The story of the people who prepare meals for the Vietnam U.19 team.

To cook delicious meals for the Vietnamese U.19 players, they are not only chefs but also masterful communicators.

Experts Hoang Phong and Quang Khai discuss with the group of chefs.

For over a year now, whenever the Vietnam U.19 team competes internationally, they are served meals by Nutifood's nutrition experts and skilled chefs. This is not only to ensure the team members have delicious and palatable meals, but also to provide them with sufficient nutrients to maintain optimal physical condition.

In recent tournaments, the Vietnam U.19 team has usually been accommodated in 3-star hotels or higher, so getting permission to directly cook for the players in the hotel kitchen has been extremely difficult.

At the 2014 Southeast Asian U22 Championship in Brunei, it took three rounds of negotiations before the Vietnamese team of chefs were finally allowed to work. The strict rule against allowing outsiders into Muslim kitchens is a major concern due to religious issues. However, the Vietnamese team was the only one favored by the hotel owner, much to the frustration and jealousy of the other teams.

To convince the demanding hotel owner, two nutrition experts representing Nutifood, Huynh Hoang Phong and Luu Nguyen Quang Khai, had to fly to Brunei very early, but only received a resolute shake of the head from the owner of the Grand City Hotel: "I've been in the hotel business for 30 years, and my unwavering rule is that strangers are not allowed in the kitchen."

Despite their best efforts to plead with the hotel owner, Phong and Khai were unable to change his resolve, so they had no choice but to give him the gifts they had brought from Vietnam and head to the airport to return home.

About a week later, the two experts brought Vietnamese specialties back to Brunei to continue their "persuasion," but the result was still a firm shake of the head.

Unable to stop, knowing that Bruneian food didn't suit Vietnamese tastes and would be difficult for the players to eat, the two of them packed their bags again to meet the owner of the Grand City Hotel for the third time.

Unexpectedly, the Vietnamese were persistent, earnest, and full of sincerity, like "Liu Bei seeking Zhuge Liang's help." The owner of the Grand City Hotel, for the first time, broke the rule and nodded in agreement, making both Phong and Khai overjoyed. Thus, the Vietnam U.19 team became the only team to have a private chef serving them at the Southeast Asian U.22 Championship.

With the upcoming U.19 Asian Championship in Myanmar, drawing on their experience from Brunei, Phong and Khai traveled to Myanmar a month in advance to scout the area.

After scouting out the fresh food markets, Phong and Khai went to the Royal Nay Pyi Taw Hotel, where the Vietnamese U.19 team would be staying, to meet with the manager.

Since this is a newly opened hotel, everything is very well-organized. Having a stranger chef in the kitchen is unacceptable, because besides the potential for unpleasant issues, it also affects the hotel's revenue.

Knowing that the new hotel always prioritized revenue, Phong and Khai had no choice but to play it clean. A 50-50 deal was proposed for negotiations.

The Vietnam U.19 team agreed to have meals ordered at the hotel, but only for 50% of the meals, with the other 50% to be prepared by a Vietnamese chef. This arrangement was quickly approved by the hotel management.

However, cooking at Royal Nay Pyi Taw also presents many challenges because the hotel only provides a small cooking area with two household gas stoves, but it costs $100 USD per day.

Cooking for over 30 people using a regular gas stove takes a lot of time and makes it difficult to ensure the food is delicious and hot.

Furthermore, the hotel doesn't allow the use of freezers or refrigerators, so the team has to go to the market multiple times a day to ensure the food is always fresh. For seafood like prawns and delicious fish, which aren't available in Nay Pyi Taw, they order them from Yangon to prepare for the players.

It is during difficult times that we see how much care and attention the chefs at Mua Vang restaurant put into preparing such delicious dishes.

When asked about the challenges of cooking abroad, they all happily replied: "We are also fascinated by the fair-play style of the Vietnamese U.19 team, so being able to cook for them is a great pleasure, and all other challenges are minor issues."

According to VOV