Guest chef Didier Corlou at Restaurant Ikarus

September 2009 at Restaurant Ikarus: Didier Corlou

The Vietnamese Frenchman

"La Verticale", Hanoi, Vietnam

Didier Corlou is an ambassador of a new Vietnamese cuisine despite coming from a different continent entirely: he is a Frenchman, born and bred. It is not just his wife who is responsible for Corlou falling in love with Vietnamese cuisine. He also became enamoured with the city of Hanoi, its proud and friendly people and their cooking which is produced without any cream, butter or alcohol. The latter, of course, is an essential component of French Haute Cuisine. Corlou adds a dash of this French Haute Cuisine to his Vietnamese dishes. The result is a fusion of international cuisine at the highest level.

Didier Corlou grew up in Brittany in North-West France. As the eldest of eight, he helped his mother in the kitchen and his uncle in a restaurant. After training to be a chef, the 17 year old Corlou set out to conquer the world of cooking. He was initially based in West African on the Ivory Coast in 1976. A year later, he worked for the ACCOR Group which manages hotels and restaurants across the world under this umbrella brand. This gave Corlou a taste for exploring different countries and their cuisine and a chance to learn under the guidance of various masters. His guests over the years have been as international and famous as his placements: the Sultan of Malaysia, Fidel Castro and President Clinton are just some of the guests who have sampled Corlou’s creative cuisine.

The Breton’s travels from kitchen to kitchen ended when he finally found the place he had been looking for: Vietnam. He worked as Executive Chef at the Sofitel Metropole Hanoi for the next 15 years. During this time, he managed 2 different restaurants: the Le Beaulieu which specialises in French cuisine, as the name suggests and the Spices Garden which offers sophisticated regional specialities. In 2005, Corlou moved to Cambodia with his family to manage the Escale des Artes et des Sens in Siam.

After a year, the family moved back to Hanoi and fulfilled their dream of running their own restaurant. The Verticale opened in 2007. The restaurant serves unique compositions including fried tempura shrimps with fresh orange juice, frogs’ legs stuffed with pork and studded with sesame seeds, green rice ice-cream and grilled oysters topped with caviar-filled banh cuon rolls.

Corlou has been awarded the Five-Star Diamond Chef Award by the America Academy of Hospitality Science for his unique combination of local and French cuisine. Just a year after its opening, the Verticale was named as one of the world’s top 100 restaurants by Conde Nast. An additional example of Corlou’s unique style of cooking is provided by the fact that the Verticale is now listed in the Go List 2008 by the Food and Wine Magazine. In 2007, the chef opened Corlou Catering, Pastry, Cuisine in Hanoi, serving sweet pastries to the people of Hanoi. He has also managed the On the six in Ho Chi Minh Stadt (the former Saigon) since 2008. When he finds the time, he is busy writing a new cookbook which is sure to become a bestseller.

Corlou has also applied this concept of fusion to his own life. This Frenchman and his wife, Mai, are the perfect match. They met while working at the Sofitel Metropole and married 2 ½ years later. They now also have 2 sons to make the family complete. There is no doubt that Corlou can be called a friendly conqueror of a new age, with a whole country at his feet.