A season of festive joy and celebrations awaits at 3 Spoons Restaurant, as Junior Executive Sous Chef Doan Trong Dat whips up from his busy kitchens new culinary delights from three signature cuisines, and an array of mouth-watering delicacies exclusively for the holiday at InterContinental Hanoi Landmark72.
In the centre of the fast-developing hospitality scene in Hanoi, rises InterContinental Hanoi Landmark72, the city’s highest luxury hotel that opened since September 2017. Being one of the new-generation InterContinental properties in the world, the hotel brings world-class “InterContinental Life” experience to Hanoi, while embodying the city’s and country’s signature charms and flavours in lifestyle and culinary.
Capturing this essence most beautifully is 3 Spoons – an expressive dining venue on the 62nd floor. Unlike the usual hotel’s all-day dining restaurants that serve staple international cuisines, 3 Spoons boasts three open kitchen islands that introduce to diners different culinary, from Vietnamese Chinese, to Japanese and Italian. Each of the dishes from these kitchens either highlights a unique local specialty, or features a traditional Vietnamese cooking method, to spice up otherwise familiar flavours from other countries.
“We take great pride in being a pioneer with a different take in culinary. Every ingredient is hand-picked with our committed “from farm to spoon” approach, and a balance between premium imports and locally sourced specialties”, shared Chef Doan Trong Dat. “You can find a good bowl of “pho”, lobsters or seafood platter in many places; but GREAT “pho” with roast duck and foie gras, Canadian lobster cooked the Vietnamese way, or an assortment of seafood grills from different coastal cities, can only be found at 3 Spoons. Coupled with an energizing space full of natural sunlight and incredible views of Hanoi, I don’t think there are a lot that can embody “zest for life” in Hanoi better than this vibrant menu at our restaurant”.
Junior Executive Sous Chef Doan Trong Dat is the mastermind behind 3 Spoons’ culinary scene. An avid traveller that has been to every corner of the country, Chef Dat uses his years of experiences at luxury hotels and restaurants, to infuse and elevate his favourite flavours of Vietnam into every dish. His celebration of the local cuisine can be found in details as small yet vital as his signature sauce, which strikes a balance between spices, sweets, saltiness and even bitterness – a creative combination of Vietnamese familiar ingredients like garlics, gingers and condensed local lime juices.
A diverse geography from luscious delta, vast oceans to raw highlands, Vietnam boasts numerous breeds of specialties, whose different textures and flavours have also found its way into Chef Dat’s signature dishes at 3 Spoons, alongside imported ingredients. The new menu features not only the likes of H’Mong Black Pork, Sapa Salmon, Ha Long Squid and Nha Trang Lobster, but also his Chef-recommended duck native to the mountainous area of Cao Bang. This new found favourite dish will also be an important highlight in Chef Dat’s Festive Season menu – his creative rendition alongside the holiday staples like roasted turkey.
For this unique ingredient, Chef Dat hand-picks and infuses each duck with 7 different spices, using his favourite trick of stir-frying the spices first and marinating the duck from inside, so that the meat thoroughly absorbs every flavour throughout the cooking process. Before grilling, each duck is also blanched through hot water, and as a final touch, douched in a generous amount of honey. The result will be tender, juicy meat, crispy skin with a sweet glaze and a beautiful roasted luck - a perfect main dish for share this holiday at 3 Spoons or for any special occasion with your loved ones.
“For the Festive Season, you can expect a lot coming from our restaurant. We will definitely bring to the table your holiday classics like turkeys, stuffing and the usual favourite seafood buffet; but myself and the culinary team will also want to introduce to all guests, especially visitors to Hanoi, how to enjoy the season, the Vietnamese and specifically Hanoi way”, shared Chef Dat.
To fight the biting cold in winter, and to celebrate the year-end union with friends and family, it is almost by tradition that people from Hanoi will treat themselves to luscious roasts, grills or hearty soup that brings everyone together. “And our newly created roast duck will be the perfect addition to any gathering”, Chef Dat explained. “Apart from that, we have also “upgraded” the Vietnamese grill selection, which will prompt a culinary journey through different North-Eastern valleys. Definitely not to be missed is also the restaurant’s signature “pho” noodle soup with, you guessed it, roast duck and foie gras.”
Describing the signature “3 Spoons Pho” would be a mouth-watering affair, considering the extraordinary way and ingredients it is prepared with. The juicy roasted duck is sliced into generous amounts, complemented by Vietnamese fragrant herbs, fermented young bamboo shoots, lots of green onions and the star of the dish – two large pieces of duck foie gras, golden brown, pan-seared to perfection with a texture as creamy, buttery and smooth as pate.
All will then be topped with the quintessential “pho” broth, which is made with beef bone stewed for 48 hours, and “umami” roast duck juice. The dish will also be served with baskets of Vietnamese greens and herbs, a tribute to the Vietnamese villages in the North.
Find out more about this unique array of Festive dishes and celebrations at 3 Spoons Restaurant with our menus and activities throughout December: https://landmark72.intercontinental.com/festive-season
