A: Welcome to VOV24/7’s Food Delight. We’re….

B: The Taste of Australia Culinary Competition is once again, providing an opportunity for aspiring young chefs in Vietnam to put their skills to the test in a series of culinary challenges that showcase Australian produce and Vietnamese culinary excellence.

A: The competition takes place in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Nha Trang this month.

B: In Hanoi, five teams from five Hanoi’s culinary schools competed. This year, Nguyen Manh Dung and Nguyen Duc Phuong from Citymart Hotel Management Hanoi won the knockout round with their dish “Roasted lamb with vegemite sauce”.

Nguyen Manh Dung and Nguyen Duc Phuong from Citymart Hotel Management International Institute win 2019 Taste of Australia Culinary Competition.

B: Each team was given a box of ingredients from Australia and was asked to create a dish using these ingredients. Ms. Rebecca Bryant, Deputy Australian Ambassador, and also one of the judges, told us about the special ingredients:  “The three ingredients today are: lamb, which everyone knows Australia is renowned for...we have a lot of sheep in Australia, and every family in Australia has come together at one time or another for a roast lamb on a Sunday...we've also given the contestants a jar of vegemite...this is a uniquely Australian condiment, very very salty...my mum used to use vegemite in the gravy when she cooked roast lamb on a Sunday...so most people just have it with butter on toast for their breakfast...and the third ingredient is macadamia nuts...so macadamias are grown commonly in Queensland in the north of Australia...again very commonly used in cooking...also lovely coated in chocolate and eaten as a treat.” 

Some ingredients imported from Australia  (Photo: VOV5)

A: With 3 Australian ingredients - lamb, macadamia and vegemite, Nguyen Manh Dung and Nguyen Duc Phuong initially found it difficult to make a dish. Dung said: “I felt a little bit surprised at the ingredients. I have never experienced vegemite, a salty sauce of Australia, macadamia, and lamb. I haven’t cooked lamb before”.

B: While the 4 other teams made lamb shank, the Citymart Hotel Management team made a tenderloin lamb dish which was quite different from the others. Phuong said they focused less on the meat than the sauce: “We seasoned the meat with salt and pepper. It’s the normal seasoning for meat. We didn’t make lamb shank. We deboned it and seared it. That’s all. Then we focused on the sauce. If the sauce is good, the meat will be good. That’s I think why we won the contest”.

A: The CHM team really impressed the judges with the sauce they created from vegemite, a thick, black Australian paste made from brewers' yeast extract with various vegetable and spice additives. Using vegemite and a few local ingredients, the team created a sauce that made their dish stand out: “We learnt the basic sauce at culinary school. We used our creativity and the given ingredients to make the dish perfect. To enhance the sauce’s flavor, we added carrots, onions, and ginger to the vegemite. We made a paste with water, and simmered it for 15 minutes. When the water reduced by two-thirds, we seasoned it with salt, pepper, and a little bit of sugar, then continued to reduce it”.

B: After winning in Hanoi, Nguyen Manh Dung and Nguyen Duc Phuong headed to the final round in Ho Chi Minh City, where the two beat three other teams to win this year’s competition.

A: The winners will receive full tuition and residential fee scholarships to the Blue Mountains International Hotel School in New South Wales, Australia.