HÀ NỘI — Chefs Nik Michael Imran and Sarah Benjamin have come to Việt Nam as part of the Asian Food Channel hit Cooking For Love’s second season.

The series will follow Imran and Benjamin as they pit their kitchen skills and creativity to outdo each other and bring six new families together over the joy of food. With each episode capturing a family’s unique story, the competitive duo not only tries to challenge each other but also themselves as they draw culinary inspiration from each personalised story and create their final dishes.

They started the trip to Việt Nam on Monday to exchange with Vietnamese chefs and learn about the local cuisine.

This is the first time Imran has travelled to Việt Nam while for Benjamin, it’s the second one.

Episode 4, entited The Unsung Hero, focuses on Vietnamese food. It’s scheduled to be broadcast this month. Part of the episode tells the story of Adele Cheah, who was happily married for 10 years when her husband was suddenly taken away from their family in a fatal drowning accident.

With her husband’s birthday coming up, Cheah is reminded of the positive influence he had on her life and others, and she celebrates with a cuisine they both enjoyed having together – Vietnamese, namely phở (beef noodle) and Vietnamese summer rolls. Imran and Benjamin will compete to cook these local dishes.

Benjamin is one of the two winners of the first season of Food Hero. Born in Singapore to a British father and a Peranakan-Chinese mother, she grew up helping her parents and grandmother cook at home. 

Chef Imran is of Australian-Malaysian heritage and is the eldest of six siblings. Born in Malaysia, he grew up under the cooking influence of his father, who used to own an Italian restaurant in Brisbane, Australia. He starred in Asian Food Channel original series Tea Twist, in which he created yummy tea-based drinks, and Cooking for Love, where he and his co-star, Sarah Benjamin are pitted against each other to create affordable dishes for special family events.

The Asian Food Channel (AFC) is the region’s leading food-focused channel that celebrates the unique Asian culinary experience with the added touch of global flavour. AFC entertains viewers with a range of local and international content from reality, lifestyle to travelogue programme formats.

“I love chả cá (charcoal grilled fish) of Việt Nam,” said Benjamin. “The Vietnamese cuisine is so rich that we just want to have more time to learn about it.”

Cooking for Love is broadcast every Thursday. — VNS