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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Luke Nguyen, of Secrets of the Red Lantern fame, is going home. Travelling on a personal and culinary tour through Vietnam, Luke visits his family and friends, and is invited into the homes of local Vietnamese food experts and cooks, to learn more about one of the richest, most diverse cuisines in the world. Be tempted by more than 100 regional and family recipes and vibrant, stunning photographs bursting with colour and texture, capturing the beauty of Vietnam, her people and their deep connection to food. Key points: from the co-author of best-selling cookbook Secrets of the Red Lantern; vibrant photography and shot entirely in Vietnam; more than 80 regional Vietnamese recipes
About the Author
Luke Nguyen is a proprietor of the acclaimed Sydney restaurant, Red Lantern.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This generously, beautifully presented book is bursting with stunning photography and evocative stories from Vietnam alongside a comprehensive cook's trip around the country from North to South. Staples of Vietnamese cuisine - beef noodle soup and fish porridge, gorgeous roast pork - sit alongside other dishes both more complex and more approachable. Cooks of all levels should will something to appreciate.
The book really captures the character of the different regions of Vietnam - the relaxed coastal lifestyle of Na Trang, the cool, lush coffee-growing hills of Da Lat, the bustle and street food of Saigon. If you've been to Vietnam, this book should help bring memories flooding back through the food and the imagery. If you haven't been, this book should serve as a great introduction to Vietnamese food, and the country itself.
The book really captures the character of the different regions of Vietnam - the relaxed coastal lifestyle of Na Trang, the cool, lush coffee-growing hills of Da Lat, the bustle and street food of Saigon. If you've been to Vietnam, this book should help bring memories flooding back through the food and the imagery. If you haven't been, this book should serve as a great introduction to Vietnamese food, and the country itself.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Visually this book is very striking - with an awful lot of fascinating and attractive pictures of the Vietnamese landscape, the bustling cities and of course of the food. The recipes themselves are well laid-out, very pleasant and so far as I can tell (though I'm really not any kind of expert) very authentic. The overall organisation of the book is also pleasingly logical with recipes ordered according to region. The recipes are all furthermore put into some kind of cultural context via an accessible introductory passage to each region.
These passages, however accessible, are not brief, nor are they really objective, informative accounts of each region's culture. Collectively, they are instead, essentially, a travel log written in rambling prose, of which a large part is an account of various family reunions (but with the occasional interesting fact about Vietnam's food or culture thrown in). Given that with most contemporary food writing there will invariably be some sort of autobiographical or narrative preamble before each recipe section, they are usually easy to overlook or even enjoy out of idle curiosity. In this book however, they are pretty gratuitous. Upon opening this book to a random page, you are about as likely to encounter a non-food-related photograph (however pretty) or an excessively detailed description of a day of travelling and social interaction as you are one of the recipes.
I appreciate that many people enjoy this kind of travel writing and that for existing fans of Luke Nguyen a lot of this autobiographical detail would be fascinating. My expectation on buying this book was however, that it would primarily be a recipe book of generic interest for anyone wanting a concise but detailed account of Vietnam's food. As a consequence of all its unnecessary padding and dressing-up the book is also totally unnecessarily enormous considering the number of recipes between the covers. As other reviewers have already said, the content of the recipes deserves 5 stars. However, since, contrary to expectation, this only accounts for (probably) considerably under three fifths of the book, it gets 3.
These passages, however accessible, are not brief, nor are they really objective, informative accounts of each region's culture. Collectively, they are instead, essentially, a travel log written in rambling prose, of which a large part is an account of various family reunions (but with the occasional interesting fact about Vietnam's food or culture thrown in). Given that with most contemporary food writing there will invariably be some sort of autobiographical or narrative preamble before each recipe section, they are usually easy to overlook or even enjoy out of idle curiosity. In this book however, they are pretty gratuitous. Upon opening this book to a random page, you are about as likely to encounter a non-food-related photograph (however pretty) or an excessively detailed description of a day of travelling and social interaction as you are one of the recipes.
I appreciate that many people enjoy this kind of travel writing and that for existing fans of Luke Nguyen a lot of this autobiographical detail would be fascinating. My expectation on buying this book was however, that it would primarily be a recipe book of generic interest for anyone wanting a concise but detailed account of Vietnam's food. As a consequence of all its unnecessary padding and dressing-up the book is also totally unnecessarily enormous considering the number of recipes between the covers. As other reviewers have already said, the content of the recipes deserves 5 stars. However, since, contrary to expectation, this only accounts for (probably) considerably under three fifths of the book, it gets 3.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I have never bothered to review any books I have purchased on Amazon until this book. I absolutely love the recipes in this book; not only are they authentic, they all taste wonderful. My husband raves that all the dishes I have prepared from his book to be restaurant quality. I would even venture to say that they are even better than my mother's recipes. If you're looking for a really authentic Vietnamese cookbook, look no further!
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Travel taster
Lovely photos, entertaining and a great taster for potential traveller (which is why I bought it in the first place).
Published 24 days ago by Bonnie
Inspiring book
As a book charting the author's journey through Vietnam, and detailing many of his experiences along the way (mostly involving food), this is wonderful. Read more
Published 2 months ago by Sam
Excellent book
Bought before we went to Vietnam, and we did not really understand the food of the place, but having been there, cooked it in a cookery class there, and realised just how different... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Dominic Blunt
fantastic coffee table book
I would rate the presentation of this book five star- stunning photographs of people, street scenes and food. Read more
Published 6 months ago by oliver
A great read!
I saw the TV series and felt compelled to buy the book because of my love of Vietnamese food. This 'cookbook' is like no other that I've bought, as it reads so brilliantly. Read more
Published 9 months ago by N.P.
fab vietnamese
Highly recommend this book. Absolute bargain price. Recipes r delicious and most very easy to throw together. Read more
Published 11 months ago by James Markwick
An Experience.
This book is just amazing. The chef takes you on a most intimate journey through Vietnam, sharing with you not only the local culinary delights but the stories of the people. Read more
Published 19 months ago by elle_berlin
Wonderful culinary tour of Vietnam
I couldn't agree with the other reviewer's more - this book is stunning, well written, artistic and captures the essence of Vietnamese cuisine and culture. Read more
Published 20 months ago by KLT
The Songs of Sapa
Much more than a beautifully presented cookery book. This book expresses the spirit of Vietnam through its recipes, exceptional photographs, descriptions of markets and shopping... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Rozlyn
The Songs of Sapa
Songs of Sapa brings back great memories of Luke Nguyen's Vietnam TV series on SBS. The travel log before each region gives one the travel bug to go find these amazing places for... Read more
Published on 16 Feb 2010 by Nola Edgar
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