The story of the mixologist Vu Doan Vien Du
“I was competing against myself mostly,”
Despite the tough line-up consisting of bartenders from across Vietnam’s top cocktail bars, for Du it was a personal test.
“I was competing against myself mostly,” he explains as we caught up with him following his victory earlier this month. “There was a lot of pressure, especially since my bar is pretty new – just six months old.”
Saigon’s cocktail bars are popping up like an array of booze-soaked whack-a-moles, but unlike the pesky subterranean marsupials, Saigon’s cocktail scene is looking set to stay up and it’s mostly down to the talent and passion of people just like Du. Drinking and Healing is Du’s latest passion project, so named after the restorative powers that alcohol alone holds.
“You know that people have dark, sad times from time to time right?” he asks, “Well, there are points where time cannot heal you, but drink will.”
Drinking and Healing may be the new kid on a pretty crowded block, but 24-year-old bar supervisor Du has already helped to snag one accolade for the up and coming bespoke beverage bar. Slap bang in the still-beating heart of District 1, Saigon, Drinking and Healing occupies a space in a French colonial house, one that’s stood in Vietnam for over 150 years and is now decked out in such a charming range of decor that it makes Jay Gatsby look like a pauper in a tin shack.
“Well, there are points where time cannot heal you, but drink will.”
“My winning cocktail was a twist of Boulevardier, but with strawberry infused bourbon, herbal infused sweet vermouth and, of course, Campari!”
With bars always rising and falling in Vietnam, Du’s keen to keep Drinking and Healing ahead of the cocktail curve and has since devised a menu that lets patrons choose their ideal essential elements for their drink, while Du and his team work the magic that turns that fantasy into a reality behind the bar.
It was this ingenuity that saw Du take home first prize at the Campari Bartender Competition Vietnam, where, fizzing with the sort of passion that only a true cocktail geek can know when behind the bar, Du turned his award-winning talents to a twist on a Campari classic.
“My winning cocktail was a twist of Boulevardier, but with strawberry infused bourbon, herbal infused sweet vermouth and, of course, Campari!”.“I feel really proud and yes, I’ll be using the same drink again in the next part of the competition – those are the rules, the ingredients must stay the same,” Du tells us. “The prize is me getting to meet different bartenders and travel to Italy. It’ll be 11 bartenders from all over Asia.”
The next heat takes place in Milan, Italy and will see Du pitted against some of Asia’s leading bartenders as they enter the mixology melee in Northern Italy’s bustling metropolis January 20th 2019.
“This is going to be my fourth year as a bartender now – I’ve been doing this over three and a half years already, but it really started when I was just a runner in a restaurant, mainly just dealing with food.” Du muses on the twists and turns that will soon take him from his native Vietnam and out into Europe’s mainland, “I remember seeing the bartenders there and thinking, ‘they’re so cool!’ and as a waiter, I really wanted to be one of them.”
Not content to just watch from afar, Du took the initiative to chase his dreams and move beyond just the food at the restaurant. “After serving food, I went behind the bar and started washing glasses and asked them to teach me bartending.”
“I remember seeing the bartenders there and thinking, ‘they’re so cool!’ and as a waiter, I really wanted to be one of them.”
“I’m proud to be Vietnamese, and to use local spirit – that’s what I’ve loved to do as a bartender and I really wanted to show people what Vietnam can do right now.”
“I love my job.” Du explains when asked if it ever gets to be a bit much, “Yes, cause I love to see happy people come and drink and talk, for me it’s all about making sure they enjoy their time and their drinks,” there’s a glint of passion that shines through when you talk to Du. Moving forwards, Du is already steeling himself for the coming challenge that awaits in Milan, “Like I said, I’m proud to be Vietnamese, and to use local spirit – that’s what I’ve loved to do as a bartender and I really wanted to show people what Vietnam can do right now.”
Moving forwards, Du is already steeling himself for the coming challenge that awaits in Milan, “Like I said, I’m proud to be Vietnamese, and to use local spirit – that’s what I’ve loved to do as a bartender and I really wanted to show people what Vietnam can do right now.”
Cocktails don’t necessarily spring to mind as quickly as street food when people mention Vietnam, but as the development of Saigon’s District 1 and Hanoi’s burgeoning cocktail scene shows, the times are indeed changing. “Yes I think it’s a good change,” reflects Du, “I expect spirits will become more popular and because people will have more knowledge about what they are drinking, what can be done with spirits and cocktails, it’ll definitely become more of a cultural part of Vietnam.”
This isn’t the first time Du has taken to the stage to wow judges, having already won the favour of the judges at the Singapore Cocktail Festival in 2017, where he’d pledged to “support local spirits” and went all guns blazing into the contest armed with Apricot flavoured Son Tinh.
From that day forth, the Hanoi Temple of Literature was born – not the actual temple, something a little easier to drink. Inspired by the shift in seasons and how the Vietnamese capital came to look under the changing sky, Du named his award winning cocktail after the Temple of Literature, which has stood in Hanoi since 1070.
“During the month of March, Hanoi is at its most beautiful. I use Son Tinh Mo Vang (apricot) because the apricots at this time are just coming into season,” says Du. With the weather nose-diving into the abyss of winter, there’s not long now until Du’s favourite season – the perfect time to enjoy a Temple of Literature, made of course, with Son Tinh.
“During the month of March, Hanoi is at its most beautiful. I use Son Tinh Mo Vang (apricot) because the apricots at this time are just coming into season,”
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