New fine dining concept with 83

GRAZ It is the memories of the flavours and dishes of her childhood in Vietnam that Thi Ba Nguyen is now serving up as a new fine dining concept at the VINA restaurant in Graz. In a five-course gourmet menu, Austria's oldest female top chef at 83 years old (1 Falstaff fork) guides you through the diverse flavours of Vietnam: from organic beef with fresh herbs and Vietnamese Phu Quoc pepper to scallops with wasabi cream and fish sauce to the Vietnamese classic "Thit Kho Tau" with braised organic pork and quail egg - soul food with an addictive factor.

"We want to offer our guests something special in addition to the existing cuisine," say Thi Ba Nguyen and her son Robert, who runs the restaurant. The menu can be booked from Tuesday to Thursday evening (by telephone or online at www.vina-restaurant.at). Highlights of the premiere menu include the refreshment before the main course with kiwi and lime (created by barman Sascha Ehmann) and the dessert with coconut and passion fruit. Together with the amuse-gueule (pumpkin, homemade soya sauce, marinated chicken), the 5-course menu costs 75 euros per person.

Mama Thi Ba and her team's cuisine is a hit: since the restaurant reopened in October last year with its elegant design look (created by the well-known architecture studio INNOCAD) in the centre of Graz, it has been full to capacity almost every day. No wonder: guests love the Nguyen family's authentic cuisine. 83-year-old Thi Ba Nguyen can draw on more than seven decades of cooking experience.