Uyen Luu

This photograph copyright 2014 James O Jenkins

For the years I have been visiting Vietnam, I witnessed the continued fast development of the country. From spanking new pavement tiles to soaring skyscrapers and endless hotels and luxurious beach resorts. But I had been silently walking on the shores, riding on the back of a Honda with music in my ears through the slow but energetic traffic and strolling through busy roisterous markets, taking a photo here and there. I had been doing it all with my cousin, Thuy.

As she discovered her homeland, I did too. She would only leave me sunbathing with a book, til I roast to a crisp then she would accompany me through the evening, leaving no moment in the spare of the world. Vietnamese people do not like to be on their lonesome, she says, and we would never leave anyone we love alone. Quietness is unheard of, she explains. Its boring and its sad, I never want you to be bored or sad. Family stick together. Family is everything to everyone. If a neighbour doesn’t have any family, they can be with our family.
Family is so precious, she would keep reminding me and my family in London are my close friends.

Then Thuy got married and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl whom she named after me, Chou Chou. She said, you can’t keep coming back here on your own and sit alone on the beach. Bring friends, bring a lover, bring both, ok? So I did.We all went to Vietnam for Christmas in honour of my brother’s wedding. My brother married a wonderful and beautiful girl from a town called Gò Công, where they are known for making fresh vermicelli noodles. Her family makes tons of it every day to send out to traders, homes and restaurants. We went to visit it and discovered the whole process of noodle manufacturing in the discreet tiny streets in between beautiful lotus ponds and sage green gardens that bloomed with jack fruit, dragon fruit, lilies and orchids.

I imagined a smart little girl sitting on the tiled floor playing with her toys, somewhere in this sleepy quiet, hushed little town who grew up and did really well at school, went abroad to study and landed into our petite family in London. Fate is wonderful sometimes, it heals over, over time, making everything alright.This photograph above by Fatine Niami

And so, this time round, a new me, a even newer Saigon. I had a band of brothers and sisters circling and tailing trials through the wet markets, floating markets, through the swarming Honda traffic and seedy massage parlours; drinking stronger than usual long island ice teas and cà phê s?a ?á.We raced around the breakfast buffets, we tried to gather sun lounges together and teamed up upon street food vendors seeking for that crunchy delicious and fresh bite of bánh mì with ham, fried egg and pork floss while sucking on a glass of fresh iced sugar cane juice. Quietness was unheard of, except when I introduced them to the best creme caramel in the world in a courtyard, filled with potted plants and mosquitoes in Phan Thiet, made by a poet and teacher of literature.Photograph above by Dominique Leonie Humphrys

I had fun giving my friends a heads up on the Vietnamese way, like, only one person pays the bill. Nobody splits the bill, especially not into six! In a restaurant the person who orders is the person who pays, thats why there is usually only one menu given. No one is forgotten either. If one person comes, they can bring their brothers, sisters and next door neighbour. And if someone can not make it, a food gift will be purchased as a take away. Its a signature of love and affection as well as an olive branch.

Here are some tips I gave to my friends on their first trip to Saigon

1. Keep the Vietnamese dong notes tidy and clean. People have respect for money and they do not scrunch it up or fold it. If money is torn it is usually not taken and if you want to change your currency, it will be valued less if it is dirty or torn. At first, it is difficult to get used to the currency as you’d have to deal with hundreds of thousands and into the millions, but once you learn the value of all the notes, its easy to establish if you’re paying tourist prices or local prices.

2. Vietnamese people are very fussy about the quality of their food so you can be too. Pick and choose vegetables and ask for more herbs or condiments if you require it.

3. Watch your street food vendor carefully with an eagle eye to ensure you get enough filling, herbs and spices in your banh mi.

4. It seems like there are more traffic laws on the streets of Saigon these days and people are stopping at red lights. Embrace the traffic and cross the road within good reason. Don’t wait, for no one will let you pass but if you cross, the traffic will avoid you or go around you.

5. Don’t bash your chopsticks around or use them as drumsticks on the table. It is disrespectful and rude.
Chopsticks used to be made from ivory so the clinking of them sounded like bones and this symbolises a way of waking the dead.

6. Take shoes off when entering people’s homes.7. Don’t hang about! There is no such thing as queuing. If you leave your seat in a public place e.g. the bus, someone else is entitled to it.

