|  When
the owner of Tú Bar dined in a Vietnamese restaurant
in Singapore, and later learned that the restaurant was
about to close down, he decided to offer the inspiring
young chef a job in Bali.
Luu Tui Bich Lan (known as Lan) is a 26-year-old Vietnamese
girl who had already been working in Singapore for six
years and was well acquainted with the unique cuisine
of her homeland.
Her grandfather and father had both been chefs before
her and had run a family restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City.
As a little girl, Lan had watched her father at work and
it wasn’t long before she, too, became creative
in the kitchen. Although Lan was born in Ho Chi Minh City,
her ethnically Chinese parents have been travelling between
China, Singapore and Vietnam for many years, and her elder
brother and sister were both born in China. Lan worked
in a hotel in Vietnam, trained to be a chef in Singapore
and then worked in a Singapore hotel followed by the ‘Saigon
City Restaurant’. She never expected to come to
Bali but bravely jumped at the offer of a job on the island,
even though she knew no one, spoke no Indonesian and very
little English.
Lan is shy, modest, petite and pretty, and has embraced
the role of chef at Tú Viet. She helped to open
the restaurant in April of this year and has designed
an exciting menu of traditional Vietnamese dishes, together
with some of her own delicious creations. Vietnamese food
is light and healthy and utilises a lot of fresh herbs.
Vegetables and fish are purchased locally but essential
ingredients such as noodles, rice paper and vermicelli
are all imported from Vietnam. A favourite dish with Lan’s
customers, and also her own personal favourite, is the
authentic ‘Pho Bo’ (Rp 26,000), the famous
Vietnamese beef noodle soup, a piping hot broth that takes
six hours to prepare and is then poured over fresh rice
noodles and paper thin slices of beef, and served with
herbs, bean sprouts, onion, green chilli peppers and lemon.
Other ‘must try’ dishes include ‘Pho
Chay’ (Rp 26,000), the vegetarian version of the
noodle soup, the snapper fish steamed in banana leaf (Rp
28,000), the freckled pancakes (Rp 18,000) and, of course,
the very tasty Vietnamese spring rolls (Rp 18,000).
Tú Viet is open every evening from 6pm, if you’ve
not yet been there, check it out because Lan’s cooking
is truly delightful.
Tú Viet
Jl Abimanyu 100X Seminyak
Phone (0361) 7424263
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