…is through his stomach, says André Bosia, Executive Chef of Sofitel Metropole Hanoi

A street food vendor sells pho and various other dishes in Hanoi

André Bosia, who worked in France, Scotland, Austria, Egypt, Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Japan before he took up his current position in Vietnam four years ago, told Vietweek that Vietnamese cuisine, which is fresh and tasty, can be a great ambassador for the country and should be promoted abroad.

Vietweek: How did you come to Vietnam?

André Bosia: I had always wanted to come to Asia, so when the position came up at Sofitel Metropole, I was very interested. I already knew Vietnamese food, as the Vietnamese community in France is quite big. There are a lot of Vietnamese restaurants in Paris, and I always go there. So, I came here, and have worked for four years at Sofitel Metropole now.

When I arrived here and saw with my own eyes all these wonderful things, I wanted to discover more of the culinary art of Vietnam through the prism of French gastronomy.

At Metropole Hanoi, what do you do to make Vietnamese food different from what is offered by restaurants in Paris?

With the help of Hai and Van, who are the Vietnamese chefs of Sofitel Metropole’s restaurants, we make some food with a combination of French and Vietnamese styles. For example, we make nem (spring roll), a popular Vietnamese food, with foie gras and green mango. Foie gras is very common in France. At the Metropole hotel, Vietnamese food is a combination of both cultures.

You come from a country famous for its gastronomical delights. What is it that makes you like Vietnamese food?

France is very famous for its food, but French food is very different from Vietnamese food. In France, we use a lot of butter, cream, and similar ingredients. In Vietnam, you use a lot of fish sauce. You also use a lot of steamed vegetables and fish. So, your food is very light, while in France, food is very heavy. You don’t put butter and oil in the food. You use a lot of herbs. Your cuisine is very tasty and very light.

However, Vietnamese food is not easy to make, it takes long time to learn, a lot of practice.

How attractive is Vietnamese food compared to that of other Asian countries like as China, India and Thailand?

Indian food has many spices, especially powdered spices such as paprika, chili, and cumin. Vietnam uses fewer spices than India and China, while Thailand has a lot of strange food like scorpions. Vietnam uses a lot of fresh herbs. For example, we use garlic, onion and dill in making chả cá – a special fish dish in Hanoi. We don’t use powdered spices.

In Vietnam, everything is fresh. You don’t cook now for tomorrow’s eating. You do now for now. In France or some other Asian countries, we sometimes prepare food now and cook tomorrow. When I worked in Japan, we bought vegetables for three days. In Metropole Hanoi, every day we receive salad (vegetables), fish, meat, egg, herbs. We buy and use for only one day. So I think the taste is very good. Vietnamese food is light and fresh, and it is good for health, so many people in the world like it.

Some countries are strengthening promotion of their traditional food to boost tourism. Should Vietnam do this as well?

Yes, you should. I think Vietnam has started doing this. Last year travel agent Hanoi Tourist sent two chefs to France to promote Vietnamese food and organized a discover Vietnam program. You do this many times in Europe, and Vietnamese food will become well known in the continent. I think promoting its cuisine will get more people interested in Vietnam. It is an effective way to lure foreign visitors to Vietnam.

As chefs, we can use Vietnamese products, introduce them to our colleagues and customers. They would ask me how to use it. I would tell them, and say there are a lot of good products in Vietnam like fish sauce, black pepper and cinnamon. There are many items European people like, but they don’t know where they can get them.

It will be very good if Vietnamese food is promoted abroad. For example, the Vietnamese community in Australia is very big, and many Australian people don’t cook much, so they may go to Vietnamese restaurants. And after eating Vietnamese food in Sydney, they would find that it is very good, very tasty and easy to eat. Then they would be more interested in Vietnam.

What is the most important quality that determines the success of a chef?

The most important thing is that you want to learn. There is no fixed recipe. Sometimes, you have to change ingredients to make food better. For example, each time you cook, you should put only 10 grams of herbs into the food, until the recipe is balanced. Thus, you need to practice a lot, and find something special to add to a dish. And to become a good chef, you need to have good taste. Aptitude is also very important.

Is there any change you would like to see in Vietnam’s food business?

Hygiene is very important. The country should increase control over food hygiene, checking product quality more often. Many people get food poisoning although the situation has improved a lot over the past three years. One of my friends was sick for three days after eating bún (noodle) sold in the outside market. You need to follow hygiene regulations. All restaurant staff should undergo training in food hygiene.

By Bao Anh, Thanh Nien News (The story can be found in the March 16th issue of our print edition, Vietweek)

Customers will have an opportunity to enjoy the fresh lobster, which is prepared into sashimi or porridge.

The Orientica Seafood Restaurant & Bar in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 5 has a lobster feast this month.

