LUKE NGUYEN
The 41-year-old chef returns with new cooking and travel series Luke Nguyen’s Railway Vietnam (starts Thu., Dec. 5 at 7.30pm; SBS) and reveals the last time …
… he missed a train
While shooting this series, we had a 45-minute wait for the 2pm train to Danang. We were starving, so I convinced the crew to walk with me to get some street food, which I could smell from a distance. Small crispy turmeric rice flour crepes, filled with calamari, prawns and mung beans, wrapped in lettuce and fresh perilla leaves dipped in a spicy nuoc cham. You can probably understand why we missed our train.
… he offered someone his seat on a train
In Bangkok a few months back on the BTS skytrain. A kid was getting bounced around among all the standing adults because she had nothing to hold onto.
… he had a cooking mishap
Filming a recipe on the actual railway tracks in Hanoi – don’t ask me why. The train came really fast and I thought I could complete the dish before it arrived. Not only did I almost get run over by the train, I forgot to add in several ingredients.
… he got lost
My sense of direction is really bad, so I get lost quite often. I got lost last week in Hanoi looking for my favourite Bun Cha joint, which is hidden down a laneway on 74 Hang Quat Street in the Old Quarter. I’ve eaten there around 25 times, but I always seem to get lost every time.
… he tasted something truly disgusting Char-grilled bat. Would I eat it again if you asked me to? Yes, I would.
… he ate an amazing meal
The deputy premier of NSW visited Saigon for a few days, so I created a contemporary Vietnamese menu using premium NSW produce. Combining Vietnamese flavours with the best Aussie produce was an incredible marriage.