This photograph above by Dominique Leonie Humphrys

8. At the dinner table, there isn’t such a thing as a starter or a main, food is usually placed all over the table for everyone to share. Do not load your rice bowl with half of the contents in the middle. Eat lots but a little at a time and gracefully come back for more. Share and offer food to others. Never take one dish and decide its yours.

9. Smiling, greeting and being kind will get you what you want. Sometimes, people will bend over backwards to accommodate. No one likes a moaner or a misery guts. If you need something, like the bus to stop because you desperately need the toilet, just ask politely with a smile. People aren’t rigid like they can be in the west, they are flexible, kind and easy going.

10. My favourite thing was to hail down xe ôm, a motorbike taxi which are available everywhere. It translates literally as hug vehicles, as that is what you should do, if you wish, at the back of the bike, hold onto the driver! Its a better way of experiencing towns and cities rather than taxis. They can wait for you or be of service for the whole day.But always agree your price first.

11. Ho Chi Minh City is only ever written or read. It is always verbalised as Saigon.

Although I can swim, I have a fear of deep water. My mind can not comprehend the fact that my body can float, that it can hover and be held without a solid surface. It is completely unreasonable to think this. I have arguments with myself endlessly. I know that it can yet the logic in my mind refuses to secure it. I used to make up all sorts of lies as a child to get out of swimming lessons but couldn’t cover the 52 weeks of the year, for say, 10 years! By the time they stopped making you go swimming at 16, I was still in floats and armbands, embarrassed like a loser.  The only place where I was at the back of the class!

My mum and all my female relatives have the same phobia. I remember taking my cousins out on a tourist boat when I first visited Vietnam in 2000, in Nha Trang,  which at the time was already bombarded with tourism. By this stage, I had learned how to snorkel (my safety device) and wanted to show my cousins the wonders and beauty that I had seen underneath the water. They had never been out into the sea before never mind having a simple swim. When I took her to the edge of dry and wet sand where her feet could touch the water, my cousin, Thuy, cupped the water into the palms of her hands and said, I thought the water was blue, not clear!

It was very cruel and unkind of me as I knew their phobia far too well, when I forced the girls into the deep sea with a half broken snorkel and a mask. They were terrified yet obliging. I can hear them scream with terror inside their lungs as I submerged their heads while holding onto their bodies. Thuy surfaced. Wow!!! She exclaimed. Wow!!! Her eyes were popping through to the mask and her smile as big as the sun shinning. I have never seen such beauty ever before in my whole life! She said.

I haven’t been snorkelling since 2000 in Vietnam. I am always so dismayed by the way tourism has taken over the whole coastline every year I return but at the same time so pleased that my cousins, my family, their neighbours and the young and old have better prospects because of it.

These pictures are from Mui Ne Beach. One of the rare stretches where there isn’t a resort (as much as I enjoy staying in one – they seem to sprout like fungus) and the local independent fishermen and women can bring in fish, caught on their small boats.

It was on beaches like these that millions of people of Vietnam tried to escape the Communism regime after the war in the late 70s til early 80s. It was on boats like these that people went out to sea to face deadly storms, sharks, thirst and starvation for the hope of liberty. Either die on land or at sea. At least at sea, you could take a chance for freedom.

The photograph above is by James O Jenkins.

The photograph above is by James O Jenkins

The black and white photographs above are by Dominique Leonie Humphrys

I recently read a review about my supper club where each dish was given a ranking out of five. Although the marks were on the high end, it felt like I was being weighed, judged and measured. I have never trained as a chef and neither do I want to pursue a career as one. I just like cooking and in no way can I be like some of the great chefs I have met recently and had the pleasure of eating their food. This post is about some of the lovely and great places I have eaten in recently and it is not a review in anyway.

I love eating out, its one of my favourite things. I tend to go back to a place I love or like, depending on value, the occasion and so on.

