Luke Nguyen

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Luke Nguyen
Nguyen (right) with Jeff Rowley
Born (1978-06-04) June 4, 1978 (age 45)
Thailand
NationalityVietnamese–Australian
Occupation(s)Chef, television presenter
Spouse(s)Suzanna Boyd (separated)
Lynne Nguyen
Children2 kian and khol(lynne Nguyen)

Luke Nguyen (Vietnamese: Luke Nguyễn; born 4 June 1978) is a Vietnamese–Australian chef, restaurateur and television presenter.

Early life

In 1977, Luke Nguyen's family escaped Vietnam by boat to Thailand in search of a new life. Upon arriving in Thailand, they were sent to live in a Thai refugee camp. It was in one such camp that Luke was born.

Cabramatta, Sydney
.

Luke's passion for food stemmed from his food-obsessed parents who owned the Pho Cay Du restaurant in Cabramatta for 15 years. He learned the art and fundamentals of Vietnamese cooking from his parents.[2]

According to an interview he gave to

Lifestyle Asia's Cindie Chan in 2016, Nguyen said: "Because I’ve always known I wanted to open up a restaurant and I grew up in a restaurant, I know how hard it is in terms of how much work: you don’t have weekends, you work through holidays and Christmas, so as soon as I finished high school I went travelling for one year, just myself and my backpack. I went to 14 different countries on my own".[3]

Restaurants

Nguyen is the owner of Red Lantern restaurant in

Star Casino in Sydney, Botanic House in Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens and Treasury Casino
in Brisbane.

Television

In 2010,

Mekong River. In 2014 he appeared in Luke Nguyen's France, which is an exploration of the French influence on Vietnamese cuisine.[5]

His next series, the 10-episode Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom, first aired on 14 May 2015 with the London episode in which he toured the city's food markets with his brother, Lewis.[6] His next series, the 8-episode Luke Nguyen's Street Food Asia, in which he explores street food in Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta, first aired on 1 September 2016.[7]

Nguyen has appeared multiple times on the competitive cooking show

MasterChef Vietnam
during its first 2 seasons.

In 2015, Nguyen appeared on a season 7 episode of the SBS genealogy series

Hakka Chinese ancestry through his maternal grandfather, an immigrant from Guangdong. Though his mother had known about this for decades, for unspecified reasons she had hidden this information from Nguyen. The program also revealed information about the involvement of Nguyen's ancestors during the Indochina and Vietnam Wars.[9]

In 2020, SBS aired Luke Nguyen’s Railway Vietnam, which was filmed in 10 locations over 35 days, often in challenging circumstances, and was in post-production for a further six months. The series was named Best Lifestyle Program at the Asian Television Awards in 2021.[10][11]

In 2023, SBS aired Luke Nguyen’s India.[12]

Books

Nguyen is the author of five bestselling and award-winning cookbooks: Secrets Of The Red Lantern, The Songs of Sapa, Indochine, Luke Nguyen’s Greater Mekong, and The Food Of Vietnam.[13] In an interview he gave to Lifestyle Asia he said, "With my cookbooks, it’s not just a recipe book where there is the recipe and a picture — there are stories behind the dishes that I share, so they are also educational and historical".[3]

Advertising

Nguyen has been the face for various advertising campaigns. He is the ambassador for Pork Australia, promoting pork in Australian households and restaurants.[2]

Philanthropy

In 2009, Luke Nguyen and his then-partner, Suzanna Boyd founded the Little Lantern Foundation in

Hoi An
, which gives disadvantaged youths an opportunity to undertake a hospitality training program in Little Lantern's operating hotel, restaurant and bar.

In an interview with Girl.com, Ngyuen stated that, "Going back to Vietnam and visiting family members there and seeing where my parents used to live and meeting my [family] and just meeting kids, in general, I realised they've got it hard." He noted how easy Australians have it in comparison. He added, "When I go to Vietnam and see so many people, so many young kids struggling, they don't have enough money to have an education; it's not like Australia where the government gives you the chance to pay back your education costs- in other developing countries, it's not that easy. When I go to Vietnam and meet these kids that cannot afford to go to school and they're out there going through rubbish tins collecting plastic bottles or cans to sell and then give money to their parents it kills me." He reveals that this was the impetus for establishing the Little Lantern Foundation. He wanted to, "set up a little training school with a house and restaurant attached so people can do the theory in the training school and do the physical training in operating a business in the restaurant so they can have that real experience".[14]

Awards

Ngyuen was the youngest person inducted into the

Sydney Morning Herald's Food Hall of Fame. He has also been awarded Chef of the Year in Vietnam, and his restaurant Red Lantern has won the Best Asian Restaurant award by the Restaurant and Catering Association many times.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b https://www.ethnicbusinessawards.com/blog/lukenguyenstory
  2. ^ a b https://freshfiction.com/author.php?id=20610
  3. ^ a b https://www.lifestyleasia.com/hk/culture/people/qa-celebrity-chef-luke-nguyen-on-travel-and-his-first-hong-kong-restaurant
  4. ^ Luke Nguyen's Vietnam on SBS
  5. ^ Nguyen's France
  6. ^ Luke Nguyen's United Kingdom
  7. ^ Luke Nguyen's Street Food Asia
  8. ^ "MasterChef - S8 Ep. 31".
  9. ^ 10 things you didn’t know about Luke Nguyen
  10. ^ Luke Nguyen, Creative Media and SBS win Asian Television Award for Railway Vietnam
  11. ^ LUKE NGUYEN’S RAILWAY VIETNAM wins prestigious Asian TV award
  12. ^ Airdate: Luke Nguyen’s India
  13. ^ https://www.dymocks.com.au/authors/luke-nguyen
  14. ^ https://www.girl.com.au/luke-nguyens-vietnam-interview.htm

External links

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