Awards winning Iron Chef Michael Bao Huynh is one of the most illustrious and creative Vietnamese American chefs and the country’s top culinary Ambassador. His distinctive and profound expertise of his inherent cooking enables him to open a notable number of exceptional restaurants.
Chef Michael Bao Huynh first introduced the Fusion culinary style, a style that requires understanding of different culinary cultures around the world, to the people of New York City. In 2003, Michael Bao Huynh was voted “Best Chef in New York” by New York Food magazine. This is an annual award given to the nine best chefs in all of New York. Bao’s pure Vietnamese dishes are transformed in a unique and creative way that has become a favorite dish of many famous celebrities and head of states: Naomi Campbell, Mick Jagger, Helmut Kolt, Usher, Rachel Weisz, Michael Bloomberg…
Since the age of 11, Bao helped his mother cook at his family restaurant. Every day, he had to get up early to marinate and grill meat. For the young Bao, cooking was just a game as he recalled. Following in his father’s footsteps, Bao went to study architecture at the New York City Technical College. However, he always dreamed of opening a restaurant in the United States so every day after school, he went to his adoptive family’s restaurant to cook.
In 2002, Michael Bao Huynh opened Bao 111 – his first restaurant in the US. He later returned to Vietnam to take on the position of head chef for many renowned restaurants and hotels and participated in the TV show Iron Chef as a super chef and Master Chef Vietnam as a guest judge.
Bao believes that to reach the top of the culinary industry, chefs need to go abroad to develop their skill. They must also be able to enjoy delicate food to be able to re-create them properly. For Bao, if you do not enjoy luscious food yourself, how would you know how to cook? Learning to cook through textbooks can only help chefs create dishes that resemble them in form. Bao’s success comes from the fact that he combines extremely delicate spices to craft an intense impression on diners.
These days Iron Chef Michael Bao Huynh is working his magic and applying his ingenuity at MOI cuisine by creating delicate and highly customized menus for his elite clientele.
MOI cuisine is in the heart of Little Saigon, in the city of Fountain Valley, Ca.
AWARD & RECOGNITION
Michelin Star, Silk at Cocoon Club, Frankfurt, Germany
2003 Best Chef New York Magazine
2007 Best New Restaurant (Mai House) by New York Time
2007 Best New Asian Restaurant by Time Out New York
2011 and 2012 Michelin Bib Award (OBAO NYC)
2013 Iron Chef Vietnam
2014 Coach for Bocuse d’or Vietnam Team
