King Of Culinary Winner Embraces Kampung Spirit, Opening Up Condo To Neighbours Every Day To Try Her Food

A wok star is born!  

After 14 weeks of mouth-watering face-offs, King of Culinary, Mediacorp’s inaugural multi-language cooking competition, has crowned its first-ever champ, housewife Tran Thi Ngoc Anh Hue. 

Spanning over 10 weeks, Phase 1 of King of Culinary consisted of three separated competitions — Raja Kaiya Vecha (ராஜா கைய வச்சா), Raja Kulinari and 三把刀 (San Ba Dao), conducted in Tamil, Malay and Mandarin/English, respectively, with contestants facing off three professional mentor-chefs in four rounds of cook-off. The winners of each show will move on to The Final Showdown.

In the finale on Sunday (Dec 4), San Ba Dao winner Tran Thi Ngoc Anh Hue beat Raja Kaiya Vecha winner Gopica ‘Rasathi’ Rasiah with a three-course menu that dazzled the judges — food influencer Daniel Ang and chefs Haikal Johari and Petrina Loh — to take home the S$10,000 cash prize and a coveted laser-etched King of Culinary Grand Champion knife.  

Hailing from Vietnam, Hue, 40, moved to Singapore 10 years ago to study hairdressing. It was here that she met her husband, with whom she shares two boys, aged nine and 11. She declines to reveal what her other half does for a living, and would only say that “he’s a simple person”. (These days, Hue’s hairdressing knowledge is limited to cutting her children and spouse’s hair.)  

Throughout the competition, Hue slayed her rivals with her “old people’s food” inspired by her hometown in Vietnam as well as comfort cuisines from China, Laos, Cambodia and Singapore. She also didn’t talk much on the show; instead, she let her cooking (and the hosts) do most of the yakking.  

Because she wasn’t fluent in English and Mandarin, was that why she maintained a low-key presence? Or was it just plain old nerves from appearing on TV? On the contrary, Hue was actually feeling very relaxed, she tells 8days.sg over Zoom. As for the lack of banter, she says she was super-focused on preparing her dish: she was worried that if she started chatting, she might lose her train of thought.  

Below, Hue shares more about her King of Culinary experience and what she plans to do with the S$10,000 cash prize. 

8 DAYS: Congratulations on winning King of Culinary. What lessons did you learn useful from the competition?  

TRAN THI NGOC ANH HUE: After San Ba Dao, the first thing I learnt is how to make one dish in 40 minutes. At home, I would spend a very long time making one dish. But now, I do everything faster at home.  

Of all the dishes you made, from San Ba Dao to The Final Showdown, what was the most challenging one? 

I don’t feel there were any challenging dishes. I just enjoy cooking and I try my best to make the best dish in 40 minutes.  

There’s a funny clip of host Hossan Leong and the chefs reacting to you breaking the lemongrass stalks with your bare hands. They were really surprised you did that.   

I’m surprised to see them surprised because this is how I cook at home. (laughs) 

Chef Eric Teo is your mentor. What was the best advice he’s ever given you? 

Before the competition, when I cooked at home, I used to buy a lot of ingredients; I was always worried that there wasn’t enough food. Even during the competition, I would do the same. Chef Eric told me not to waste food —just buy enough, don’t buy extra. 

Did you prepare for the competition by watching cooking shows? 

My time is spent on my children. I don’t have time to watch cooking shows. I didn’t know about San Ba Dao until my helper told me about it. I just went for it. I was happy that I got to cook and that people got to eat my food.  

Are you keen to go into the food business yourself? 

Right now, I have no idea. I’ll be very happy to just have people trying my food.  

How do you intend to spend the S$10,000 cash prize? 

When I joined San Ba Dao, I thought I would just do it for fun. I never thought I would win because I’m a home cook. But now that I’ve won, I think I’m very lucky. It’s a prize given to me by Buddha, so I will use this money in a meaningful way.

Have you thought about entering MasterChef Singapore? 

For now, I just want to continue to cook my dishes so that people have to chance to try them.  

You really embrace the kampung spirit not just in the dishes but at home as well. We hear open up your condo to neighbours and their children throughout the day, from morning to around 9pm-10pm. You would also serve them food. And you’ve been doing this for 10 years!   

My mother-in-law did that when I was staying with her — she would open up her place to neighbours 365 days a year. Her friends, and their children would come by the house every day. So I followed her practice. I’m happy to be around children making noise, and laughing. In the morning when my children wake up, their friends are already there. They would play the whole day until night, until they are tired. Then they go to bed. My door is always open to my neighbours: whoever wants to come, just come.  

Then what happened during Circuit Breaker? 

During the lockdown, we couldn’t do this. The kids would play over the phone. But when they allowed [group gatherings of up to] five people, I started it again. 

I feel like, after this interview, I should swing by your place and taste your food… 

You can come anytime! Just message me first. (laughs) 

King of Culinary: The Final Showdown is now streaming on meWATCH. Watch Hue’s first cook-off here: