From Vietnamese refugee to co-owner of acclaimed Chicago restaurant HaiSous
- Chef Thai Dang’s journey to the top has encompassed everything from heartbreak to homely Vietnamese cuisine
- The owner of HaiSous started his career cooking French dishes before being inspired to work in Michelin-starred kitchens
Tell us about your childhood. “I was born in Dong Nai province, an hour northeast of Ho Chi Minh City [in Vietnam]. My mother came from a farming family, my dad’s side were traders. I am the youngest of six brothers and three sisters.
“We left Vietnam in 1989 and went to Bataan, in the Philippines, as refugees. I was around five years old at the time, and going through hardship like that, it is ingrained in your mind. Our family was large and we didn’t have enough food distributed to us in the refugee camp, so my mom got some seeds and grew vegetables to take to the market to barter.
“After seven months, an American non-profit Catholic organisation sponsored us to go to Champaign-Urbana, in Illinois [in the United States]. We got donations of clothing and food, and the government gave us food stamps and affordable housing. When we went into our house for the first time, I remember the apples because I had never had one before. My mom gave us each a slice and as we ate it, we thought, ‘We’re here!’”
Who inspired you to become a chef? “My mom. In America, she had a nine-to-five job. Before she went to work she would prepare dinner. When I came home from school, she would call and ask me to help her heat up the soup, and when it boiled, to put the vegetables and herbs in and then turn the stove off. When my family sat down for dinner and they liked the soup, I could see the joy in my mom’s face. I knew college was not for me. I wanted to cook.
“My mom was supportive, but my dad felt cooking was a woman’s job; I told them I could do more than cooking. For my culinary-school application, I wrote an essay about how my family got to America and I got a scholarship at L’Academie de Cuisine, in Gaithersburg, Maryland. I learned French techniques and the language.”
What did you do afterwards? “I worked in French restaurants, and then travelled through Spain for two weeks and racked up a credit-card debt eating at Michelin-starred restaurants like El Celler de Can Roca [in Girona] and Mugaritz [in Errenteria]. I even drove to Laguiole, France, to Michel Bras’ restaurant. I was so inspired I wanted to work in Michelin-starred restaurants.