Chef aspires to bring Vietnamese cuisine to the world

A Pho Vietz restaurant at Utama shopping mall in Malaysia (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA)– Ton Ngoc Hiep, who already opened 10 Vietnamese “pho” (noodle soup) restaurantsin Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is planning to bring the brand to the UK and the US.

Speaking with theVietnam News Agency (VNA)’s reporters, he expressed his hope to introduceVietnamese cuisine to Malaysian and international friends. If the COVID-19pandemic had not occurred, he would have opened “Pho Vietz” restaurants in theUK and the US last year.

Although Malaysiaboasts a diverse cuisine, the chef has gained a foothold in the country’s foodmarket as there are 10 “Pho Vietz” restaurants with 120 employees in KualaLumpur, only six years after its establishment.

Ton Ngoc Hiep (third from left) in front of his restaurant (Photo: VNA)

Hiep plans to open fivemore restaurants this year, along with managing another in Hong Kong andpromoting the brand in Manchester and New York.

When working at afive-star hotel in Ho Chi Minh City in the 1990s, he was tasked withintroducing Vietnamese cuisine to Switzerland diners during a three-monthprogramme.

That working trip kindledhis pride when foreigners highly appreciated Vietnamese cuisine, he recalled.

During a trip toMalaysia, he had a chance to meet with foreign chefs who wished to introduceVietnamese dishes in their menus.

Hiep emphasised thathe spares no efforts in gathering fresh materials, in a bid to retain the“soul” of the iconic Vietnamese dish as much as possible.

To run 10 restaurantsat the same time while ensuring food quality at each of them, the chef set up acentre for food processing and manufacturing./.

VNA