On the morning of October 10th the contest took place,
featuring 8 teams of chefs that have knowledge and skills in the preparation
and presentation of Asian and European styles. Maybe a little surprisingly even
the menus of 4 or 5 star hotels still often include rustic dishes such as Hanoi
Shrimp Pho (rice noodle soup with shrimp), Hanoi sautéed pork ribs 1000 (Sofitel
Plaza Hanoi, named after Hanoi’s millennium celebrations), jellyfish salad with
pennywort and the Lotte Hotel Hanoi’s take on tofu sweet soup. The strongest
teams at presenting Asian dishes, such as Lake View restaurant group and the
Bai Dinh hotel brought many expensive dishes to the competition; dishes like
shark fin soup with whole pieces of shark’s fin, baked lobster with cheese
served with vegetables and rolled tenderloin of Kobe beef served
with foie gras, balsamic vinegar sauce and grilled vegetables.
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.
The chefs Flamingo Dai Lai team in the competition processing meticulously
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.
And top place for the winner
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 27th
and 28th 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