The Songs of Sa Pa is sold in all good book stores. Signed copies can be purchased from the restaurant by phone or from the Red Lantern shop. Please click here to order your copy.
Luke Nguyen is going home. Tarvelling 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.
Starting in the northwest of Vietnam, in the villages and hills around Sa Pa, Luke explores the roots of traditional cooking. Moving south, he travels to the capital, Hanoi, renowned for its French-Vietnamese cuisine. He explores the imperial cooking of Hue, discovers the famed cau lau noodles in Hoi An, and tastes a host of simple seafood dishes in coastal Nha Trang and Quy Nihon, his journey culminating in Saigon, where he is reunited with his family.
"... on my right, vendors offer steamed buns, snails dipped in fish sauce, and handmade tofu so freshly pressed there is steam still rising from it. I'm so excited I feel like jumping up and down, but I calm myself, stop and sit down, I close my eyes and listen to the songs of the Sa Pa market ..."
The Songs of Sa Pa is a vibrant, visual essay of Luke's journey, the stories and recipes from each region, with stunning photographs bursting with colour and texture, capturing the beauty of Vietnam, her people and their deep connection to food.
Luke Nguyen was born in 1978 in Thailand, shortly after his parents and elder siblings fled Vietnam as boat people. After spending a year in a Thai refugee camp, his family eventually settled in Sydney. Luke is the chef and co-owner of the award-winning Sydney Vietnamese restaurant, Red Lantern. Luke's TV work also includes Food Safari, Heat in the Kitchen and Luke Nguyen's Vietnam. In 2009, he founded the Little Lantern Foundation, which gives disadvantaged youths in Vietnam an opportunity to undertake a hospitality training program.
