provided appetizers “Cham Forest”, Cu Lao nest soup, veal chops served with pasta made of cereals and mulberry sauce.

Palm Garden Resort & Spa (Quang Nam) presented Que Son chicken soup with fish fin; salmon with sautéed scallops and Tra Que basil sauce; sauté veal with Japanese steamed rice served with a smooth cream and mulberry sauce.

Second Prize was valued at VND 40 million per prize

Everyone was delighted for the winners, but of course felt sad for those teams that didn’t get through this round. However, there are no losers. As the new champion of the Northern semi-finals, Chef Vu Van Thanh said "There will be further chances for you who aren’t lucky today!”.

The remaining contestant places will be decided in the southern semi-finals, with 34 teams contesting the following locations: Mekong Delta, Ho Chi Minh City and the Southeast, South Central and Central Highlands. The southern region semifinals will take place over the two days of October 27^th and 28^th 2015 at Van Thanh Tourist area, 48/10 Dien Bien Phu Street, Ward 22 , Binh Thanh District , HCMC .

Article: P.V

Photos: Organizing Committee of the Golden Spoon Contest