After studying for a year at Le Cordon Bleu Academy, a specialized training school for French cuisine and hospitality, with the desire to have a multi-dimensional view of human cuisine, Mr. Tran Hieu Trung, head chef of Lamai Garden, found that he could not understand butter and cheese like the French were still exposed to it every day. In return, he can understand fish sauce better.
Returning to Vietnam, he started working from the beginning to understand himself and his profession. Over the years, he has been a chef for many Asian and European restaurants. Every year, he spends time traveling to both contemplate the existing flavors and flavors of Vietnam and seek his own philosophy of pursuing a career.
In 2022, Lamai Garden was born with all the quintessence that Mr. Tran Hieu Trung has accumulated over the years to find his own destination. Lamai, upgraded from a small-scale restaurant before, with an easy-to-remember, concise, pure Vietnamese name and especially inspired by the names of his two children.
As a native of Hanoi, raised in Ho Chi Minh City and later moved to Hanoi to live and work, Mr. Hieu Trung always wondered: "How to maintain Vietnamese identity on the world culinary map?".
Therefore, the dishes he brings to diners spread across the three regions of the North - Central - South with the freedom from the South, the bitter taste of the sunny and windy land of the Central region combined with the meticulousness of the Northern cuisine.
studying abroad in France, cooking Vietnamese dishes and learning Japanese culinary philosophy, he built a menu according to the Japanese Kaiseki idea, which is " thuc at all times" to preserve the original, pure flavor of the ingredients. For Mr. Trung, the quintessence lies in simplicity.
He said: "I don't want to pollen or bottle my dishes so that diners can easily feel the carrots in their mouths. I don't use other flavors to hide the original flavor of carrots. Previously, during a trip to Japan, from the first day I ate a piece of fish, I had to exclaim: "Why is it so delicious, completely different from the pieces of fish I had eaten before?".
In the culinary profession, culinary philosophy is more important than recipes because he believes that "people who have many recipes in hand but are not sure how to cook a delicious rice pot".
In each of his dishes, Mr. Trung also left memories and memories from his childhood when he was cooked by his mother, or used the traditional straw weaving technique.
Also because of the high requirements for each dish, the restaurant of chef Hieu Trung only welcomes 14-20 people, not picking up passersby to avoid wasting food. When diners come and read the names, the security guard will open the gate to welcome them.
However, not every guest understands his "reasonable understanding".
The only foreign group coming here received our refusal because they had not booked a goal in advance. After that, we received a 1-star rating from them. Because I have firmly pursued my own philosophy, I think this does not affect my spirit at all, Trung expressed.
The chef further explained: Just like I chose a restaurant location far from the center, I had to face the fact that at first there would not be many customers or grow vegetables in the restaurant garden myself, I had to accept that vegetables would have pests. At first, when the restaurant first opened, right at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, I had experienced many lessons.
Having experienced many storms in his career, Mr. Hieu Trung always has a great love and a strong mind for cuisine. The criteria "How to maintain Vietnamese identity on the world culinary map?" is still pursued by him every day in the restaurant's kitchen.
In addition to the garden at the restaurant, Lamai also uses raw materials at a farm in Phu Tho with an area of up to 1 hectare. Sky geese or pigs are often grazed seasonally to serve the change of menu.
fish sauce is a spice used by Mr. Trung, accounting for 30% of the menu. In addition, for this chef, the sour taste, from vinegar or lemon, is also used a lot in dishes. Unique spices of Vietnam such as Doi seeds, mac Khen... are fully utilized in dishes to "show off" to international visitors about the beautiful lands of his homeland.
Being honest with his profession, slow to find guests with the same taste, Mr. Hieu Trung understands that awards are "What is needed, will come to him immediately". Not afraid of "smart" criticism, he did not want to lose himself in the dishes he cooked.
It is not a waste to compare this individual chef with a professional painter. Whether a painting is beautiful or not depends on the soul of the artist. At the same time, Mr. Hieu Trung invited guests to experience dishes that he loved because for him, the cuisine was subjective. Instead of changing his personal identity according to the contemporary preferences of the diner, he chose to spend time improving himself and further fostering his love for cooking.
He compared himself to climbers: When you get to the middle of the road, everyone must be hesitant to climb again or go down when they are tired. Love is, but it's gone. As for me, I will choose to climb slowly so as not to miss my original goal. Because, I know that no matter how much I love food, when I open a restaurant, the pressure will sometimes hold me back. In addition, with Lamai, I also want to spread to young people who love Vietnamese cuisine and want to bring the flavor of my hometown far and wide.
