Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
EVERY now and then I’m lucky to discover a super hero in the kitchens of a restaurant I review and I was tempted to tap into Commissioner Gordon’s secure line to the ‘Batphone’ and let The Caped Crusader know I’d unearthed his sidekick at the Swiss-Café.
Vietnam’s very own Bui (pronounced Boy) Wonder is producing traditional triumphs at the Thursday evening Chảo Châu Pan-Asian Dinner Buffet which specialises in Vietnamese cuisine.
The 25-year-old senior chef enjoyed a spell in Bahrain before joining the Vietnamese kitchen of a renowned property in Dubai until Executive Chef Holger Lang enticed him back to the Swiss-Belhotel Seef.
Chef Holger, who spent 20 years gaining culinary experience around the world, believes the boy from Hanoi has an ‘incredible talent’ and it’s clearly being witnessed by diners at the impressive 10th floor restaurant.
Vietnamese dishes often include five types of nutrients, namely powder, liquid, minerals, protein and fat and Vietnamese cooks try to display five colours - white (metal), green (wood), yellow (earth), red (fire) and black (water) in their dishes.
The ingredients and colours combine to create a tantalising taste and the Bui Wonder admits he likes to work wonders with the wok and, although there are a multitude of prepared salads and main courses to choose from - plus a special sink, swim and savour option (more of that later), diners can pick a selection of fresh meat, seafood and vegetables for this chef to put his stir-frying talents to the test.
The standout dish was a superbly succulent hammour which had been soaked for 24-hours in the most amazing marinade containing ginger, garlic and mustard and some other ‘secret’ Boy Wonder ingredients.
It was absolutely KAPOW!
Building up to this main course, the good lady wife, Kathryn, celebrating her birthday, and I, picked a selection of sushi, before embracing a healthy portion of Spicy Grilled Beef Salad, glorious gỏi cuốn - homemade summer rolls with prawn, carrots, cucumber and lettuce in rice paper. The hot fishcakes were wonderful too.
Then it was time for some more fondue fun Asian-style, a dish highlighted in an earlier Eating Out review, and where the sink, swim and savour comes under the title of Shabu-shabu!
It is one of Japan’s most popular hot pot dishes and consists of assorted vegetables, tofu and paper-thin slices of beef cooked in kombu dashi with noodles.
The lean cuts of beef are the last thing to be lowered into the broth because it takes literally seconds before they are cooked to perfection and ready to melt in the mouth.
It should be noted that the service at the restaurant is first class and special thanks go to Atta Nassar, assistant food & beverages manager, and his colleague, Manuel (nothing like his Fawlty Towers namesake) who were friendly, diligent and knowledgeable throughout the evening.
The selection of desserts included everyone’s Filipino favourites, a Sticky Rice Biko and a Fried Banana Turnon, for good measure.
One of the joys of being a restaurant reviewer is that confident chefs are often happy to use me as a guinea pig to taste-test new dishes for an honest opinion and, as a lover of all types of cuisine, I’m more than happy to oblige.
One to watch out for is Chef Holger’s latest creation – the Smoked Red Snapper. This is another delightful, often underrated fish well known to the local markets. A fresh fillet is soaked overnight in salty water with thyme and rosemary before being given the smoking-oven treatment. He uses a traditional Russian technique (then with Sturgeon and Pike-Perch) that he picked up during his culinary travels. It will please the palate … and should soon be on the menu.
