1. The sound of a
guitar playing amazing bolero music coming from the fan area, greeted the chefs
on the second day of the semi-final of the Golden Spoon Contest in the South.
There are familiar expressions on the faces of young chefs, still nervous with
knife, chopping board or pan, fresh out of cooking school. Surprisingly Chef Kha
Duy Nguyen from team No.62 (My Le Tourist area – Binh Phuoc) picked up the
guitar and played. At this time, it is not only the chefs who suffer from
nerves but the fans do also. Two hours is set aside for the official cooking
time to prepare golden dishes so he played a few songs to relax and entertain
the others.
Chef of the My Le Hotel team playing guitar to motivate other teams
Coming to HCM City on
the previous day, Chef Duy Kha and two other team members undertook a study of
dishes and plates, to present at the party table. Chef Duy Kha stated that in
order to created golden dishes his team needed a month to prepare. One of them,
the head chef Nguyen Phuong Binh spent 3 hours searching in Bom Bo village to
find out new and unique spices such as “lá
trát”, “crak làng” and button
tomatoes. “Because of the prestige behind the award of the Golden dish we have
to work harder to take this opportunity of introducing rare and valuable spices
and dishes from their hometown” said a chef from Binh Phuoc whilst mopping his
brow..
2. Having similar
thoughts, Anh Duong restaurant (Kon Tum)’s chefs also went HCM City in the days
before the contest. The purchased many products like meat, fish and especially
fresh wild plants and vegetables. Although everything was well packaged the
whole team couldn’t relax during the 8 hour drive back. Chef Quang Thanh told them
that they had to open all the boxes immediately upon arrival to check the
items. The most worrying ingredient is local village pork. With still two days before the contest
launched they needed to cover it with ice, whilst at the same time not allowed
water to seep inside, thus keeping it fresh.
In order to create an impressive party table, three of the
chefs have to make a mini “Rong” house, the typical house found in jungle and
mountain regions. They also fashioned a “cây
nêu” or New Year Tree to pray for good luck in their season and to decorate
the house. However due to specializing in meat and wild vegetables they found
themselves short of cutlery and had to
go to market and buy more. As this was their first time in HCMC they had to ask
motor-taxi drivers to take them to the famous Ben Thanh market from Binh Thanh
District. Even before they bought equipment or utensils they had to pay VND
500,000 for the first lesson. They failure to check on prices they were left
wanting when it came to ordering food. Emotions were running low as they went
to the contest to listen to announcements on regulations. The head chef Duc
Hoang was trying to approach some of the judges to ask if they could visit
local supermarkets or markets, whichever the closer.
Anh Duong Restaurant chefs - from KonTum bring their passion and their heart to the contest to promote hometown local specialties.
Chef Duc Hoang said that because he used to
be one of the judges that tasted dishes made of wild “Đọt mây” at his hometown Kon Tum, he is interested in the unique
and delicious cuisine of the Gia Rai people. This was why he decided to use “Mây rừng” as a key ingredient in his
presentation in the semi-final of the southern heat of the Golden Spoon Contest
2015. He entered a dish called “Jungle Fragrance” which included: bitter “mây” Gia Rai; “rau dớn”- a kind of vegetable stir-fried with garlic and salad with
wild banana. In this way Chef Duc Hoang promoted his local specialty on this
national platform. Although competing with very
strong teams from 4 or 5 stars hotels, the editors of TV channels informed him
that another team had also registered this dish. Chef Duc Hoang still boldly
decided to promote the “Golden Mây”
dish.
3. From
Can Tho City, Quan Nhi Restaurant’s Chefs rented a car and went to Saigon with
their family and friends. Their luggage contained products from rice fields
linked to cuisine stories full of memories associated with the time when they
first claimed the land. They received a great support from the organizing
committee who arranged their accommodation.
However the temperature in Saigon didn’t help the Chefs from Western
region. Chef Phan Thi Hong Nhi was almost in tears when more than half of the
10kg of frogs brought with them, were found to have died. “Điên điển” flowers and banana flowers had also wilted even though
they had been kept in an air-conditioned room. The Chefs hurriedly telephoned
friends to find out where they could find replacements.
Chef Hong Nhi excitedly told the Judges about dishes that stay in her memories
Meeting Mrs Nhi is a
woman known to be active and passionate about rustic and traditional dishes.
During a late supper, with her children, she told us that she thought it was
lucky the plan was already well arranged and prepared. Her nephew will take a
taxi to Ben Thanh market at 4:30 AM to buy vegetables and “Điên điển” flowers to compensate to the one that can’t use anymore.
