“Master Chef” Pham Tuan Hai: Culinary breakthrough to promote tourism development

"Master Chef" Pham Tuan Hai.

With over 30 years of experience as a chef in major hotels and restaurants, and participation in numerous culinary programs, most notably his role as a judge on MasterChef Vietnam in its early seasons (starting in 2013), he has become closer to the public and is known as the "MasterChef" in Vietnam.

Sharing his views on preserving and promoting the values of Vietnamese culinary culture, "Master Chef" Pham Tuan Hai stated: The culinary profession always demands creativity but must maintain the essence of the dish. Therefore, when a chef prepares a dish from a particular region or country, they need to preserve the flavor and style of that locality, region, and the customs and traditions in food preparation.

Sir, having served as a judge on numerous culinary programs, contributing to the training of successful professional chefs and those known as "MasterChefs," what are your thoughts on this?

- One of the programs that I participated in that left the most impression and was known to many people was MasterChef Vietnam. Through MasterChef Vietnam, many chefs were trained and became professional chefs, many of whom became famous and successful in their culinary career. It was a memorable journey in my life, which brought me the unforgettable title of "MasterChef".

It can be said that the MasterChef Vietnam program not only brings me closer and friendlier to the people but also provides an opportunity to help many chefs to be trained and coached to become famous chefs. The chefs participating in the program experience many challenges, from cooking according to regional, national and ethnic cultural styles to choosing ingredients... The program not only helps improve the skills of domestic chefs but also international chefs.

According to you, what factors make a dish special?

- When participating as judges on programs, what we always require of chefs when making a dish is that it must be completely new and must follow the criteria of the topic. For example, when asking a chef to cook a dish from the subsidy period, the chef himself must understand the taste and ingredients of the subsidy period dish. Or when asking to cook an Asian dish, he must understand the characteristics of the ingredients and spices used for that dish...

With the requirement of creativity and the ability to convey stories when preparing dishes, I think that chefs must research and learn, especially dishes from different regions and countries. Chefs must understand cultural identity, customs and traditions as well as the target audience to have appropriate recipes, shelf life and product preservation.

How do you rate Dong Nai cuisine?

- I have been to Dong Nai many times. When enjoying Dong Nai dishes, I realize that Dong Nai cuisine, like Southern cuisine, has a very “open” culture. That means everyone can accept new things and dishes require real sophistication, along with their own cultural identities to be able to exist sustainably.

Recently, there have been many "hot" dishes that only existed for a short time and did not leave an impression on diners, such as spicy noodles, mixed vermicelli... The reason is that these dishes do not carry the identity of the country, ethnicity or locality, so they cannot last long in the culinary market.

In Dong Nai, I was quite impressed with the famous fried sticky rice dish. I think this dish will be preserved for a long time and passed down to future generations, because it has a strong local cultural identity. In addition to fried sticky rice, Dong Nai also has delicious dishes such as Tan Trieu grapefruit salad and delicious grapefruit dishes, made with the main ingredient of Tan Trieu grapefruit, famous in Dong Nai for hundreds of years.

According to you, how do chefs work in Dong Nai?

- I highly appreciate the solidarity and cooperation among the chefs' association in Dong Nai province. They are professional chefs, passionate about their work, and eager to learn. The chefs are not afraid of challenges and always possess a strong spirit of exchange and learning. This is an opportunity for chefs to both learn and share experiences in their work, and to promote the unique products of their locality to the public.

For a long time, many chefs still keep their "secret recipes" to themselves and are satisfied with the products they create. However, when I met the Dong Nai Province Chefs Association, what impressed me about the association's activities was its openness and high spirit of learning. I hope that there will be many chef associations in localities across the country promoting the spirit of creativity, exchange, and sharing experiences in the process of working.

Deputy Director of the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism Vu Xuan Truong presented flowers to "Master Chef" Pham Tuan Hai at the Dong Nai Food Festival 2025.

In the current context of international integration, what should Dong Nai chefs do to develop local cuisine, sir?

- Dong Nai cuisine has many delicious dishes such as Tan Trieu grapefruit salad, fried sticky rice, dishes made from Dong Nai's specialty fruits... Exploiting the value of specialty dishes will contribute to promoting local tourism development. In my opinion, in the coming time, Dong Nai cuisine needs to be more diverse, more market-based, contributing to helping Dong Nai's tourism industry attract a large number of tourists. Therefore, chefs need to increase market-based reality when preparing dishes.

Currently, most of Dong Nai's signature dishes remain traditional, lacking innovation and the need to build compelling stories around each dish.

Generally speaking, when tourists travel to remote areas, they tend to inquire about local cuisine and specialties. Therefore, the more impressive the dishes, the more attractive they are to visitors.

A chef must be creative, adaptable to market demands, and responsive to culinary trends at any given time. Only those with these qualities can be considered practical and professional.
"Master Chef" Pham Tuan Hai

For example, fried sticky rice, which has long been known as a specialty of Dong Nai with sticky rice, cooking oil and sugar. However, when hearing about the chefs making the record for the largest fried sticky rice with cashew nuts in Vietnam, the public was interested and came to Dong Nai to witness the event. From the fried sticky rice with cashew nuts event, it shows that specialty dishes will be one of the "strings" that hold tourists' feet.

Thank you, sir!

Ngoc Lien (compiled)

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/dong-nai-cuoi-tuan/202509/vua-dau-bep-pham-tuan-haibut-pha-am-thuc-de-thuc-dayphat-trien-du-lich-0d92b62/