Vietnamese-Australian chef Thi Le and the women that changed her life – mother, mentor and an ex-partner’s auntie
The owner of Anchovy, in Melbourne, originally wanted to be an interior designer, until some wise words, an enlightening apprenticeship and her mother’s blessing led her to cooking
What are your childhood memories of food? “It was good and bad. I grew up eating really good food. It was bad because I’d want to go out and play and my mum would make me help her roll spring rolls and prep. I grew up in Blacktown, one hour west of Sydney, and we were the only Southeast Asian family there. My mum would pickle vegetables and my friends would come over and ask, ‘What is that?’ Now I’m a chef, I realise my mum was way ahead of her time with fermenting stuff.
We would go to Cabramatta, which has a Vietnam town, and Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants. We ate a lot of Laotian food – it’s like Thai but more herbaceous and spicy, and funky from the shrimp paste. I would eat at my Filipino friend’s house, and at school my classmates were Turkish and Lebanese so we’d swap lunches. I was 10 years old when I tried tabbouleh – cracked wheat with parsley, tomatoes and sumac – and it blew me away. I fell in love with sumac.”
When did you know you wanted to be a chef? “I wanted to design bars and restaurants. I studied interior design and did hospitality for fun. My instructor said I should think about becoming a chef and I said, ‘No, my mum [a former Vietnamese refugee] would kill me.’
“In 2007, I did a gap year and travelled to Asia and Europe. I loved China because I had studied ancient history. There is so much history behind the cuisine. In Chongqing, in the morning, they have street vendors making noodles and dumplings to order and the soy milk is so fresh.”
When did you do your first chef stint? “When I went to Leeds [in northern England] in 2008, as part of this Europe trip, I was housesitting for my then-partner’s auntie. I cooked dinner for her and she asked if I still wanted to be an interior designer and I said, ‘I’m not sure.’ [She] had a restaurant in the Hunter Valley [in New South Wales], with a Thai chef and she suggested I meet him and see how it went.
The first Saturday night cooking by myself was the worst Saturday night ever. I cried for like five hours [...] I realised I needed proper training and went to culinary school for a year
“I went back to Sydney and thought about it, and then went there. He left soon afterwards and I learned very quickly how to run a kitchen on my own. I ended up cooking stuff from my childhood. The first Saturday night cooking by myself was the worst Saturday night ever. I cried for like five hours. My partner at the time drove four hours from Sydney to be with me and told me to buckle up. I realised I needed proper training and went to culinary school for a year.”