Chef Nguyen Phuong Hai and his grandmother.

Born and raised in Hanoi, while living with her grandmother since childhood, chef Hai soon learned her cooking skills.

In his eyes, she was not only good but also a "super chef". Every time she cooks, Hai goes to the kitchen to help her prepare vegetables, peel onions, garlic, and wash rice… 

Whenever she goes to the market, her grandson will follow her, line up to buy ingredients with her.

At the age of 7, Hai was able to prepare a family meal with simple dishes such as tofu with tomato sauce, roasted meat, boiled vegetables...

Later, as Hai did not have enough scores in the university entrance exam, he decided to enroll in a tourism school to study waitressing. After a while, he switched to cooking lessons and has been with the profession ever since.

After studying for 7 months, he started working as a banquet cook. Partly because he wants to test his cooking skills, partly because he wants to earn money by himself by doing the job he loves.

“Moc Van Am” - a classic dish prepared by Hai after a year of searching for ingredients.

Not only that, Hai is constantly looking for internship opportunities to interact and learn from professional chefs.

"The first place I did my internship was at a state-owned hotel. In the early days, in order to learn the craft from good chefs, I worked hard to do all the odd jobs from picking vegetables, washing pots and pans to peeling. onions and garlic, pounding shrimp... Even hooking up drains and washing uniforms for everyone," he said.

Thanks to his perseverance, Hai gradually gained the affection of the older aunts and uncles. He learned cooking skills, worked in the kitchen with experienced chefs, and gradually became the main chef.

“Moc Van Am”- a 5-color cold jellied dish with the right ingredients and recipe.

For Hai, every job, every workplace is a charm. In 2011, he chose to go his own way by opening a cooking center. The famous chef is even more admired when he started his own Youtube channel, specializing in teaching how to make unique traditional dishes to a large audience both at home and abroad through more than 300 videos.

The longing for the taste of Hanoi dishes made by his grandmother along with his love for food prompted Hai in 2004 to start searching for ingredients for the restoration of traditional dishes.

Tu Linh