When Ha Noi traditional dishes wear new suits

1. Many judges paid attention to watch chef Hoang Van Duong (lead of team 96, from Duong’s Restaurant) grinding stewed snails, green banana, and tofu. Visitors and other competitors stared at team 96 with curiosity. A judge double-checked whether the dish was stewed snails with green banana and tofu – or not. Chef Duong confirmed, half-joking, “We are making stewed snails with green banana and tofu, but in form of soup.”

“Is it no longer traditional?” asked someone. Just see how they made it!

Chef Hoang Van Duong (in the middle), Nguyen Van Hung, and Nguyen Cong Quyen.

The mustard-like bowl of soup was the main while another bowl of origin stewed snails, green banana, and tofu was nicely placed aside. One of judges gave compliment, “So creative!” Making a personalized variation of the traditional dish was a risky decision of chef Hoang Van Duong. It showed the flexibility and dainty choices of the chef who seriously followed The Golden Spoon contest’s rules. “I love traditional food and this is a good chance to introduce them to diners as many dishes as I can. It requires a 4-course menu but I decided to bring 7. To balance with and without broth dishes, I transformed the original stewed snails with green banana and tofu into soup form. It was a way to renew the tradition to fit in integrative period”, said chef Duong. The cooking method and ingredients (green banana, tofu, snails, sautéed belly pork) were maintained but the form was changed. When displaying on party table, both the modernized soup and the original dish were vividly visual.

La Vong fish paste – Stewed snails with green banana and tofu.

To be fluttering at the beauty of traditional ingredients and spices, 32 years old with 14 years seniority chef adhered to the principle “modern style for traditional food” when making shrimps on tropical fruits salad. Avocados’ flesh and agar powder were blended, brought to a boil, filtered, poured into a dish then cool down to make jelly. This jelly was pedestal for the salad. In the meantime, shrimps were being boiled in a mixture of lemongrass, hot pepper, and water until 70% cooked. Then these shrimps and sautéed scallops would be mixed with Doan Hung pomelo, which has mild sweet taste, and a red part of dragon fruit’s skin. The salad was served with sweet and sour fish sauce in a hint of minced cilantro seeds. Star fruit flowers and yellow mustard flowers were garnished on the dish of salad to make it more elegant yet homely cozy.

Seafood and shrimps on tropical fruit salad.

With the same principle, La Vong fish paste was also “pushed” up to modern style. Chef Duong’s fish paste was different from other famous fish paste on Cha Ca or Duong Thanh street because of the sauce. Besides galangal, fermented rice, shrimp paste, hot pepper, and turmeric, chef Duong add roasted peanuts in the sauce to increase rich and buttery taste. Unique dishes had help Duong’s team to seize a ticket to the semi-final round.

2. “My name is Hoang Duong. My journey into culinary world began since I was a village boy. My passion for cooking was carved in my mind when looking at my father preparing for family’s meals. My father is a master in kitchen. His philosophy penetrated in my mind that we mush understand the importance of fresh ingredients”, said chef Duong in self-introductory clip on his website.

Cool appearance of chef Duong, lead of Duong’s Restaurant team, when focusing on his work.

Hoang Van Duong admitted that he chose this career because of his father’s influence through his childhood, like seeing his father cooking and cooking parties with his father. Smells of smoke and fine food in his father’s love forged him to become a chef. His father passed away when he was 16 and he determined to continue his father’s step. Duong was in culinary school in Nam Dinh for a while then he decided to learn from real experiences.

After 2 years working in Sapa, he went to Ha Noi and Ha Long to seek new experiences. During the time of learning magical aspects of this career, Duong had worked in many 5 star hotels, learning more expertized skills and understanding more about value of a chef. The most important thing is that he has discovered the beauty of Vietnamese cuisine and the beautiful world of ingredients and spices, which need a right key to unlock. With chef Duong, the happiest time was when he met chef Alain Nguyen and chef Didier Corlou, who inspired and encouraged his creation, opened his eyes to have a new look at Vietnamese cuisine.

Four course menu and delicate decoration impressed the judges.

Together with 2 assistants, Nguyen Van Hung and Nguyen Cong Quyen, chef Duong passed his message onto the delicate menu in The Golden Spoon semi-final round 2016. Aspiring to raise Vietnamese cuisine to the peerage, they created and renovated traditional food, researched on regional ingredients and spices in order to educe new formulas for sublimated harmonic dishes.

Ha Noi young sweet-rice cake (Banh Com) with fresher taste.

Northwest Highland slaver of meat (preliminary round) was one of his inspirations. Skeptics thought that he was too greedy while supporters said that he was too passionate because of his mighty menu, which need to race with time to get finished. This menu included 3 dishes: BBQ beef rolled on pork fat with Moc Mat seeds, BBQ pork with Mac Khen seeds, and duck pate. Chef Duong laughed, “Those are particular dishes I learned in the time I was in Sapa. They are ingenious combinations of fine ingredients and special spices. I must put them on my menu as a way to thank for the fateful meeting that day.”

Northwest Highlands slaver of meat.

3. Chef Duong was so quiet when cooking. His serious face scares people away but actually that’s just the way he is. He always 100% focuses on the food. In the other hand, chef Duong is extremely friendly when he’s off duty. Moreover, he is willing to share and guide whoever wants to practice his dishes, not only for Vietnamese but also foreigners. “To pass joy of this career on others is an honor. To promote fine Vietnamese cuisine to the world is an obligation”, said chef Duong.

For years travelling all over the country and dedicating to many firms that is the reason that Hoang Van Duong decided to berth at Duong’s Restaurant. He admitted that he just had a small share even though the restaurant was named after him. It’s not so important since he has an open space to work on his culinary philosophy, renovating traditional food and practicing French cuisine. Being rated 5-star by Trip Advisor’s users is a proof of diners’ satisfaction at Duong’s Restaurant.

Add: 27 Ngo Huyen, Hang Trong ward, Hoan Kiem district, Ha Noi

Phone no.: +84 3636 4567

Email: info@duongsrestaurant.com

Website: http://duongsrestaurant.com