About Us – Rice Kitchen

OUR STORY

We arrived in Melbourne more than a decade ago, bringing with us an abundance of treasured family recipes and the Vietnamese way of eating, communally and with love.

Australia introduced us to a new culinary scene with “foreign” ingredients and techniques that we have enjoyed incorporating into our own style of cooking. We love that around every corner there is always something new to discover and learn about food, which makes our passion for cooking even more exciting and tasty!

We opened Rice Kitchen because we want to share our love of fresh Asian flavours with you and believe that good health and happiness starts with eating real food that has been simply prepared and nourishes our body and spirit.

We look forward to welcoming you to Rice Kitchen South Melbourne soon.

Love,

The Rice Kitchen Team

You have to nourish to flourish

Vision To create nourishing Vietnamese food for the community so that our customers wellbeing can flourish

Mission To be the top Vietnamese eatery in Melbourne by providing fresh, tasty and nourishing food and an exciting concept for our customers, to provide impeccable services that demonstrates warmth, generosity, professionalism and integrity and to provide our staff with a friendly, professional and rewarding environment so that they can achieve their best.

Our values

TIME: We value our customers’ time and aim to provide efficient and timely service. GENEROSITY: We value having a generous spirit. We work to ensure that we don’t cut corners but provide generous, nourishing food and hospitality. BEING MINDFUL & GRATEFUL: We enjoy the present moment and being mindful of whom we are cooking for, putting good energy and love into our food. We are also grateful for our health and using good quality produce to ensure that we serve the yummy and nutritious food. FAMILY: We take pride in our home-style cooking that stems from our family recipe collection. We enjoy taking the time to spend together with our family and friends and honour mealtime. FUN: We think everything to do with food is fun, from creating new dishes and flavour combinations, preparing and cooking as well as enjoying a beautiful meal together with friends and family.

MEET OUR TEAM

Lili Tu – Executive chef, Photographer & GM

Biggest accomplishment in kitchen: Won the Feast Magazine’s competition for the best chocolate recipe. My Triple Chocolate Pomegranate Tart was featured on October issue in 2012. For a self-taught baker who only started to bake in her late 20s, it was a big milestone. I came up with the recipe of a chocolate tart with a hidden layer of pomegranate jelly and chocolate ganache infused pomegranate molasses because I love dark chocolate and pomegranate is my daughter's favourite. The tart is dedicated to our love for good food.

Current fave cookbook: Organum by Peter Gilmore. It is more than a cookbook. It is a work of art. I love to read about the growers, producers, harvesters in his book, and specially his food philosophy – the four elements of nature, texture, intensity, purity. Passion is evident.

Lucas Do - Chef

Favourite cuisine: I have a certain fondness for South-East Asian foods, especially Vietnamese and Thai cuisine. I am constantly amazed with how the dishes could taste so good with very much ordinary ingredients, the techniques that go into those recipes are often family’s secrets.

Pastime: My wife and I enjoy exploring different things together – new local café, restaurants, or watch old and new movies together. Also, playing sports and staying fit is my stress reliever.

Kaz Huynh - Sous Chef

Favourite cuisine: To be honest, I do not have a specific one, but to say it out loud, it could be Japanese. It is not always about the food, it is also about the culture, the passion, and the way people showing their respect to the food. For all of that matter, it makes me so curious and keeps wondering all the time.

Big accomplishment to now: I have finally figured out what I could do to make my future way easier and better. It took me awhile to realise and to determine that career path. It is not very easy at first, but since I have been through a hard time in the past 5 years, I know that I cannot waste my precious time any longer. It is the right time for me to go, experience and pursuit my passion for the food and the diversity of different cuisines around the world.