Vancouver is home to some of the best chefs in the world, many have worked for the top chefs and restaurants around the world as well as around the city. Dishing with the Chefs is a series of Interviews with some of the top chefs in and around Vancouver.
Cherry Pham moved to Vancouver in 2015 from Northern Vietnam, after raising her family, she decided to open this restaurant in 2021 as she missed the food of her home region of Hai Phong in Northern Vietnam. She has succeeded in bringing a truly unique and authentic taste of her home region to Vancouver.
You can follow Chef Cherry Pham and her Crab Hot Lau restaurant on Instagram @crabhotlau.vancouver
What inspires you to create the dishes you do here at Crab Hot Lau?
Cuisine is what makes people always remember their homeland the most. Thanks to the cooking to share famous traditional cuisine from my homeland come to with everyone too help me feel love and intimacy to Vancouver like my homeland
What are your favourite ingredients to cook with at home?
I like natural spices, because each spice has its own flavor so I can choose the right ones for each dish
What are the common known dishes in your culture?
Rice field crab noodles soup or rice field crab hot pot, square crab spring roll, fish vermicelli soup, northern beef noodles soup, and pate mini breadstick
What are your favourite dishes to cook at home?
I like to cook traditional dishes
Were you always interested in cooking?
Yes, my favourite is to cook
What is your Favourite Northern Vietnam dish to eat personally?
Rice field crab noodles soup and square carb spring roll
What are the most popular dishes at Crab Hot Lau?
Rice field crab noodles soup and square carb spring roll
1st dish:
Square crab spring roll
Ingredients:
Fungus, shiitake mushrooms, bean sprouts, glass noodles, shrimp, crab meat, minced pork, minced purple onion, fish sauce, seasoning seeds, pepper, rice paper, daylily color
What city and region did you live in before moving to Canada?
I was born and lived in Hai Phong, is the largest port city in the Northern region Vietnam
Which dish off your Menu at Crab Hot Lau would pair well with Beer?
Most dishes you can enjoy with beer, eg fish cake, west lake shrimp cake, squid cake, green papaya beef, beef carpaccio salad or square crab spring roll, pork wrapped in piper leaf…
2nd dish:
Rice field crab soup
After shelling the crab, wash it and add salt before grinding the crab so that when cooking, the crab meat will form into large, delicious and rich chunks. Crab soup is naturally sweet and delicious, high in calcium.
Have there been any ingredients that have been hard to find in Vancouver?
Most of the typical ingredients of main dishes are hard to find in Vancouver. Therefore, I often import them from my homeland to make the dishes taste keep traditional original.
What ingredients do you import from your home region in Vietnam?
Rice field crab, red noodle, rice paper, That Lat fish, crispy fried shallot and most spices and fresh herbs, vegetables originating from Vietnam are imported by air twice a week
3rd dish:
Fish cake
That Lat fish mixed with garlic powder, fish sauce, sugar, pepper and dill. After creating the fish cake, it will be deep fried in oil.
What are the top 3 dishes that customers have come back for since day 1?
Rice field crab noodles soup and hot pot. Square crab spring roll. Fish vermicelli soup
Stay tuned for the next chef in the Dishing with the Chef series.
By: Richard Wolak