From her special love for sweet cakes, and for her husband of an Italian national, as well as her desire to bring traditional Italian pastries to Viet Nam, a middle-aged woman from Da Nang opened her own bakery of Torino which specialises in making Italian cakes.

Doan Thi Phuong Lan

She is Doan Thi Phuong Lan, 41, who is known as the first woman to make panettone cakes imbued with the taste of Italy in Viet Nam.

Four years ago, the family of Mrs Lan returned to Viet Nam, and she planned to introduce the famous cakes of the country shaped like a boot to domestic customers.

Amongst them, panettone is an Italian type of sweet bread originally from Milan. The delicious cake features flavours of raisins soaked in wine, orange jam, lemon, and shredded lemon zest.

Apart from its special flabour, panettone also has many fascinating and romantic anecdotes. If you have the opportunity to visit the Torino bakery, Mrs Lan will tell you about the anecdote of this cake.

Mrs Lan said after coming back to her hometown in Da Nang, she started to make and sell sweet cakes, including panettone, online. Thanks to her ceaseless efforts, Lan-made panettone have won the trust of Italian gourmets.

“My current success was partly attributed to my Italian husband who tried my home-made panettone and gave me useful advices” she shared.

Mrs Lan recalled that she met her current husband for the first time when she did interpreter job for him. At that time, he opened an Italian restaurant named Torino on Nguyen Chi Thanh Street, Hai Chau District.

Lan's husband was a psychiatrist who showed keen interest in learning about Vietnamese culture. Hence, he demonstrates his deep love for the S-shaped country.

Phuong Lan in an Italian newspaper

In 2004, he left Italy for Viet Nam to open a restaurant. However, after 2 years of operation, he started to face many trade-related problems in the country such as taxes and social insurance payments.

"At that time, we fell in love and had a son. Unfortunately, my baby suffered from congenital heart disease. Due to the unfavorable business activities, and my sick son, we decided to return to his hometown. Since then, my life has started to turn to a new page” Lan said.

As living in Italy, Lan did everything she could to earn living from cleaning houses and public works, to cooking meals for native families.

Lan and his husband rent a house near the foot of a mountain, 60km far from the nearest town.

Every day, Lan got up at 3am and took a bus from home to town. One day, Lan read an advertisement for a cake-making class. She then decided to attend the class to pursue her dream of becoming a cake maker.

During her difficult time, Lan received active support from many Italian people. Her class’s teacher invited Lan to work for him, but she refused and said that she wanted to return to Viet Nam to reopen my husband's Torino restaurant.

And now, her dream has come true, and Torino is present in the An Thuong Tourist Streets in Ngu Hanh Son District.

The Torino bakery and the namesake restaurant have been very popular with foreign tourist arrivals to Da Nang.

By QUYNH TRANG – Translated by MAI DUNG