The best meal I had this year was at Sushi Tetsu. The Omakase menu of sushi and sashimi. Omakase is a commonly used Japanese term in sushi restaurants meaning “entrusting the chef”. Eating at Sushi Tetsu is very sensual. Every bite is full of flavour, seduction and euphoria. It is not so easy to get a table there, seeing as there are only 7 seats. You have to book way in advance and the bill is high so its something to make an occasion of.Here is chef Toru at Sushi Tetsu.

www.sushitetsu.co.uk 12 Jersulsalem Passage, London EC1V 4JP

I love Japanese food immensely, but I can’t always afford to go to the top end restaurants, so I go to Kyoto. Not always but most of the times, the sushi is really really nice and so are the bentos and side dishes such as tuna tataki.

www.urbanspoon.com/r/52/565689/restaurant/London/Kyoto-Soho 26 Romily St, London W1D 5ALOtherwise, you can find me at Koya where I eat the best udon noodles and sometimes the whole specials menu which is amazing. I love the way they are always creating these beautiful plates with contemporary British ingredients in their Japanese dishes. I also love the fact that they serve congee at Koya Bar for breakfast. We in the west should begin to eat congee and noodle soups for breakfast. It does wonders to your day!

Chef Junya at Koya in the kitchen – if you can get a seat at the kitchen table – grab it!

www.koya.co.uk 49 Frith St, London W1D 4SGOn a regular basis, I really enjoy eating dry fried ho fun with beansprouts and a portion of roast duck on top at my local Chinese restaurant, Fang Cheung. Its not on the menu – they call it “you want your special?”

www.fangcheng.co.uk 239-241 Mare St, London E8 3NSFor Sunday roasts, great British and Austrian dishes, my favourite place to be is The Delaunay. I love the grandness of the place, reminds me of so many great places in Paris, Zurich and Salzberg! They are always giving huge portions and everything has always been delicious on every visit. You can easily hang out there with the good linen and a couple bottles of good wine on a Sunday afternoon!

www.thedelaunay.com 55 Aldwych, London WC2B 4BB

I love visiting new places on Sundays and going for long walks, especially when the weather is good (or I am not walking actually). I was really pleased to discover the wonders of Petersham Nurseries. The greenhouses where they sell garden and dinning furnishing is awe inspiring and beautiful. They have achieved such a wonderful atmosphere. We had a lovely lunch, the highlight being the pumpkin ravioli.

www.petershamnurseries.com Church Lane, Petersham Road, Richmond, Surrey TW10 7AG

Some great wines and a very cool and trendy atmosphere at Sager & Wilde!

www.sagerandwilde.com 193 Hackney Rd, London E2 8JLIt was such fun to be invited to the opening of Magazine at The Serpentine. Its a new space designed by Zaha Hadid Architects. The canapes were gorgeous but I drank champagne all night which was good too. Looking forward to eating there one day.

http://www.serpentinegalleries.org/restaurant

A real surprise, because its close to where I live in Hackney is Hurwundeki. Its a hair dressers with a cafe serving breakfast and lovely fresh Korean food. You can get a 2 course meal for only £10! Total value for money! I love the japchea and kimchi jiigae. Its also BYO so be careful! 

https://en-gb.facebook.com/Hurwundeki? 298-299 Cambridge Heath Rd, London E2 9HA

But on another Sunday walk along the river, we got into River Cafe, somehow just called up (whilst standing outside the door) and asking politely, you wouldn’t have a table for two now do you? Yes. Oh! ha!

My pictures of the food couldn’t do it any justice. What a wonderful afternoon with such a great bottle of wine. I can’t believe I had never been, (always wanted to) and it just feels like my journey and love of food could never be complete without visiting River Cafe!

www.rivercafe.co.uk Thames Wharf, Rainville Rd, London W6 9HA

Every city, every region has their own special summer rolls. In my mother’s home town, Phan Thi?t, they are famous for their special summer rolls.

Egg, shredded pork skin in roasted rice, crispy spring rolls, pickled ham, mint & fish mint. All wrapped with rice paper.

Here is a short film of a summer roll street vendor, he makes a good few hundred a night, he doesn’t stop. He doesn’t wet the rice paper because its the type of paper that doesn’t need it as the herbs and ingredients gives it its own moistness.

Phan Thiet Summer Roll from Uyen Luu on Vimeo.

I loved watching food TV from a very young age and what I remember most as a child is watching Masterchef with Loyd Grossman. He spoke funny but I still loved him and I got to meet him one day in September to show him Canh Chua which is a sweet and sour soup with sea bass (it can be any fish). The irony was that I mother used to make this for us after school for dinner and as we ate it, we watched Loyd on the television.

