Sydney Writers' Festival 2008 - Online Program

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Secrets of the Red Lantern
Event 19
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THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT

At Red Lantern the aromas and humidity of Saigon never seem very far away. In Secrets of the Red Lantern Pauline Nguyen, with recipe writers Luke Nguyen and Mark Jensen, shares family recipes and the story of her family's flight from war-torn Vietnam. Sample their delicious food and hear stories from the heart at this special event.

Supported by Murdoch Books.

Literary Lunch/Dinner  |  Food & Drink
Participants
Pauline Nguyen, Mark Jensen

When
Monday, May 19 2008
18:30 - 22:00

Where
Red Lantern Vietnamese Restaurant
545 Crown Street
Surry Hills
Venue and Transport Info...

Cost
$80

Bookings
9250 1988
www.sydneytheatre.org.au

MARK JENSEN (LOCAL)
Mark Jensen is unlike most chefs in that he didn’t start working in a professional kitchen until the age of 27. Mark decided that if he was going to be a successful chef the right training would be essential. He moved backed to Sydney and promptly obtained a position in Matthew Moran's kitchen at the Paddington Inn Bistro. Here he refined the techniques he had previously learnt under the exceptional tutelage of Janni Krystis.

The time had come for Mark to make his own stand in the Sydney dining scene and he opened the dining room at the Olympic Hotel. After many years at the stoves and many favourable reviews in the Good Food Guide Mark was approached by his brother-in-law to head up the kitchen brigade at his new restaurant, Red Lantern. He received intensive training from a Vietnamese master chef and quickly became familiar with his new friends the wok and the cleaver.

Red Lantern became an instant hit with Sydney’s dining public, a cool but casual dining room, fresh ingredients crafted in a traditional manner with informative service.


PAULINE NGUYEN (LOCAL)Nguyen, Pauline
Pauline Nguyen, author of Secrets of the Red Lantern, along with recipe writers Luke Nguyen, Pauline's brother, and Mark Jensen, Pauline’s partner, are the proprietors of Red Lantern, the acclaimed modern Vietnamese restaurant in Sydney’s inner-city area of Surry Hills. They hold in their hearts and their heads the Nguyen family’s amazing stories and food secrets.

In her moving memoir, Pauline Nguyen tells the honest, difficult story of the Nguyen family, following the journey of her parents from their homeland in Vietnam on their escape to Thailand as refugees, and then on to their eventual resettlement in Australia. They moved to Sydney’s most vibrant and notorious Vietnamese enclave where Pauline and her brothers grew up.

A shared passion for food is at the heart of this family's journey. Food helped to placate homesickness, became central to the family’s early success in Australia and was sometimes the only language the family could use to communicate with each other. In the end, it was what reconciled the family and helped to create the success that Red Lantern now enjoys.

also appearing at...
210: Triumph Over Adversity
294: Food as Communication: Secrets of the Red Lantern


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