By CAM LUCADOU-WELLS
THE first thing visitors notice in VIP Kitchens is the aquarium of live foods – lobsters, black-lip abalone and barramundi.
They’re top of the list of this Springvale traditional Chinese-Vietnamese restaurant’s voluminous 158-item menu of seafood, duck, pork belly and other meats.
What also catches the eye are the round 30-centimetre-deep slabs of wood which are used as chopping boards.
In the front window hang barbecued ducks which are sliced on one of these logs right in front of customers’ eyes.
The broadly smiling proprietor Vay Luong said he loves the soft sound of knife on these slabs, which were imported for $300 each from China.
There’s no denying his adherence to quality.
His most popular dish is the mud crab udon noodle soup – a superb marriage of a soft-fleshed mud crab from Darwin, brewing in a bisque which is lightly seasoned by salts from the sea.
Each day, the kitchen cooks 30 ducks coated with a film of sugar.
The ducks bake inside tall gas-fired cylinders for an hour until the sugar’s pink colour darkens to a crisp.
Another menu highlight is a dozen slices of duck served next to an egg-noodle and bok choy filled chicken broth that stews for six hours.
Banquets of 10 are served in the restaurant’s VIP area.
At the excellent price of $45 a head, a feast of soup, steamed oyster, mud crab, steamed barramundi, chicken, sea cucumber hot pot, barbecued pork or duck, sweet-and-sour pork, sizzling beef in pepper sauce, stir-fried vegies and rice is served.
Luong and business partner Anna Phan took over and renamed the dining institution Tan Lac Vien six months ago.
Mr Luong had been working in hospitality for 30 years before taking on his own restaurant.
“I passed this restaurant each day while working in the area here.
“Then I finally made them an offer.”
As a 19-year-old refugee when he arrived from Vietnam in 1978, Mr Luong started his working life in a factory.
But that workplace wasn’t fun, didn’t have the feeling of family that he enjoys about working in a kitchen.
VIP Kitchens is at Shop 2, 310 Springvale Road, Springvale, and is open seven days a week from 10am-10pm.
Phone 8899 6646.
