KOTO Sai Gon

STUDENTS FROM ST JOHN'S GRAMMAR SCHOOL, AUSTRALIA VISIT KOTO SAIGON

On 29 Jun 2013, delegates including students and teachers from St John’s Grammar School, Australia visited KOTO Saigon as part of their trip to Vietnam this year. St John's Grammar School, founded in 1958, is a Co-educational Anglican school situated in the foothills of Adelaide, South Australia.

St John’s Grammar School organizes regular trips to Vietnam for students not only to learn about new culture, visit historical places but also to share with the less fortunate.

Students from St John’s Grammar together with trainees from Class 7 of KOTO Saigon had a great time together in a truly exciting cooking competition. St John’s students and KOTO trainees were divided into teams to compete in a very interesting challenge: to cook a meal with starter, main dish, dessert and drinks.

They had to do everything by themselves from planning, going to market, preparation, cooking and presening the dishes to judges. The whole challenge from morning till afternoon created a great bond among every student and trainee, leaving many sweet memories of sharing and learning despite existing obstacles such as language barrier or cultural gap.

This day will definitely become unforgettable among all participants for the friendship, teamwork and great food they created. Thank you, St John’s Grammar School for this amazing visit! We look forward to welcoming you again soon

Join us in BUY A BRICK, KEEP THE DREAM ALIVE to support KOTO Hanoi with new kitchen equipment for training purposes!

Each little brick contains big strength to make our trainees' dream come true

'ART FROM HAND TO HEART' FUNDRAISING DINNER BY CLASS 6 - KOTO SAIGON

On 26 Jun 2013, KOTO Saigon trainees - Class 6 successfully organised a fundraising dinner with more than 100 guests attending. The dinner was truly an unforgettable time with great joy, happiness and excitement thanks to all trainees who had put their best in preparing and running this event over the past 3 months.

Highlight of the dinner is the auction of which products for sale are all hand made by Class 6 trainees. All of these are Japanese kirigami building models, which wowed everyone due to their delicacy and artistry.

The total fund raised from this auction is about VND 16 million, which is indeed a great reward for our trainees regarding their first time organising this event.

All of the guests were very happy with the nice food, professional service, especially the warm and delightful atmosphere brought by our trainees.

Thumbs up to our wonderful Class 6 trainees! You have all done a great job for this night. Let’s keep on with all of these efforts.

Thank you everyone for having taken part in the fundraising dinner and supported our trainees in their first big project ♥

KOTO has recently been cited in the Guardian as a one of the champions of social enterprise in Vietnam.

The article captures the views of Vice Minister D**g, MPI; Dr Cung, Vice President of CIEM on the need of support and potential of social enterprise in Vietnam.

"Finding Vietnam's own success stories, says D**g, will be important to raise awareness of social enterprise in the country. Examples of successful existing social enterprises in Vietnam include Know One, Teach One (KOTO), a hospitality training centre for disadvantaged young people. KOTO, with branches in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, has an enterprise division including an online bakery, two restaurants, a cooking class and a catering service."

Vietnam takes inspiration from British social enterprises Senior Vietnamese policy makers share thoughts with UK leaders

On 19 Jun 2013, a Fundraising dinner was successfully organised by KOTO and Celebrity Chef Nhut Huynh from Australia at KOTO Saigon Restaurant. This is the most anticipated dinner as part of the Aust – Viet Junior Chef Competition where Chef Nhut is the main judge and cooking trainer.

The restaurant was full of guests on the fundraising night with a truly special atmosphere, a space filled with joy, happiness and love to be shared. All the guests were very happy with the professional service and amazing food especially prepared by Chef Nhut and KOTO trainees, including canape, three main dishes each paired with selected wine and a special dessert.

The night was even more fun and exciting with the lucky draw session of which prizes were KOTO merchandise and mini-cakes made by KOTO trainees themselves. Around VND 20 million was raised from this dinner thanks to the extraordinary support of our lovely guests. Many of them were really touched and expressed their high appreciation to this wonderful night, even staying back to sing and dance with KOTO trainees, encouraging them to try harder and believe in their future.

