Anaïs Ca Dao van Manen was born in Paris; raised in Vietnam; went to school in Singapore; and worked in London as a chef and consultant before ending up back in Vietnam. It is this confluence of place and culture that influences the way she does her work — breaking down a linear form of culinary storytelling by finding new recipes, styles of cooking, and ways of incorporating social objectives into her restaurants and beyond.
It all started when she worked at Bones in Paris with James Henry, developing her love for making food in the kitchen and experimenting with different dishes. But it was an impulse to think and read about the philosophy and anthropology of food that led her away from restaurants to menu development work in London. There, she worked at Kitchenette Karts, a social enterprise project that mentors formerly incarcerated youth, showing them how to run their own self-sufficient food businesses.
If you want to see her work, you can order a meal at one of her London Taiwanese street food restaurants, including Bao and the newly-opened Yeshi… Or stay tuned for the latest episode in her and her brother’s cooking tutorial series, Ăn Ngon, which showcases the diversity of Vietnamese cuisine and shines a light on lesser-known dishes.
Here, Ca Dao van Manen shares how she works, including why she conducts a “wild card” test when she’s trying out different recipes; her next idea to create a soda drink from Vietnamese spices; and the thing she dislikes most about restaurants that are so hard to book.
What’s your morning routine?
I wake up around 7 a.m. and stay in bed for 10 minutes with my cat. She knows it’s nearly feeding time so she jumps up on my bed and makes herself all very cute and lovey-dovey. Then I get up and drink a full glass of water before making a filter coffee, or if I’m lucky my husband does it for me, then at 8 a.m. I either play badminton or go to the gym. Before I start my work day, I test recipes for my upcoming cookbook or do admin work for my restaurant.
