The Garden of Vietnamese Spices

Binh Quoi 1 Resort – The Golden Spoon 2016 Champion.

After smelling those leaves’ aroma, he took out his compact camera and carefully took photo of every single pot.

Ending and Beginning

On her personal Facebook, director Hanh Thuy said, “The end of a journey. The Golden Spoon Awards had found its deserved owners. I wish there were couple more prizes because I was too in love with some teams to bear the sadness when they did not seize any prize. And once again, I burst into tears seeing the excellent teams holding their awards. A big thank to anyone relevant to The Golden Spoon Awards, little or much. Thank you for your hard work. See you guys in new journey. Love.”

Runner Hoang My, guest judge, was also in high mood, “Still thrilled with yesterday feelings… Miss ya my wonderful chefs, gals and pals. Vietnamese cuisine heritage has been preserved and created through The Golden Spoon contests. The contests do contribute their effort to connect culinary cultures not only within Viet Nam but also out of Viet Nam’s border, do make culinary tourism industry to become a key of the economy, and strengthen people’s health.”

This talented girl took photos with every team and noted on her personal page with all sincere, “Chef Hau and his colleague of InterCont’ Da Nang. Both are nice and great cake bakers.”

Especially, when posting the photo with chef Anh Duy – The Golden Spoon 2016 champion – she straightforwardly expressed, “Neither an ambassador nor a judge, this is simple the admire of a girl to a talent.”

And the story of the hard working of chef Anh Duy and his team Binh Quoi 1 Resort, who had chased The Golden Spoon from the first season till they had won the highest prize, was noted on The Golden Spoon page by a culinary academic student, “I believe this is just the beginning of a greater hunger of young Vietnamese chefs.”

Before grocery shopping time.

And the advice of “world no.1 chef”

The news that Eckart Witzigmann had come to Viet Nam rocked the whole regional culinary communities. New York Times also sent reporters from London to keep updated about that event.

Eckart was so friendly and enthusiastic to young chefs. He said that a chef who had to compete all 4 seasons of The Golden Spoon to win the highest prize was a very interesting and inspiring story because it simply showed a strong decisive spirit, relentlessly learning and improving.

“One who thinks he knows everything knows nothing. Personally, I am 75 and I’ve still felt like I need to learn more. We are still in a journey of searching new spices and creating new dishes. If any advice I can give, I just want to say: a professional chef must keep learning new things to find a new him in every dish. Once I found new spices or succeeded in new recipes, my heart is filled with joy. My restaurant alters new menus everyday, as well as decoration, table clothes, and spoons and folks. That’s the reason my guests have come many times with full appetite.”

“Chef of the Century” was one of the judges in final round.

“You have to practice as much as you can to participate international contests, such as Bocuse d’Or. Remember, your competitors are the world best chefs and your judges are from different cultures, from Asian to European. You must work really hard. In some countries that I’ve known of, chefs have to practice everyday in at least 2 years to attend big contests. Young chefs, please do save time to think what your style is, and I always support if you want to renew and renovate traditional dishes made from interesting abundant spices of Vietnam.”

He winked his eye, saying “The Golden Spoon has not only this garden. The Golden spoon is the garden where nurtures new culinary talents of Viet Nam.”

*** The Golden Spoon 2016 champion: Binh Quoi 1 Resort (chef Le Vo Anh Duy and his colleagues Le Thi Vi and Nguyen Minh Tri)

4 second prizes:

- InterContinental Danang Sun Peninsula Rerosrt: Nutritious Dishes

- Naman Retreat Resort Danang: Dainty Dishes

- Indochine Palace Hue: Creative Dishes

- Nhi Restaurant – Can Tho: Remarkable Traditional Dishes

By Kien Chinh/TGTT

Translator: Thu Pham