Located on the second floor at the Hotel Equatorial Ho Chi Minh City, the restaurant proudly serves fresh lobster from the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean, which are imported alive from the US.

The lobster is prepared with seasonal catches and fresh ingredients, to provide a wonderful gastronomic experience.

At the restaurant this March enjoy the lobster in two different styles – eastern and western.

The eastern style features fresh lobster, which is made into sashimi or porridge.

If it is western style, chefs will prepare the lobster in many ways such as thermidor, grilled, wok – fried with X.O sauce, braised with superior stock, and pan-fried with truffle yaki sauce and vegetables.

Chef Wong Young Phun will make his signature lobster dishes at this event.

The Orientica Seafood Restaurant and Bar’s unique “fire, water and ice” components offer a wide-ranging selection of sights, sounds, and smells plus the excitement of having a meal prepared in front of one’s eyes.

The restaurant is decorated in two main colors – black and red.

This creates not only a feeling of luxury and modernity but also a sense of mystery and intrigue which is heightened by the sound of water murmuring down on to the stones.

There is some moss, large snail shells, white gravel, a bamboo ceiling, and Chinese-style round window frame, giving the restaurant an eastern air.

There is a teppanyaki counter, live seafood, and an open kitchen enclosed by a glass wall, allowing diners to enjoy the cooking skills of talented chefs who use fresh seafood to make their food.

They can see how the chefs prepare grilled oyster with cheese. They can see how they choose live oysters, marinate them, and put them in an oven or on a fire, and add cheese.

The tables are separated aesthetically with glass walls and curtains to create a private, luxurious, and quiet space, making it eminently suitable for business meetings. The restaurant also has a large room for a group of friends or for informal parties.

The restaurant won the 2009 “Best Restaurant of the Year” award.

The lobster menu is available during both lunch and dinner until March 31 and is priced at VND170,000++/ 100 grams.

It was a misty spring day and the winding road taking us up Tam Dao Mountain was made longer by the thick fog that blocked our view of the road. But still, the scenery pierced through the mist and soon we were driving through the remains of old French neighborhoods, dilapidated villas and estates now worn and torn after half a century of neglect.

We passed some of Tam Dao National Park’s famous sites – like Thac Bac (The Silver Fall) and Rung Rinh peak – and finally reached the slopes of Thach Ban Mountain, one of the Tam Dao range’s three greatest peaks.

There sits Tay Thien, a well-known complex that is home to a cornucopia of historical Buddhist relics and temples. The complex boasts splendid architecture, rich history and breathtaking natural scenery. We were visiting in hopes that we could pray for luck and happiness this year while it was still spring.

We arrived at Tay Thien after three hours on the 85-kilometer-road from Hanoi, which, according to our drivers, normally takes just roughly 2 hours on clear days. It was 10 a.m. and the sky was still covered with silver mist.

Although the annual Tay Thien Spring Festival – held from the 15th-17th of the second lunar month each year – has yet to come, the pagodas and temples here were still full of visitors.

There is now a cable car station at the mountain foot, next to Cau Temple. The ride just opened last month and gave us a wonderful view of the mountain and its surrounding forests, thick, lush and dense with vegetation and life. At the slow pace of the cable car, we admired the sites and took lots of pictures.

Tay Thien is believed to be the birthplace of Vietnamese Buddhism. According to our guide, a Buddhist monk from India traveling here in the 3rd century BC chose this mountain as the spot from which to propagate the religion.

We saw a number of temples, many of which have been mostly lost to time, and others that have been fairly well preserved or restored.

Our first stop was at Thuong Temple, one of the most important sites here. According to our guide, the temple worships the Goddess Tay Thien, named Lang Thi Tieu, queen of the 6th Hung King who lived around the year 2450 BC. She was born in this area and after becoming the queen, she helped the king defend the country against foreign invaders.

Situated 800 meters above sea level, Thuong Temple has undergone more than one renovation, the latest of which was in 2009, and the buildings actually look rather new. We spent some time admiring the sight and prayed to the Goddess there.

Another must-visit site in Tay Thien is the Truc Lam Tay Thien Zen Monastery, which together with a Zen Monastery in Da Lat and one at Quang Ninh Provinces’s Yen Tu Mountain, is one of the three largest monasteries in Vietnam.

Built in 2005 on the ruins of an ancient pagoda called Thien An Thien Tu, the Truc Lam Tay Thien Zen Monastery sits on the mountain’s peak and offers a stunning view of several other temples and pagodas scattered along the pine-decorated hills.

The site itself is at once tranquil and grandiose. The courtyards are large and spacious and the buildings tall and striking. The monastery is adorned with ornate carvings on its doors and embossed works on its walls, ceilings, and pillars.

