Tom Parker Bowles (right) and Queen Camilla - Photo: Vanity Fair
Tom Parker Bowles is a well-known food writer for The Mail on Sunday and Tatler . He is the author of nine books on food, winning the Guild of Food Writers Award in 2010.
Tom is also co-host of Market Kitchen on UKTV Food, a regular judge on BBC's Masterchef and an expert contributor to many prestigious magazines.
He and Matt Hobbs - the master behind prestigious global private clubs such as Annabel's and Soho House - will attend an event in Vietnam in the coming days.
Previously, this culinary writer had paid much attention and sympathy to the cuisine of Southeast Asia, including Vietnam. The news of Tom Parker Bowles coming to Vietnam received the attention of the culinary world because his assessments contained a lot of weight.
At the Philippine Food Festival held in Hanoi in June, the Philippine ambassador to Vietnam, Mr. Meynardo Los Banos Montealegre, said that his country's signature dish, sisig, became popular in London after Tom Parker Bowles praised the dish.
Image of Vietnamese banh mi in Tom Parker Bowles' article in The Mail on Sunday
Tom Parker Bowles loves shrimp spring rolls, banh mi, pho and cold Saigon beer
Tom Parker Bowles told The Mail on Sunday about Tan Van restaurant in England, where family photos cover the walls and 1960s Vietnamese soul-jazz music blares from the speakers.
This restaurant serves traditional Vietnamese food. The shrimp spring rolls are delicious and fresh, the shrimp pressed against the soft rice paper like a child’s nose standing in front of a candy store. The grilled beef wrapped in lolot leaves is chewy, the beef is marinated and rolled in dark green lolot leaves.
A bowl of spicy chili sauce sits alongside, ready to be drizzled and spread with gusto.
Vietnamese restaurant that Tom once praised - Photo: FBNH
Tom enjoyed a cold Saigon beer and bit into a Vietnamese sandwich, which was a perfect combination of crispy crust and soft inside. The filling was worthy of praise, with thick pate, char siu, pork floss, and slices of cinnamon-scented cold meat. Pickles, chili, and a handful of fresh herbs balanced the richness of the meat.
Pho also scores with its rich, aromatic broth, which carries the flavors of knowledge, nostalgia and time (simmered for a long time). He likes the feeling of squeezing lime juice, herbs, bean sprouts, chili and chili sauce and adjusting it to taste.
"That's one of the charms of this dish and no two bowls are exactly alike" - Tom slurped down every last drop.
Some Vietnamese dishes at Tan Van restaurant (UK) - Photo: FBNH
Southeast Asia: A paradise of noodles and street food
Writing in Country Life a few months ago, Tom Parker Bowles said that "the great thing about soups in Southeast Asian cuisine is that you can make them as you like, from mild and comforting to shockingly spicy".
“It was one of the best lunches I’ve ever had, and there wasn’t a white tablecloth. There wasn’t even a chair, just a rickety plastic chair,” Tom wrote of the hangover noodles he once ate in a hut on the outskirts of Laos.
He was impressed with the sour herbs that he had never seen/tasted before, the stewed chili as well as the chewy noodles and rich broth.
Everything comes together like a symphony, rivalling any Michelin feast in taste, feel and texture. All for just over a pound.
Tom says “you’ll find similar things all over Southeast Asia because it’s a haven for authentic noodle dishes, hearty soups any time of day or night: Vietnamese pho, Malaysian (and Singaporean) laksas, pancit mami (Philippines), soto ayam (Indonesia), ohn no khao swè (Myanmar) and kuy teav (Cambodia)”.
He was once impressed with a bowl of noodles on the river, where an “elegant lady” glided alongside our boat, her tiny wooden canoe filled with pots of bubbling water and broth, alongside barrels full of pork liver, fish balls and God knows what else.
She ladled the food into bowls and passed them to us, waited for us to slurp, paid, and handed the bowls back. "It was spicy and numbing, not only satisfying all my senses but also making me feel happy to be alive," he shared.
Image of noodles at Damnoen Saduak Floating Market, a popular destination near Bangkok in an article by Tom Parker Bowles - Photo: Alamy
In addition to noodles, vermicelli, and pho, Tom is also impressed with the street food here. Sharing with Square Mile , he once shared his endless passion for street food in Thailand and Vietnam.
"Thai and Vietnamese food are absolutely delicious, without losing any flavor. Those are my favorite dishes, a little fussy, but wonderful," Tom commented. Like many other chefs and other fastidious critics, Parker Bowles is unafraid to eat "blood, organs and insects".
He even confessed to tasting dog meat during a visit to South Korea in his book A Year of Dangerous Eating: A Global Adventure in Search of Culinary Extremes (2007).
Tom writes: "Street food is cheap, but cheap doesn't mean bad. I'm so excited about all of it. It's not pretentious or fancy, it's just delicious."
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/pho-trong-hinh-dung-cua-mot-nha-phe-binh-am-thuc-cuc-ky-noi-tieng-20250715085615973.htm
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