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The meeting between an Italian chef and the owner of a Vietnamese pho restaurant
About 10 years ago, while going to learn to drive, Ms. Thu Trang (currently the owner of two restaurants in Thao Dien, Thu Duc City) stopped by a pho restaurant near the school and was impressed by the flavor of the broth. Curious, she expressed her desire to learn how to cook pho and the restaurant owner agreed. So she packed her bags and went to Cu Chi to learn how to cook for about a month, then returned to open her first pho restaurant.
Some time later, through friends, she got to know Manuel Sponton. When she learned that he was having some difficulties in a foreign land, Trang invited him to help in the kitchen, thinking that a Westerner cooking pho would be interesting, she recalled with a smile.
On the first morning of his job, Manuel showed up at the restaurant door at 4:30, carrying a backpack. At that time, the restaurant still used a honeycomb coal stove to cook the broth, and he was in charge of making the fire and doing the hardest work. Trang's neighbors often said they had never seen a Westerner as hard-working as this man. The diligence and honesty of the foreign chef gradually made Trang admire him. From just helping in the kitchen for a few hours in the morning, he stayed longer, then moved to live in the restaurant. The relationship between Trang and him also developed over time. Naturally, they became companions on the culinary journey of the small restaurant called "Pho Ong Tay" until now.
Ms. Thu Trang and Mr. Manuel Sponton have been together for more than a decade.
Pho Ong Tay restaurant is located in Thao Dien area, Ho Chi Minh City with views directly facing the Saigon River and Landmark 81 building.
Now, after more than a decade together, overcoming difficult times due to road construction, Covid pandemic, embankment renovation… that small pho restaurant still lights up every morning. There, amidst Vietnamese flavors, an Italian chef has found something greater than his profession – a home, love and a peaceful life in a foreign land.
When an Italian chef cooks Vietnamese pho with love
Manuel Sponton said that his love for his Vietnamese girlfriend was the biggest motivation for him to choose to stay in this land all these years.
With a passion for exploring world cuisine, in 2015, Manuel chose Vietnam as the next stop on his journey to travel around Asia. As soon as he landed at Tan Son Nhat airport, amidst his hunger, the first pho he ate left a deep impression. When he had the opportunity to cook pho at Trang's restaurant, he considered it a special fate with pho.
Pho is Manuel's favorite dish and also the most difficult to cook for this Italian chef.
“Cooking Western food only requires a few spices like salt, pepper, butter, garlic. But when I saw more than a dozen ingredients in the pho pot, like cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, onion, ginger… I was really confused,” Manuel said with a laugh.
Since he returned, the kitchen has gradually been simplified, with only basic spices such as salt and pepper. He wants to preserve the fresh taste of the ingredients, instead of relying on MSG or flavor enhancers. Therefore, the restaurant's way of cooking pho has also changed: simmering the broth with beef instead of bones, combining vegetables for a sweet, non-astringent taste and without the need for seasoning powder.
Not stopping there, Manuel also created Pho Stir-Fried with Eggs - a variation of traditional Pho with a layer of fried egg on top. At first glance, it is hard to think it is Pho, but the flavors are surprisingly harmonious: Pho noodles soaked in a slightly sour sauce, mixed with fatty, sweet eggs.
Unique stir-fried egg pho dish created by chef Manuel
At the same time, the chef shared that language was a big barrier for him in approaching Asian cuisine. During the 12 years living in Ho Chi Minh City, he could not speak much Vietnamese. Until now, he still communicates with the restaurant staff through body language. "I don't understand why they still work well together, as if they have created a new language that I cannot understand," Trang said with a smile.
Italian flavors blend with Vietnamese cuisine
Not only stopping at pho, Manuel Sponton also brings the essence of his homeland cuisine to the restaurant's menu. With more than twenty years of experience as a chef at many 5-star hotels, he has created a menu of more than 50 Italian dishes, including salads, pasta...
Among them is risotto, a typical rice dish usually made from short-grain rice, dried for 3 to 12 months before serving. The rice is cooked with broth, butter and Parmesan cheese to create a smooth, rich texture, the rice grains have a semi-raw, semi-cooked feel. However, here, the risotto is adjusted to be a bit more cooked than the original to suit Vietnamese taste. This is a dish that requires a lot of technique and even Manuel sometimes cannot make the flavor as he wants, and sometimes there are customers who "do not like" this semi-raw, semi-cooked rice dish.
Risotto is an Italian dish in which the rice grains are half-cooked, separated and held together by a substance secreted by the rice during cooking.
The restaurant is famous in the foreign community with a menu of nearly 60 types of pasta and a variety of noodle styles, from flat, round to spiral, served with tomato sauce, cream sauce, meat, vegetables or seafood.
Various types of pasta at the restaurant for customers to choose from
In particular, in his pasta dishes, Manuel uses guanciale ham - a type of pork cheek cured in salt and Italian spices for six to twelve months - instead of regular bacon. This ingredient is imported directly from Italy by Trang. "Not many restaurants dare to use this type of meat because it is quite expensive, but the restaurant accepts it to keep the Italian flavor as true as possible," Trang said.
Manuel Sponton with guanciale ham - a whole ham imported from Italy
However, during the process of working together, the two people cannot avoid disagreements. As a businesswoman, Ms. Trang always has to consider costs and profits, while Mr. Manuel, with the habits of a professional chef, wants to give absolute priority to quality and source of ingredients. Sometimes, just because of a type of imported cheese or cold cuts, they have to sit and discuss for a long time to find a balance. But it is these differences that help the restaurant's menu gradually improve, both maintaining Italian culinary standards and being suitable for the taste and budget of Vietnamese diners.
Located at 16/9 Nguyen Van Huong, in the middle of the quiet Thao Dien area, Ong Tay Pho restaurant is a familiar meeting place for many foreign guests living around here. The restaurant space is rustic with iron tables and chairs, warm yellow lights shining down from the roof covered with vines. From the restaurant's porch, you can see the Saigon River flowing slowly and the majestic Landmark 81 building during the day, sparkling with lights at night - a scene that allows diners to relax while eating.
Landmark 81 building shimmering with lights on the banks of the Saigon River at night
95% of the customers coming to the restaurant are foreigners.
Having left his homeland for many years and having worked in many countries, Manuel no longer intends to return to Italy to live. He thinks that in the future he will still travel to many places, but only for tourism. The place he wants to stay for the rest of his life is Vietnam - the land he considers his second home. "Here I have a girlfriend and my favorite pho. For me, that is happiness," Manuel said.