The fundraising dinner ended with lasting great feelings, unforgettable memories to everyone, from every guest to KOTO trainee and staff. Thank you everyone for making this dinner a big success and most importantly, a time of love and joy that will be remembered forever.

On 20 Jun 2013, the Aust – Viet Junior Chef Competition officially took place with top 14 Junior Chefs selected for the semi-final round. KOTO Saigon was honored to be the official venue sponsor for this grand event, providing kitchen equipments as well as human resource and other services.

The semi-final round was very exciting when 14 little chefs competing in teams to demonstrate their best cooking skills in front of the judges. Only 7 best candidates continued to be in the final round where they had to compete individually for the title ‘Junior Master Chef’.

It was very interesting to watch the kids putting all of their highest efforts and full concentration on their dishes. The judges also highly evaluated these highly talented kids’ cooking skills at their age.

As commented by Chef Nhut Huynh, the main judge who had accompanied our little chefs throughout many challenges, this cooking competition is a great platform for kids in Vietnam to nourish their cooking passion, being confident to learn and demonstrate their skills in a professional and high-standard environment.

As a pre-event of the Aust-Viet Junior Chef Challenge 2013, on 19 Jun 2013, a master cooking class was organized for top 14 Junior Chefs and KOTO trainees at KOTO’s training kitchen in District 2. The instructor was Aust-Viet Celebrity Chef Nhut Huynh from Australia who was the main judge of the competition this year.

All little chefs were very excited to attend this cooking class, listening to Chef Nhut’s presentation about his favourite Vietnamese dishes in his book ‘Little Vietnam’, watching how he demonstrated his excellent cooking skills and chatting with this talented and truly funny, friendly chef.

Though being extremely busy with preparation for both the competition and other side events including press conference, fundraising dinner at KOTO etc., Chef Nhut was still very enthusiastic and livened up any place he came!

News about the visit of Australian delegation of education institutions to KOTO on Travellive!

Chuyến thăm KOTO của các Học viện đào tạo ở Úc Ngày 24/6 vừa qua, tại Nhà hàng KOTO Văn Miếu, Người sáng lập KOTO – ông Jimmy Phạm đã có bài phát biểu với Đoàn Đại biểu các học viện đào tạo của Úc do ông Tim Dillon - Ủy viên bang Victoria dẫn đầu.

As part of the Aust – Viet Junior Chef Competition event, on 18 Jun 2013, KOTO trainees had an opportunity to attend a training session conducted by Australian Master Butler Barry Lloyd from MLA (Meat & Livestock Australia).

Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) delivers marketing and research & development services for Australia's cattle, sheep and goat producers. MLA is the provider of premium meat for the cooking competition this year.

In this session, Mr. Barry Lloyd trained about different types of meats as well as knife skills. All trainees were very excited to take this unique chance to learn new skills and interact with Mr. Barry for practice.

The support from MLA given to KOTO is really meaningful and greatly appreciated!

On 18 Jun 2013, the press conference for Aust – Viet Junior Chef Challenge was held at KOTO Saigon Restaurant to officially announce this grand event to celebrate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Australia and Vietnam.

Besides many reporters from different media channels such as ABC Channel (Australia), Tuoi Tre News, Thanh Nien News, VTV, HTV etc., there are also top 14 Junior Chefs and their parents attending the press conference. Everyone was very impressed by the professionalism and excitement of the competition.

At the event, all attendants also had a chance to meet representatives from Australian Consulate- General, Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) and especially Celebrity Chef Nhut Huynh from Australia - the main judge this year, watching his cooking demonstration and tasting the truly delicious premium Australian beef provided by MLA for this competition.

KOTO is very proud to be the venue sponsor for this competition regarding kitchen and human resource. We believe this first official cooking competition for kids in Vietnam will set an important foundation for upcoming kids’cooking activities in future.