The best chef out of New York, Michael Bao Huynh: 10 years until the era of Vietnamese cuisine

Thứ hai, 04/05/2015 11:00

According to Michael Bao Huynh, it will be the era of Vietnamese cuisine in 10 more years. Vietnamese cuisine will be presented everywhere in the world.

Born 1968 in Saigon, Bao Huynh left Vietnam in 1982 and became a chef’s assistant, studied and followed the architect industry for 10 years until 2001 when he changed and opened a Vietnamese restaurant in New York. In 2013 he was the first Vietnamese to receive the award of the best chef with other eight chefs in New York.

On the occasion of coming back to Vietnam and teaching foreign chefs Vietnamese dishes he set aside time for a conversation with Saigon Marketing Newspaper.

Michael Bao Huynh stands in front of his restaurant

Quitting your job as an architect to put on the chef’s apron must have been a very intense decision?

Whether an architect or a chef I am still proud to say that I followed a career from my parents. Because my father is an architect and my mother is a chef and also the owner of a shop on Hai Ba Trung Street near Tan Dinh market. Therefore, I already went to the kitchen and helped my mother since I was 12 years old. In 1982 I went to America with my family. I lived and worked as a chef in an Italian family restaurant for three years, and then I continued to study architecture.

Because of my love cooking, I focused on designing and building restaurants and kitchens in America. I had opportunities to meet many friends and famous chefs from all over the world in this working environment.

So knowledge of architecture has helped you a lot in your cooking career?

Besides helping me to build a financial foundation for initiating a business in cuisine, architecture and construction gave me ideas as well as dreams and actively made me think of designing my own future restaurant.

After constructing a restaurant and kitchen for everyone I wondered if Vietnamese who left their country or western people would like to eat Asian food, as well as authentic Vietnamese dishes, then where should they go? There wasn’t any authentic Vietnamese restaurant in New York at that time. So I asked myself why not take this opportunity to design and cook myself? Finally I could make my dream come true. Bao 111 restaurant was born in New York in 2001.

Do you think that it would be an adventure when you left a stable job that you’ve worked at for 10 years to move into a new industry?

I think doing business you have to accept the risk of losing or winning, but when I was opening a Vietnamese restaurant I was confident that I did the right thing. In New York, Vietnamese food usually sold in Chinatown or at a Chinese restaurant, so many people couldn’t distinguish between authentic Vietnamese dishes, and usually confused it Chinese or Thai food. I believed that I would be successful and introduce everyone to authentic Vietnamese cuisine.

What is the way you created a standard or a level of excellence for Vietnamese dishes?

I did so with the advantage that I could design an individual space at Bao 111 restaurant that followed a modern style that was my own idea and wouldn’t be copied or confused with any other restaurant. It was also important that the cuisine was like artwork. I gave a sense of art in designing the menus, such as the color combination or flavors in the cuisine which is still missing in our traditional dishes. When I make a Vietnamese dish I always make diners know that this is one hundred percent a Vietnamese dish. I could do that because I respect the original recipes as well as cooking techniques.

You won the title of Best Chef in New York in 2003. This is because of your talent or the attraction of Vietnamese dishes that helped you?

Actually Bao 111 restaurant has a limited investment and capital compared with others. I just invested USD 200,000 while other restaurants who also won the same title alongside have their investment more than USD 2 million. But because I have background as an architect I was able to design my restaurant with good space and lighting. In addition, Vietnamese food is delicious, and was new and interesting so that convinced American diners.

Bao 111 restaurant has only 48 seats serves three rounds of diners, with reservations necessary one week in advance. Colleagues usually tell me that Bao 111 restaurant “costs less, but gives many stars,” because it was recognized early and many Hollywood stars usually come to eat, such as Brad Pitt, Usher and more.

Michael Bao Huynh in a training course for young chefs

Are there many chefs in New York interested in cooking Vietnamese food? What do you think of Vietnamese cuisine?

I am responsible for the Vietnamese cuisine faculty at the Culinary Institute of America campus in New York and it is a famous school in the world’s cooking industry. One degree takes 18 months, but students pay USD 45,000 per course. Now there are many students who study Vietnamese cuisine. In this trip to Vietnam I came with eight famous chefs from of the world from New York, San Francisco and about 15 students to practice here in Vietnam.

In my opinion, in the next 10 years it will be the era of Vietnamese cuisine and Vietnamese food will be presented everywhere in the world.

What do you think after talking with Vietnamese chefs in Vietnam?

Vietnamese Chefs in Vietnam usually are very careful in their flavors but because they don’t have the ability or access to go out and expand their knowledge, they often see their own dishes and get too comfortable with what they’ve learned. Therefore, they lack creativity and don’t break through with new variations in Vietnamese traditional food.

I think ingredients and spices must be authentically Vietnamese to be able keep the original taste of the dish, but also need to be creative, at least with presentation. The ideas should be more diverse and visualized so that the dish is not only delicious but also eye-catching, from its structure to color.

Why do you come back to Vietnam while your business is quite good in New York? I hope that I won’t receive a formulaic answer, but that it is because you want to do something for Vietnam?

There are 1,001 ways to allow someone to do something for his country. I intend to open a cooking school in Vietnam for Americans who love Vietnamese food. They will study in Vietnam so they can experience authentic Vietnamese cuisine.

Besides that?

I have just married in Vietnam and my wife wants to stay more than leave.

Do you worry about managing two businesses at the same time? The on-going business in New York and opening a new one in Vietnam?

There isn’t anything like that because everything will be implemented; following a plan. At first I just come back to Vietnam for a few months, then I will increase my working time here and this will happen step-by-step over many years. When I spend more time in Vietnam it means everything is already properly arranged. I think everyone wants to live in their own country and the more you age, the bigger the expectation that you may feel this way.

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