The story of the people who take care of meals for U.19 Vietnam

To cook delicious meals for the U.19 Vietnam players, they are not only chefs but also great persuaders.

Expert Hoang Phong - Quang Khai talks with the group of chefs

For over a year, every time the U.19 Vietnam team competes internationally, they are served by Nutifood nutritionists and good chefs, not only to provide delicious meals to the team members, but also to provide them with enough nutrients to ensure optimal physical strength.

In recent tournaments, U.19 Vietnam is often arranged to stay in 3-star hotels or higher, so getting into the hotel kitchen to cook directly for the players is extremely difficult.

At the 2014 U.22 Southeast Asian Championship in Brunei, it took three rounds of negotiations for the Vietnamese chefs to be allowed to work. It is a strict rule that Muslim kitchens cannot allow outsiders because it affects religious issues. However, the Vietnamese chefs were the only group that the hotel owner favored to be allowed into the kitchen, much to the anger 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 decisive shake of the head from the owner of the Grand City hotel: "I have been working in the hotel for 30 years, the unchangeable rule is that strangers are not allowed in the kitchen."

Trying every possible way to beg, but still unable to reduce the hotel owner's determination, Phong and Khai had to give gifts brought from Vietnam and then go to the airport to return home.

About a week later, these two experts brought Vietnamese specialties to Brunei to continue "persuading", but the result was still a resolute shake of the head.

Unable to stop, because they knew that Brunei food did not suit Vietnamese taste, so the players had difficulty eating, so they packed up and set off to meet the owner of the Grand City hotel for the third time.

Unexpectedly, the Vietnamese people were as persistent, urgent and sincere as "Liu Bei asking Zhuge Liang", the owner of the Grand City Hotel broke the rules for the first time and nodded in agreement, making both Phong and Khai happy as if they had found gold. Thus, U.19 Vietnam became the only team to have a private chef serve them at the U.22 Southeast Asia Championship.

Coming to the upcoming U.19 Asian Cup in Myanmar, Phong and Khai went to Myanmar a month ago to scout for experience from Brunei.

After getting a grasp of the markets selling fresh food, Phong and Khai went to the Royal Nay Pyi Taw Hotel, where the Vietnam U.19 team would be staying, to meet the manager.

Since this is a newly opened hotel, everything is very orderly. A strange chef cooking in the kitchen is unacceptable, because in addition to being unspeakable, it also affects the hotel's revenue.

Knowing that new hotels always put the business first, Phong and Khai had to play their cards face up. A 50-50 plan was proposed for negotiation.

The U.19 Vietnam team agreed to book meals at the hotel, but only 50% of the meals would be booked, the other 50% would be prepared by Vietnamese chefs. This plan was quickly approved by the hotel management.

However, cooking at Royal Nay Pyi Taw is also difficult because the hotel only provides a small cooking table and two gas stoves, but costs 100 USD per day.

Because cooking for more than 30 people using a gas stove takes a lot of time and it is difficult to ensure the food is delicious and hot.

Furthermore, the hotel does not allow the use of freezers and refrigerators, so the players have to go to the market many times a day to ensure the food is always fresh. For seafood such as crayfish and delicious fish, which are not available in Nay Pyi Taw, the players have to order them from Yangon to prepare for the players.

In difficult times, we can see how carefully the delicious dishes served by the Golden Season restaurant's chef team are prepared.

When asked about the obstacles when cooking in a foreign country, they all happily said: "We are also fascinated by the fair-play style of U.19 Vietnam, so being able to cook for them is a joy, and any obstacles are small matters"./.

According to VOV