Phu Huo Pham

May 1998

Phu Huo Pham was born in 1959 in Cai Lay south of Ho Chi Minh City. When he was 20 he realised that there was "no future, no life" for him in Vietnam and that the only way that he and his five brothers and two sisters could survive would be for him to escape.

He arrived in Melbourne in 1982 and had a succession of jobs, "to eat I would do any job, " from fruit picker, to tram conductor and then as kitchen hand in a number of restaurants. It took years of back breakingly hard work but now Phu is a successful restaurant owner. In 1994 he bought his first restaurant after years of saving and borrowing. It meant sometimes working in three different jobs clocking up more than 100 hours a week. There were many years when "I had one job, 77 hours for seven nights, and then another place in the morning for 6 mornings, so 48 hours there. That's 125 hours a week." As well as saving for the purchase of a house and business Phu was also sending home money for his parents and relatives.

He had left home with his fiancee, Nguyen Thu Thu Van (now his wife) and two of his brothers but without his mother or anyone else knowing they were going. " Everything had to be done in the black, under the table, so you never knew if it was real or what. You couldn't tell anyone, you just had to be ready to go and do it, because if you said good-bye to anyone at all, it would be just like you put a story in the Herald Sun, everyone would know and your relatives would be trouble."

They made their way to a boat on a river about 30 kilometres away. It was too dangerous to make the journey further overland to reach the sea and get a proper boat. It is still the case in Vietnam that you must register every night you are away from home at the police station, even for tourists.

The boat they took was "not professional, an open river boat" which did not cope with rough sea waters. It had a weak engine, "like taking an old bike to go to Sydney," Phu recalls, "it was terrible, more than 13 days, we didn't have enough food or water, some of the others (there were 50 in the boat) started drinking from the sea and got sick, the boat kept leaking so four of us had to keep bailing out water all the time."

One of Phu's fellow passengers had a compass but no map and their route was guesswork. As they approached Indonesia, helicopters from an oil rig spotted them and came to their assistance. They tried to tow the boat to land but it was too heavy so after the terrified passengers were taken onto the rig, within 15 minutes the water laden boat had sunk.

From there Phu and his fellow escapees were taken to a camp on Pau Lau Galang, an Indonesian island where they waited, some for 4 years, to be given refuge anywhere rather than have to go back to Vietnam. As a woman Nguyen Thu was able to leave earlier than Phu because all the first refugees accepted had been men and were said to have been causing trouble in Australia. She came to Melbourne and organised sponsorship for her future husband. But Phu had to waiti 14 months in the camp before being taken to Singapore and put on a flight to Melbourne.

After a year they were able to marry and now have three children. Their eldest Anh Thu is 14 and has won student of the year and been made school captain. Her brother, 12 year old, Duy Tieu Bao, has also just won a scholarship and their 10 year old sister Anh Thuy should not be far behind. "They work very hard too," says Phu, " five days at school and then on Saturday maths coaching and on Sunday, they go to the Vietnamese school which the council runs.

It seems unlikely that the Pham children will follow their father into restaurants. But it would be a shame if some of the knowledge and the recipes which Phu has learnt over the years do not get passed on. He was always learning and watching wherever he worked. He remembers particularly the recipes of pastry cook, Louis Vaussenat (who now has a shop in the Toorak Village) and still makes his lemon tart. At one of Phu's jobs he became chief cake maker and makes the bread and butter pudding (recipe below) for his Sunflower Fitzroy restaurant . All the other cakes and, in fact, all the non-Vietnamese menu there is devised by Chris Kerr a talented 28 year old, previously chef at Syracuse restaurant in the City. At Sunflower Fitzroy Chris uses many flavours (Greek, Asian, French, English, Italian) and his Sunflower small plates (from $3.50- $6) are a great way to start a meal.

He likes Phu's method for spring rolls and some of his other Vietnamese tips. Another favourite is the Vietnamese pancake, the recipe for which follows.

Banh Xeo - Vietnamese Pancake

Ingredients

500g rice flour

50g plain flour

750ml warm water

500 ml coconut cream

2 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp salt

pepper to toast

1/2 bunch spring onions, finely chopped

Method

Combine ingredients and leave to rest 1hour. Stir mixture. Head a non-stick pan (or wok to make more crispy) and maintain at medium heat. Grease the pan with enough oil to just cover the base -the mixture should sizzle upon contact with pan. Ladle enough of the pancake mix to cover the pan base. Place the filling (see below) on one side of the pancake and cover for 1 1/2 min. Remove the lid and allow to cook for a further 20 sec. Fold in half to cover the filling and remove from the pan. Makes about 20 pancakes which should be golden and crisp and served immediately.

Traditionally eaten by hand, rolled in salad and various mint leaves, then dipped in a Vietnamese fish-sauce based dressing (as below)

Suggested Fillings

Fine julienne vegetables and bean shoots &/or meat (beef, pork or chicken) or seafood which must be finely sliced and quickly sauteed beforehand with onion and seasoned to taste.

Fish Based Dipping Sauce NUOI MAM

Ingredients

1 cup fish sauce

1 cup white vinegar

2 cups water

1/4 cup white sugar

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 fresh chillies, finely chopped

Method

combine ingredients in a saucepan and bring to the boil (to remove the salty taste of the fish sauce) Allow to cool. When cold, add garlic and chilli (these should float on the top. Can be refrigerated for later use.

Tropical Bread and Butter Pudding

Ingredients

12 eggs

1lt cream

1 milk

3 cups castor sugar

4 tsp vanilla essence

1/4 cup raisins

1/2 cup shredded coconut

8 ripe bananas

12 buttered jam sandwiches, cut in half (diagonally)

Method

Line a deep,round cake tin (28cm) with silicon paper, leaving 3 cm above the tin to allow for rising. Arrange 4 sandwiches (8 halves) so as to cover the base of the tin. Layer 4 bananas (halved long ways) on top,. and sprinkle with a third of the raisins and coconut. Repeat the layering of sandwiches, banana, raisins and coconut and top with a fine layer of sandwich halves, topped with raisins and coconut.

Combine eggs,cream, milk, sugar and vanilla into a custard-like mix and pour over the layered sandwiches. Bake covered with foil, in a baking dish half filled with water for approx 1 3/4 hours at 270oC on the bottom shelf. Check for firmness to ensure it is cooked. Remove foil and place in oven to brown (approx 7 min) Serve warm or cold.