The Press Club celebrates 40 years in the culinary profession of Chef Alain Dutournier.

From March 16th to 20th, 2019, Chef Alain Dutournier will be present at the Press Club to introduce to discerning diners in the capital city the Week of Flavors, celebrating French cuisine in commemoration of his 40 years in the culinary profession, and also to participate in the Goût de France (French culinary excellence) festival organized by the French Embassy in Vietnam.

The Week of Flavors, celebrating French cuisine at the Press Club, marks the 40th anniversary of Chef Alain Dutournier's career. As usual, the special menu will only be revealed at the last minute to provide a delightful surprise for diners.

All the finest elements of French cuisine are embodied in each dish prepared by this Michelin-starred chef. They not only offer the sweet, fresh flavors of spring or unexpected innovations in ingredient usage, but also convey stories of people, lives, childhood memories, and the sunshine and breezes of southwestern France. And, as the theme of the feast suggests, the dishes are not simply delicious meals prepared and presented in a unique way, but rather works of art, beautiful as paintings, offered to the diners.

In particular, the Press Club secretly organized a celebration for Alain's 70th birthday during this party. The chef was extremely surprised by the warm affection shown to him by his friends there.

Alain Dutournier is one of Paris's most renowned Michelin-starred chefs, with two restaurants located in prime locations in the city. Having fallen in love with Hanoi and learned about Vietnamese cuisine through the dishes cooked by the mother of a close friend of Vietnamese descent, he joined the Press Club in 2015 with the desire to create a Parisian touch in the heart of Hanoi. Alain Dutournier has a knack for transforming ordinary, readily available ingredients into extraordinary dishes. With his extensive knowledge of garden vegetables, farmed livestock, wild animals, and seafood, he has successfully conveyed the flavors of southwestern France, where he was born and raised, to the people of Hanoi. Furthermore, he constantly explores and combines local ingredients and spices to create new dishes that subtly blend familiar and unique elements of Vietnamese cuisine. During a visit to Hanoi last March, he discovered that the cabbage grown in Vietnam had a much more delicious flavor than the same variety in France, and his creation, the thousand-layer cabbage rolls with shrimp and pork, has become a hit with diners both domestically and internationally.

Chef Alain Dutournier's trip to Hanoi this time is accompanied by another renowned French-Vietnamese chef, Robert Vifian. As the owner of the Vietnamese restaurant Tan Dinh in Paris, Robert Vifian is known for his boundless creativity in creating new dishes, combining Vietnamese ingredients with French cooking styles. At this special event celebrating French cuisine and Alain's 40th anniversary, Robert Vifian and the chef presented a spectacular culinary art performance in the setting of the Press Club. Furthermore, the duo will also be the "conductors" of the Goût de France event taking place at the French Embassy in Hanoi this March.

During the trip, Chef Alain Dutournier also met with young students from the KOTO vocational school in Hanoi to interact and chat with them about the passion and dedication of a chef through the preparation and presentation of a French dish, helping them gain the necessary skills to be more confident as they enter the workforce.

Press Club has been a trusted culinary destination for Hanoians for the past two decades. Located in the heart of Hanoi's French Quarter, Press Club's La Table du Chef offers a peaceful, private, and elegant space to savor the sophistication of French cuisine. The restaurant has 70 seats arranged across five different seating areas and is open for lunch and dinner every day.

Press Club Hanoi

- Address: 12 Ly Dao Thanh Street, Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi

- Hotline: (+84) 904067686

- Make a reservation:https://bit.ly/2SN97Uc

Quynh Anh