Bui Minh Trung, the owner of the Nha Cuoi eatery, which offers ‘bun dau mam tom’ (fermented shrimp paste with fried tofu and rice vermicelli) on Ly Tu Trong Street, Thanh Binh Ward, Hai Chau District, has always pursued his strong passion for cuisine no matter what kind of challenges or how many difficult situations he must go through in his life.

Trung has strong passion for cuisine.

Having graduated from the Faculty of Valuation at the Ho Chi Minh City-based University of Finance and Marketing, Trung worked for a real estate company in this southern metropolis. However, given his deep indulgence in cuisine, the man decided to join in a chef training course.

With his chef certificate, Trung started working at some restaurants and hotels in Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, and other localities nationwide where he had golden opportunities to enhance his cooking skills, and get access to various new ingredients and seasoning styles.

Trung realised the fact that Da Nang is a young and dynamic market, which inspired him to leave for this central city late 2014 to startup with ‘bun dau mam tom’, a must-try specility originating from Ha Noi.

The rice vermicelli is nothing special, except for its texture and shape, which resembles a large cake. To ensure its authenticity, the ‘bun dau’ is served with a delicious shrimp-paste sauce imported from northern coastal provinces. In particular, the tofu is at its best when the outside is golden brown and crispy, and the inner part soft.

Sugar and chili should be added to the sauce, and some hot oil from the frying tofu can also be included. And fresh kumquat juice makes it even more mouth-watering. The dish is not complete without cucumber and fresh aromatic herbs, including basil and shiso.

It took Trung more than one year to survey the Da Nang market to sell rustic yet very inviting ‘bun dau mam tom’ here.

He made suitable adjustments to the Ha Noi speciality in order to satisfy the different taste of Da Nang customers. In particular, Trung confidently placed an outdoor kitchen so that his customs can see how the dish is prepared in a professional manner.

Thanks to his own grasp of customers’ tastes, Trung’s eatery over recent years has attracted a growing number of customers with his highly appreciated dishes prepared in an improvisational yet simple way.

Aside from his reputation in culinary business, Trung, widely known as Trung Bui, has been loved by local cuisine lovers as a popular food blogger. He usually shares about his own experiences with food or cooking, and posts them onto his Facebook page where he relishes in and shares culinary delights with his like-minded friends and clients.

Over the past 2 years, Trung has written highly reliable reviews about 500 dishes and drinks offered by the city-based restaurants and eateries.

Besides, the man has been actively engaged in closely working with a number of relevant agencies to promote local dishes.

At the recent Da Nang International Fireworks Festival 2019, for instance, Trung made a clip in which local nosh food on sale at the city-based Con Market, dubbed as a foodie heaven. Included were ‘goi mit tron’ (Vietnamese young jackfruit salad) and spicy ‘Oc hut’ (sucking snails), ‘banh beo’ (round-cakes) and ‘banh ram it’ (a type of dumpling with a crispy attachment).

Despite many potholes on her road to success, Trung always feels very happy to live a life full of passion for cuisine, and to turn her enjoyable, and rewarding hobby into his lifelong career. In fact, cooking, his greatest passion, relieves him of stress, and helps him  gain composure, patience, and self-satisfaction in life.