She and her two children will go to the contest area at 5:30 AM. She said the
Golden Spoon is a big opportunity and also motivation for her to go back to
cooking the old dishes that linked to her childhood memories. These dishes were
cooked in a flexible and adapted way during the difficult time during the
reclamation period. Meals like “dưa tuối
tơ”, grilled duck in bamboo and frog cooked with turmeric served with fresh
rice noodle. Knowing that she will have to compete with strong teams from big
hotels and restaurants Merely drives her forward. She is proud to have a chance
of introducing unique dishes from her childhood to the judges and diners.
4. At 4 am the chefs
of Thang Loi Wedding Restaurant (An Giang Province) were already in the Van
Thanh Tourist Area (a full 3 hours before the start of the contest). The
Tourist area wasn’t opened at this point. Three chefs were waiting nervously
for the event to begin. Taking the lessons of the previous day, when heavy
traffic, caused them delays, they had decided to come early. However, Chef Vo
Kim Sang told us the real reason was because they were so nervous they could
had only managed a few hours sleep and they wanted to assign the tasks for each
member. One to check vegetables, another one is to replace water keeping the
snakehead fish fresh and review their checklist to ensure they miss nothing
off. Chef Sang said that as these will be golden dishes they had to pay more
attention. It is more difficult than the previous round because they have to
deliver their ingredients over a long distance requiring them to store their
food extra carefully. His team will bring many unique dishes to this round one
of them being the steamed snakefish with “cà
ti” sauce.
Chef Tran Cuong Thinh
from Thao Ngoan wedding restaurant in Dong Nai also had a sleepless night, He
had to prepare his dish for the semi-final. The menu for this round was
invented by him: “Bí hương ngò“ Soup
served with “túi củ ấu”; Frog cake
steamed in a glass served with “bánh sốt
hoa riềng”; salmon grilled on stone with green curry sauce; Chicken cooked
with custard-apple served with rice noodle soup and chili and pepper salt; Pana
Cotta with tamarind leaves. In this case, the Pana Cotta was served as a
dessert and allowed to be prepared in advance. While processing it they had a
problem of not having enough tamarind leaves. He knew full well that if he
couldn’t continue then he wouldn’t have had enough time to complete it for the
competition. He decided to take the
motorbike and go out at mid-night to look for supplies. The team just had time
to place the cake in a display jar with a flower on top for decoration, before
they had time to leave.
5. In the build up to
the day of semi-final, chefs have different emotions. Everyone has the same
passion and wants to present the most featured dishes. They all of course want
to win the Golden Dish. Many of their dishes brought back memories from their
childhoods. The spices and flowers evoking memories of their hometowns.
Others were so busy that they used their right to call for
help from outside. Their friends or relatives will send important ingredients.
Chef Nguyen Kim Cuong (Binh Quoi 2 Tourist area) was such a case. In the middle
of September, he went to Northern highlands for a week in the growing season of
“trái trám” a wild fruit in the
jungle. In that trip he also collected “Xương xông” leaves and “tam thất” flowers. While cooking this he
didn’t do it exactly as before but upgraded the dish by clever use of both
black and white “trái trám” to make
different dishes: salad with black “trái
trám” anmu1grouper fish steamed with white “trái trám”.
Chef Nhu Cuong- Kim Do hotel has invested a lot of time and energy on the “trái bình bát” menu
Chef Cuong Nhu Nguyen
(Kim Do hotel) chose “trái bình bát”
as a leading ingredient for all dishes included on his menu. In order to do
that he went to An Giang and searched for it, never an easy task. He journeyed
out to the surrounding areas of district 9, Thu Duc to look for it. Thanks to
his efforts all dishes in his menu has received so many good compliments as
well as being highly appreciated from the judges. Chef Nhu Cuong told us if
searching was considered as important an element as cooking the dishes would be
as hard as 10. To be able to do that the chef has to be ready for testing and
learning from his mistakes. He said it had failed from beginning but he didn’t
feel tired or wished to give up. Chefs need to have passion and be willing to
do research. You have to cook until you taste tells you it is ready to serve to
diners. Not only when you attend competition but also for your daily work.
6.It is
an honor to witness the nerves of all the chefs before entering to the contest
in addition to their confidence when they started cooking; Meet the chefs again
in the award ceremony and see how much it means to them to win the round to progress on ahead. Not forgetting
of course the disappointment of those who missed the chance to stay with the
contest. They have mixed emotions but any negative feeling passes quickly, as
there are no losers in this game. The great camaraderie between contestants is
clear to see. Everyone ends up shaking
hands and patting each other on the back. The contestants that failed to go
through to the next round transfer their expectations to colleagues who did
make it through to the final round.
They
all enjoyed happy times during the contest and shared moments that will be remain
in their memories. Their passion for
their daily work will ensure their happiness when remembering the Golden Spoon
Contest.
Article and photo: Tri Trung