laocook

A Banh Xeo is a savoury Vietnamese Crepe. The basic technique is similar to the French style Crepe, but the ingredients are different, as well as the finished texture and taste.

Fillings for the Banh Xeo vary from one place to the other sometimes you can find Pork, Chicken, Prawns and even Venison!

We are “always thinking” about how we can take a standard recipe, add are A-Team touch and “reinvent the wheel” so to speak.

This is King´s first attempt of New Style Banh Xeo.

Crispy Banh Xeo “a la Millefeuille” with Pork and Two Types of Cold Soba Noodles with Green Tea Sauce.

There are various ways that Tuna is packaged, whether in Tins with Oils or a “Mojama”.

However, to some people, fresh Tuna is best eaten raw or cooked like a steak on a grill. We have many uses for it, though the former remains the most enduring.

Our fresh Tuna, weighing in at 89 kilos is kept on ice until it is delivered.

Recently we were lucky to have some Master Chefs over from Japan, who made a demonstration of how to cut this fantastic specimen.

The innards are cleaned out and kept for a special dish. There is a lot of blood still inside the Tuna and cleaning it can be a messy job.

Every part of the Tuna can be used. Even pieces from the head and bones.

The flesh is gloriously red, much like fresh beef. The darker meat can be used for grilling, sometimes it is too tough to be eaten as sushi as well as being too overpowering.

For Sushi & Sashimi, we only use the best parts. Kuchi demonstrates the final stages of portioning the meat. You can see the the meat at the lower half is lighter in colour.

On the plate you can see the various parts of the Sushi cuts. These will be used in different types of Sushi and Sashimi.

The cut furthest away will be used as Sashimi, the middle cut will be used in Sushi and the nearest piece will be cut in to strips and rolled with Rice and Nori to make Maki´s.

Tuna is truly an amazing fish and we feel proud to be able to offer the best pieces for our diners :) .

Lets not forget though, that the Chef has to try some too ;) .

There is a cut from the Tuna that is simply divine. It comes from near the stomach and fetches high prices on the market. It should, at its best, be eaten as is, in Sashimi form. It is known as “Fatty Tuna”, which really does melt in your mouth. Mind you, because of the high fat content, only a little should be eaten.

It´s colour is light pink, tinged with white specks. It has to be handled delicately and is extremely fragile. There are many grades of Fatty Tuna, or Toro as it is known amongst connesiours. The texture is like Velvet, and its price is dictated by its fat content.

For our Sushi we use a wide array of Fish, but Tuna remains our favorite.

There is a kind of mystery surrounding the making of classic Roast Duck. Many books give you recipes that are hard to follow, some even tell you to add red food colouring!!

Some restaurants use a special cylindrical oven to achieve the crispy skin (perhaps the best part of the duck ;) ). Seeing as we have an up-to-date oven, we can roast and steam many foods that the home cook cannot, or would find difficult to do. And, No, we dont add food colouring…

Khamsene is responsible for our restaurants duck, which we mostly serve with a Red Curry.

The duck is first cleaned and scalded with boiling water, patted dry and hung in a ventilated area for a few hours.

Sen then adds his Secret stuffing ingredients (ginger, coriander, five spice powder, garlic and other yummy things ;) ) and carefull sews up the duck cavity.

In order for the air to circulate around the duck, we hang it to cook in the oven. We like to cook the duck in two phases, first for 45 minutes at 50º, then for 15 minutes at 180º.

It is important to let the duck “rest” after cooking, for a minimum of 15 minutes before you can start to carve it.

At our cooking times, the duck (about 2 kgs) will just be cooked through, with a “pink tinge” and not over cooked.