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Taste of Australia x Vietnam x Sheraton Grand Da Nang Resort | Travelogue
Hi guys, it's been awhile since my last post. I've since revamped my blog (finally!) and i guess i'll try to blog more often now.
5 months ago (gosh, it was definitely awhile ago), I was invited by Raffael on behalf of my Australia University (Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School) to be a guest judge at the finals culinary competition for Taste of Australia, held at Da Nang Vietnam. It is such an honor to be part of this prestigious event, which encourages young aspiring chefs in Vietnam to pursue their culinary dream.
So, what is Taste of Australia?
Taste of Australia is the annual celebration of Australian food, beverages, cuisine and culture throughout Vietnam, led by Taste of Australia Ambassador, Australian celebrity chef Luke Nguyen.
The Culinary Competition is a highlight of the annual Taste of Australia program, providing culinary students the chance to compete for a scholarship to study culinary arts in Australia. 19 teams of culinary students in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Da Nang, Da Lat and Nha Trang competed in simultaneous heats on 17 April. 8 young vietnamese chefs from Pegasus International College Hanoi, Hue Tourism College, Dalat Vocational School and Vung Tau Vocational College won their city's heats and flew in to Sheraton Grand Da Nang Resort for the Finals held on 20 April.
Stakes are really high in this competition as the grand prize was a full scholarship to study culinary arts at Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School!!!
Day 1- Arrival at Sheraton Grand Da Nang Resort
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| View from my Suite balcony |
Day 2 - Competition Round
The finals of this culinary competition had 2 segments. The first segment was for the finalists to re-make the exact same dish that Luke had done up. The second segment was a Mystery Box challenge, one of my favourite i must say, having watched countless MasterChef episodes.
Similar to MasterChef, the finalists had a fully stocked pantry where they are free to utilize any of the ingredients there to make their dish.
And the first dish challenge is ........ Salmon Confit!
Luke Nguyen then gave a briefing to the chefs, allowed them to take notes and taste the dish before going to get ingredients to re-make this amazing dish.
During the 1 hour time frame that the finalists were given to make their dish, we observed the teams and gave scores on their teamwork and knowledge of cooking skills. Finally, 1 hour later, the teams had to stop and present their dish to us.
Most of them know basic English but having to present their dish infront of a panel of judges, and speaking in english was a little scary for them. But everyone did their best i must say!
After a short break, the competition resumed to it's second segment - the Mystery Box! The Mystery Box comprised of fresh produce from Australia, and the rule for this segment is that all of the ingredients must be incorporated into their dish that they are going to create. Quite a challenge....
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| Unveiling the Mystery Box...... |
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| Mystery Box ingredients |
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| MasterChef Vietnam winner, Chef Hoa, and myself |
After an hour, the dishes presented to us were so amazing! I'm always fascinated by chefs who cook under tremendous pressure and still deliver quality results. I think i wouldn't be so calm under such pressure :x
The dishes were all very tasty and they really brought out the characteristics of each individual. Of course, in a competition, there has to be a final winner, which we had a tough debate over. Karen and I had our eyes set on one pair, whereas Luke and Hoa had their eyes on another pair; it was a difficult debate. But we eventually came to agreement on the final winner.... (p.s. we also gave a consolation award in the end which wasn't part of the plan...)
Announcement of Results!
Pegasus International College Hanoi !!!!!
The pair walked away with an all-expenses paid trip to Sydney and two full scholarships at Blue Mountains International Hotel Mangement School. Wow!
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| Myself and Rafael with the winning team from Pegasus International College Hanoi |
During our discussion, we felt that another team did really exceptionally well and we decided to reward them as well. The runner up from Vung Tau Tourism Vocational College won a one-week trip to Sydney, courtesy of William Blue College of Hospitality Management and the Australian Government.
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| The two-men team of Vung Tau Vocational School winning Runner up position |
With that, the culinary competition of Taste of Australia came to a joyous end. It was a fun experience joining a panel of experienced judges, especially in the food industry.
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| Group photo with the contestants, Luke Nguyen, Karen Lanyon, Rafael, Chef Hoa and myself |
After the event was over, it was hip hip hurray time! Managed to catch up with Nguyen Le, i haven't seen her since our sydney days man, and she's getting married soon!!!!
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| Group photo with the Vietnam recruitment team for BMIHMS |
The rest of the day was pretty much rest and relax. I took a quick nap in my awesome suite, and woke up in the evening to prepare for the night's dinner. We had a special Australian Consulate Dinner at the hotel restaurant, just in time for my grumbling stomach.
We went to this rooftop bar/club place called Sky36 and it was pumping with music and people when we went in. But, when it was about 2am, everyone started to disappear and the music slowly faded. That was when i noticed the DJ packing up his console and leaving. that was a puzzling moment for me. I'm pretty sure the clubs in singapore are packed at 2/3am... Nvm, i'll just treat it as a refreshing night view from above.
Day 3 - Exploring Da Nang/Hoi An
Since the competition is over, it's relax time for me. I spent the day walking/roaming around Da Nang town by myself, exploring the various markets and tourist sites. I heard the Dragon Bridge is very famous and incredibly beautiful at night with all the lights on. I went in the day, so there wasn't any pretty lights turned on. I guess it's essentially a functioning bridge for cars and people to walk on, with a dragon structure built around the bridge itself. I took a photo of it from far as there is a crazy busy roundabout near that bridge.
