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Saturday, October 18, 2025, 10:05 GMT+7

Singaporean ‘home cook’ blogger visits Vietnam Phở Festival 2025 to learn more about phở

At the Vietnam Phở Festival 2025 in Singapore, Singaporean chef and food content creator Darren Teo - founder of The Pantry Boy - will be on a flavorful quest to better understand Vietnam’s most iconic dish.

Singaporean ‘home cook’ blogger visits Vietnam Phở Festival 2025 to learn more about phở

Singaporean chef and content creator Darren Teo. Photo: Supplied

Known for his approachable yet refined home recipes, Darren said learning to cook phở has been one of his toughest challenges yet.

“It’s very difficult to capture the intricacies of a national dish,” said the Singaporean chef and content creator.

“It’s like when Vietnamese creators cook chicken rice. I can tell they’re definitely not Singaporean.”

Cooking a healing journey

Darren’s journey with food began long before his Instagram fame. A trained chef who once worked in Michelin-starred restaurants and trained in France, his career took an unexpected turn after a back injury.

As he recovered, cooking became his therapy. “Every day I would cook different dishes at home and post them on my private Instagram. My friends started telling me, ‘You should collect these recipes and post them online.’”

That suggestion turned into The Pantry Boy, a food page that has since gained a loyal following for its approachable yet refined recipes.

“I started during the COVID-19 pandemic, about four years ago. Now we’ve become a company where we teach people how to cook.”

When asked about his first impression of phở, Darren shared “I first heard about it from Anthony Bourdain, who called it his favorite dish in the world. I thought - wow, I really need to try this.”

Although he visited Vietnam once as a teenager, his experiences of phở were mainly in Singapore.

“Being Chinese, when we think of beef broth, we think of something deep and rich, like Taiwanese soup. But phở is light yet super flavorful. The herbs, the spices, the squeeze of lime - all these layers of flavor show how much technique goes into it. It’s comforting and complex at the same time.”

Singaporean ‘home cook’ blogger visits Vietnam Phở Festival 2025 to learn more about phở - Ảnh 1.

A chef from the Majestic Saigon Hotel, part of the Saigontourist Group, gives a cooking demonstration of phở. Photo: Quang Dinh / Tuoi Tre

After that first bowl, he went back three days later for another. Soon after, he tried making it himself.

“I watched YouTube videos by Vietnamese cooks, translated the recipes, and recreated the dish,” he said.

“The hardest part was finding authentic noodles, good fish sauce, and fresh herbs. Luckily, there’s a Vietnamese specialty store about 30 minutes from my house.”

His family loved his homemade phở, but Darren wasn’t fully satisfied.

“I couldn’t balance the flavor perfectly once the noodles were added. I think I need to reduce the soup more and maybe add a bit more fish sauce next time,” he said thoughtfully.

For him, achieving balance is the essence of phở.

“You need to burn the onions for color, and toast the spices properly. The beef itself has different cooking times - tendon, brisket, raw slices - it’s all about harmony. That’s the hardest part.”

It’s hard to make Southeast Asian cuisines

As a chef, Darren admits Southeast Asian cuisines are among the hardest to master.

Due to language barriers, the recipes for these dishes found on the Internet are often not authentic, as they may come from English-speaking countries such as Australia, the U.S., or other Western nations.

“For example, if I want to cook a Thai dish, the recipe I find in English might come from Australia, and it doesn’t really reflect the way Thai people cook. The same thing happens when I look for recipes for Vietnamese dishes,” Daren explained.

To make phở, Daren searched online for different cooking styles, watched YouTube videos by Vietnamese cooks, and then tried to translate the recipes himself.

Today, Darren will attend the Vietnam Phở Festival in Singapore for the first time.

“I’m so excited to try every style of phở,” he said with a smile.

“And the bánh xèo too! I made it once after learning from a Vietnamese creator. It looked soft, but it turned out crispy, coconutty, and so good. My wife asked for it again the next day.”

Singaporean ‘home cook’ blogger visits Vietnam Phở Festival 2025 to learn more about phở - Ảnh 2.

 

Nghi Vu / Tuoi Tre News

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