The monastery boasts a library, a museum, a meditation house, guesthouses and a mess hall serving vegetarian food for visitors.

The Truc Lam Tay Thien Zen Monastery has become an increasingly popular training center for young students each summer. Students here spend those months essentially living like monks: they eat vegetarian, wear monks’ robes and give up many of their “worldly” possessions.

They attend classes each day, as well as maintain the monastery by doing housework and tasks that many of them have never done before.

We were served a fantastic lunch with the monks and other visitors at the monastery’s hall. We had plates full of vegetables, spring rolls, and fake fried shrimp, fish, and pork pie. It was hard to imagine that they were all made from soybeans. Everything was delicious!

The information was released by an official from the Quang Ninh provincial People’s Committee in a press conference on April 23.

During the Ha Long – Quang Ninh Tourism Week 2012, which will take place from April 24 to May 2, a special art program will take place at 8pm of April 27 in Ha Long Cultural Centre Square in order to welcome the title of the New Natural Wonder for Ha Long Bay. The same program will also be organized at My Dinh Stadium in Hanoi.

The organizing board has issued 1,300 invitations for delegates to attend the event, of whom 1,021 are domestic guests and 93 are international guests, and 99 cruise ships will be mobilized to serve the delegates visiting Ha Long Bay.

Particularly, tourists can visit Ha Long Bay free of charge from April 28 to May 1, a gift expressing local appreciation for visitors who have supported, loved and voted for Ha Long Bay.

According to the organizing board, about 200 international and domestic reporters will attend and inform about the tourism week and events associated with Ha Long Bay becoming one of the seven new natural wonders of the world.

(Source: CPV)

VNPT installed more than 40 wireless internet transmitters in the city along National Highway 18A at a cost of more than VND200 billion.

The service will be free of charge during the 2012 Ha Long Tourism Week from April 23 to May 2. Tourists, investors and local residents will have free wi-fi access to basic information pages including the provincial web portal, press and television web pages after the Tourism Week, but will be charged for other entertainment services.

Addressing the launching ceremony, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Dang Huy Hau praised VNPT’s efforts to implement the project after signing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the province two months ago.

He added that the service will also contribute to the development of tourism in the city.

(Source: Nhandan)

A worker on the Song Tranh 2 Hydropower dam in the central province of Quang Nam that is leaking water through cracks on its surface

Local authorities are especially concerned about the dams’ safety this year, given the leaking problem at the Song Tranh 2, said Nguyen Minh Tuan, chief of Quang Nam Steering Committee on Floods and Storms Prevention’s office.

He demanded that the investor of the dam in Bac Tra My District, Hydropower Plant Management Board 3, strictly confirm to procedures for releasing water at the “problematic” dam to decrease possible damage to downstream areas.

Local authorities have also asked the investor, which belongs to the state utility Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), to make flood prevention plans and cooperate with them in informing locals of the dam’s water discharges so the latter can make preparations.

A course of actions for the worst case scenario at the leaking dam also needs to be introduced into the province’s program of flood and storm prevention, Tuan said.

Meanwhile, Tran Anh Tuan, vice chairman of Bac Tra My District, said it is necessary to seek solutions to the dam’s possible collapse, adding that the investor needs to invite experts to study the situation and propose scientific solutions to guarantee the dam’s safety.

Since last week Bac Tra My residents have voiced their concerns over cracks in the dam, saying it was probably related to the tremors that have been induced by the dam since 2010. They are also worried about water leaking through the cracks.

EVN, however, has downplayed the problem.

On Monday, the power utility issued a press release in which it reiterated its claim that water was not leaking, but that several places around the dam’s heat slits were soaked, VnExpress reported.

It blamed the problem on the dam’s system of collecting excessive water, saying that the system had failed to function well as expected.

Since the problem was detected, workers have been fixing it and so far the soaking has decreased by up to 80 percent, EVN said.

Also in the press release, the corporation also said minor quakes induced by the dam are lower in intensity than allowed in its design, stressing that they do not affect the dam’s safety or quality. The aftershocks will decrease gradually, it said.

EVN has also said that it is cooperating with the Institute of Earth Physics to observe the quakes more closely and come up with more measures to address the soaking.

However, EVN’s claims and assertions have not assuaged the fears and concerns of residents as well as district authorities.

“We can’t underestimate a leaking problem at a hydropower dam,” Dang Phong, chairman of Bac Tra My District, told VnEpress in response to EVN’s latest press release.

“Agencies need to consult the opinions of experts and scientists to find the best solutions,” he said.