The soup is the perfect example of what Vietnamese food is all about! Sweet, sour and salty with beautiful combinations of silky texture from fish and crunchy vegetables. This soup has two dishes in one, completing a typical Vietnamese lunch or dinner – to be shared with friends, family and loved ones. You can eat the vegetables from the soup at any time, taking only a few pieces of fish as and when you require it and take the broth into your rice bowl towards the end of grains and drink it all up.  It also only takes a few minutes to cook. Everything else is in the prep. It is excellent with fish like hake, cod, haddock, sea bass, sea bream, carp and salmon. It is also great with fish cakes or chicken and you can use whatever herbs you have like sawtooth, dill, basil, mint or coriander. The taro stems are the sponge-like looking vegetables. They are not cooked but added when the heat is turned off so they retain bite and the broth keeps in between the holes which makes for a crunchy and brothy mouthful!

The fish is poached within the soup for stock and flavour to the broth, then removed from the pot onto a dish of fine premium fish sauce and crushed chillies. It is then shared with steamed rice.

You can see the video here, where I cook and explain everything to Loyd.

http://grokker.com/cooking/video/hot-and-sour-soup-with-sea-bass-by-uyen-/529aa08506ed8bc60e0295e2

please “love it” where the heart is so I can go back and film some more with Loyd Grossman. 🙂

I loved meeting Loyd, a kind and approachable gentleman who is ever so professional and encouraging. What a hero he is to me.

The recipe for this soup is in my book, My Vietnamese Kitchen on Page 38.

Here is the trailer for the clip, to view the actual footage follow the link above.

My grandmother passed away this summer. One of the last things I whispered into her ear as she laid unconscious was, come home bà n?i, please feed me bún bò Hu? like you used to. She gently grasped my hands with the little strength that she had left in her and a tear slowly rolled down her smooth shiny cheeks. I remember my grandmother with great fondness, having to leave her side, my favourite place to be, at the age of five, I was devastated and still yearn at a young heart that tore apart. She made bún bò Hu? (a beef noodle soup with lemongrass) every morning and sold it out of our living room. The tables and chairs poured out onto the hot and sweltering pavement of Saigon. I can still remember the citrus perfume of cockscomb mint, lemongrass and lime vapourising the air with its tart pungency. She would sing. Her shrilling voice was high pitched yet eloquent, gentle and kind. She would always dip a good piece of meat into my little mouth. From the moment I could eat solid foods, and from what I remember eating first and foremost was bún bò Hu?, every day, for breakfast.

This soup means the world to me. It holds all the fondness I have for my grandmother and my childhood in Saigon. I dream only to have my grandmother serve me this soup now. For her and for so many women of Vietnam, feeding someone (your family) is how you show them your love. It is always therefore made with so much love and affection with the quest to make the perfect broth, the perfect balance with tales of delicate textures and flavours to quench every taste bud.

As a Vietnamese cook, the ultimate goal is to achieve a good broth. It could be a lifetime’s work to chase after the flavours of childhood. The memory of it is distinct yet far and beyond. You can only go by what you can remember the taste being once it hits your mouth or just try and try over and over, giving the broth as  much of your time, patience and love as possible. There are always ways to improve the broth with different techniques. The quest is to find the way, grandma’s way…

I was asked by BBC1 to make this soup, something I got from my grandmother, tell my story of it and host a supper club. The uncanny thing was that my grandmother cooked and served this from her home in the late seventies/ early eighties and now I am doing much the same thing. The short documentary will be aired in the Spring time.

Here are some photos from the shoot.

My kitchen

I spent a whole day shooting the making of bún bò Hu?; shopping at the local shops and interviewing with these guys, Tom & Michael.

Some of my friends came for dinner at the supper club. We also had Bánh ch?ng – a traditional Vietnamese rice cake with yellow bean, pork belly, Vietnamese ham and pickled shallots; make your own summer rolls with crispy pork belly; fried dab with green mango; prawn lolly pops with sugar cane then bún bò Hu?. Thanks to Jenny Brown, we also had passion friut, mango and lime layer cake which was stunning!

You can find the recipe for bún bò Hu? in my book, My Vietnamese Kitchen.