I also went to Han Market to have a look around, since many reviews were written on that place; a place where you can shop for knockoff goods. If you are ever planning to get sporting goods like tshirts/singlets, camping/hiking bags, shoes/sandals etc, Han market is a good bargain spot. You can find Under Armour, Adidas, Nike tshirts that are surprisingly very good in quality. Some say that they may be real but because of factory defect, these goods cannot be sold in the actual retail stores. Well, if you're not fussy over brands and just looking for a cheap tshirt to wear to your gym classes then i guess this is the right place for you. But do keep in mind that the vendors are quite pushy and they won't be happy if you gave a price and not buy it in the end. The vendors selling shoes are very witty too! They attempted to remove my shoes and "forced" me to try on their sandals, and kept saying that it looks really good on me. If you're soft hearted, you will end up buying tons of stuff that you don't actually need...... Good thing I only bought few tshirts at 70k vnd each (S$4) for my family to wear for their Sunday exercise.
Oh, on the first floor of Han market you will find loads of local produce. Good place to get your shopping done if you're looking to get these produce home. Every shop is selling the same thing, so do take a look around the various shops before deciding which one to buy from. Price is different at every shop too.... My bro went Vietname for business trip some months ago and he brought back this Lotus seed snack. Apparently it's a super popular (and addictive) snack in vietnam. I'm not a big fan of lotus seed as they're slightly bitter, but when i tried this snack, i was sooooo in love with it! If you've never tried it, please get some of these in vietnam! This snack is seen everywhere on Level 1 at Han market. I bought 1kg of this lotus seed back home, and it cost me 150k vnd (S$8.70).After shopping for almost half a day, i checked myself in for a coffee and massage! Vietnam's coffee is indeed different from other country's, so i chose a random coffee place (something similar to Starbucks) and enjoyed my local vietnamese coffee. Surprisingly the price isn't too expensive. I thought if it was like a nicer coffee place, the price would be significantly more expensive, but i was wrong. This cup of coffee cost me 39k vnd (S$2.30) only. Maybe to others it's expensive, but to me i thought it was worth it. I sat here on the upper floor of the coffee place, enjoying the greenery and watching cars and people walk by. Once I finished my coffee, i googled for massage places near me. There are plenty of massage parlous around, so i just went to the nearest one with the most affordable price. The prices for massage is generally the same at every place, so i went with a decent looking on at 180k vnd (S$10) for an hour.
After my massage ended, i took Grab back to my hotel to put all my stuff down and meet the rest of the guys to head over to Hoi An. The journey from the town center to my hotel is 20min drive (13km) and the Grab cost me 150k vnd (S$8.70). I would recommend taking Grab in vietnam over regular taxis. There are plenty of taxis around, but it looks a little dodgy to me. With Grab, you're able to monitor your journey and there's a record of you boarding/alighting the car, so in some sense, it's safer?
Anyway, i met the australian consulate group at the hotel and we set off to Hoi An! Hoi An, formerly known as Fai-Fo or Faifoo is a city with a population of approximately 120,000 in Vietnam's Quang Nam Province and noted since 1999 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Since it has such rich history, i was excited to see it for myself. The streets were filled with lanterns above the building and it looks so good at night.
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| Chef Hoa, Myself, Richard |
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| Richard, Myself, Chef Hoa, Shawn |
I couldn't resist taking photos at every stop we make in Hoi An. The poor boys had to accommodate to my request for photos at every point. hahahahaa. Food in Hoi An is amazing too, don't forget to stop by this cao lao shop for an amazingly good bowl of cao lao! you probably have to wait around for an empty table as the shop is super busy. But the cao lao is sooooo good, highly recommended by chef hoa too! ;)
After cao lao, we grabbed some beers at a bar near the river. Then Chef Hoa brought us to this famous Banh mi shop for another round of food-venture! If you look close at my photo below, you will notice a familiar face in the picture. Yes, Anthony Bourdain had personally visited this place and he claims that this is the best banh mi. So we had to try it for ourselves too. It's quite cheap as well, i can't remember exactly how much it cost since Chef Hoa bought it, but i think its about S$1.30?
Happy faces and a full tummy to end our night.
Day 4 - Taste of Australia Family BBQ
It was my last day in Da nang, and since my flight was in the evening (7pm), Karen invited me to join them for the closing event of Taste of Australia, which is a fun family bbq. This year's event is bigger and better as the two nations are celebrating the 45th anniversary of diplomatic relations by enjoying delicious Australian foods, premium Aussie beer and wines. The event featured different hotels and vendors coming and setting up booths to showcase their food or produce. Our entry ticket included some vouchers which we could use to "purchase" food and drinks at the BBQ event.
This beef burger was absolutely DA BOMBBB!!!
There was also a live band from Australia, featuring Australian singer-songwriter; Nick Barker, which was highly enjoyed by everyone. So thankful for this shaded tentage to shield us from the scorching sun. hahaha!
This family BBQ also had a mini cooking competition between Karen, Luke Nguyen, Chef Hoa. So exciting to see the chefs battle it out to create their own dish, all in the name of fun.
Too bad i couldn't stay to finish watching the cooking competition as i had to leave early to get to the airport on time. So i used my last voucher to exchange for a glass of wine and walked back on the beach to my hotel. It was such a fun-filled day and i didn't want to leave.
Very thankful to BMIHMS and Raffael for inviting me to be part of this event. Big thank you to Australian Consul-General Karen Lanyon, Taste of Australia Ambassador Luke Nguyen, celebrity chef Ngo Thanh Hoa and Australian Consulate General team for your generous hospitality towards me for the past few days. I would have never enjoyed Vietnam so thoroughly without you guys.
Cheers, and i hope to see you guys soon one day!
xoxo,
Chye
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