With an investment of more than VND4.15 trillion (US$197.53 million), the Song Tranh 2 Hydropower Plant boasts the largest reservoir in the central region with a capacity of some 730 million cubic meters. It began operating in December 2010 with an expected output of 190 megawatts.
Thanh Nien News

The full-year target could be cut to “about 5 to 5.5 percent,” Tran Hoang Ngan, a member of the National Financial and Monetary Policy Advisory Council, said by telephone today. “With first-quarter growth at only 4 percent, it will be extremely hard to reach 6 percent for the full year,” Vo Tri Thanh, a member of the same council that advises the prime minister, also said today by telephone.

A lower growth target would ease pressure on the central bank to further reduce interest rates after doing so in March and April, according to Ngan, who is also deputy headmaster of the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City. The actions led the International Monetary Fund to say that officials should have waited longer between cuts.

“The government needs to sacrifice its growth target and prioritize macroeconomic stability,” said Ngan. “Prolonged high inflation rates in the last few years have also exhausted businesses and consumers, so how can you expect the economy to expand that fast?”

The International Monetary Fund cut Vietnam’s 2012 growth forecast to 5.6 percent from 6.3 percent in its world outlook report on April 17.

Vietnam’s annual inflation slowed to an 18-month low of 10.54 percent this month, down from 14.15 in March, according to an estimate released by the General Statistics Office in Hanoi yesterday. That may give the government room to ease further, according to Matt Hildebrandt, a Singapore-based economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

“Slower inflation and greater macroeconomic stability will lead to lower policy rates,” he wrote in a report released today. The State Bank of Vietnam is likely to cut borrowing costs by another 200 basis points to 300 basis points, he wrote.

The government must still take measures to fight inflation because of the risk of price increases toward the end of the year, Ngan said. Higher gasoline prices, rising salaries of state workers and potentially higher electricity and coal prices may contribute, he said.

Bloomberg – thanhniennews

A high rise parking lot in Hamburg, Germany

The news website VnExpress on Wednesday said multi-story parking lots are considered by many investors to be an “optimum solution” for the city’s parking scarcity, as they cost less money and take less time to built than underground facilities.

On March 23, the Saigon Transport and Mechanics Company (Samco) began the ten-story project on Co Giang Street in District 1.

The amount of total investment has not been released but the company said the project will accommodate 500 cars.

The Investment Development for Underground Space Corporation (IUS) also said it will continue the US$100 million project on Le Van Tam Street this August so that it could be put in service in 2015. The project was started in 2010, but red tape has stalled its construction.

Another project on Cach Mang Thang Tam is also planned to break ground this year.

Two other ventures which have been approved are located at Hoa Lu Stadium at the corner of Dinh Tien Hoang and Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Streets, and one at Tao Dan Park on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai.

Since 2003, HCMC has been planning to develop high rise parking lots to solve the lack of space for vehicles in the city.

A couple of high-rise parking lots were built at luxury apartment buildings such as Thao Dien and Hai Van Nam but they exclusively serve cars associated with that building.

Many roads in the city are now used as parking lots for cars, only worsening traffic congestion.

VnExpress on Wednesday cited city statistics as saying that nearly 500,000 cars and more than five million motorbikes are registered in the city, in addition to more than a million vehicles from outsiders who commute into the city each day.

The investors say they will use automatic vehicle arrangement technology, in which drivers simply push a button upon entering the structure and their cars are then moved automatically.

The technology reduces carbon emissions as users do not have to drive around the structure in search of a parking spot.

The parking lots will be unmanned, thus casualties from potential fires or explosions will be limited, the investors said.

“We only need a very small area and simple iron frames,” said Vu Huy Thang, general director of Billco JSC which on March 22 proposed his own multi-story parking lot project.

Thang said such parking lots are useful for office and apartment buildings that draw a lot of cars but have little space to house them.

Nguyen Thi Bao Quynh, deputy general director of Dong Duong Corporation which invested in the parking lots at Hoa Lu and Cach Mang Thang Tam, said a multi-story parking lot has a capacity to hold 20 times more cars than normal ones.

Nguyen Dinh Hung, deputy director of HCMC Department of Architecture and Planning, said the city can attract individuals or private firms to invest in such projects by simplifying the procedures and establishing reasonable prices for parking once the structures are built.

Thanh Nien News

A recognition ceremony was jointly held by the Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment (VACNE) and the local authorities of Xuan Anh commune, Ha Hoa district, on April 20.

The tree measures 5.6m in circumference, 1.65m in diameter and is more than 3m high. It has a root in the shape of a dragon drinking water.

Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Sinh, Chairman of VACNE, said that central and local authorities are now paying special attention to preserving ancient trees in Vietnam.

So far, the VACNE has received profile submissions of more than 500 trees from 28 provinces across the country. 155 of them fulfil all the requirements set by the Vietnam Heritage Tree Council.

(Source: VOV