A NEW CLASSIC

The second of only two Vietnamese restaurants with a Michelin green star, Lamai Garden in Hanoi lives up to its accolade.

- ■ NIANNE-LYNN HENDRICKS

Sand worm cake with young rice. Hanoi's only Michelin green star recipient, Lamai Garden is a 14-seater restaurant.

Located in a small house, tucked away in a residential neighbourhood, the 14-seater restaurant is helmed and owned by chef Tran Hieu Trung. He became a chef accidentally.

"I started cooking seriously a bit late, when I was around 30. I often think that cooking chose me, not the opposite. I think most of our careers choose us in life. When I was young, I chose to be an engineer and I wasn't fit for it. One day I went to the kitchen and really enjoyed my time in it, and then I decided to do this professionally," explains chef Trung.

"I really enjoyed cooking French cuisine and wanted to see what it was really like in France. I decided to go to France to be trained at Le Cordon Bleu. However, the more time I spent in France, the more I realised that I didn't really like French cuisine and yearned for Vietnamese. In order to get to the end of something, we must have our heart in it."

After studying in France, he returned and embraced Vietnamese cuisine. Though the chef was born and brought up in the south of the country, he decided to open Lamai Garden in Hanoi because his family decided to move back there.

Lamai Garden reflects his philosophy of seasonal and local ingredients, often sourced from his mother-in-law's farm in the north and his organic farm 500m from the restaurant.

"The name of the restaurant comes from a combination of the names of my two children, Lam and Mai. Actually, the predecessor of Lamai was La Chérie, which was a bistro," says chef Trung.