With a viewing audience of 20 million, Vietnamese-Australian Luke Nguyen was the definition of a celebrity chef when he took Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull out for Banh Mi breakfast in Da Nang.
Mr Nguyen, who stars in the Vietnamese series of MasterChef and owns three restaurants in Australia and one in Ho Chi Minh city, offered the PM his first ever bite of the classic street food.
Mr Turnbull said the bread roll with pâté, pork, fresh herbs and pickled vegetables, was "superb".
"This is a totally cosmopolitan dish- a French baguette and a Vietnamese filling ," Mr Turnbull said, adding that 75 per cent of the bread roll was made with Australian wheat.
"This is what free trade and open markets enable us to have - great Australian wheat in Vietnam and more opportunities for Australian farmers."
Mr Nguyen who also runs a cooking school in Ho Chi Minh City, told Mr Turnbull that he’s proud that local Banh Mi, “a much loved Vietnamese breakfast” has an Australian dimension.
“I’m very proud to be in Vietnam and to be seeing the baguette that I’m eating has 75 per cent of it, the wheat comes from Australia, and the egg noodles that I’m eating as well.”
Mr Turnbull also met with two local women dining on beef noodle soup, Pho, who posed for photographs with Mr Turnbull and Mr Nguyen.
Malcolm Turnbull gets stuck into his first Banh Mi breakfast in Da Nang with celebrity chef Luke Nguyen. Source: AAP
"You are welcome here Malcolm," Vui Nguyen, from Da Nang, said.
"It is an honour for us to see you."
Mr Turnbull, who’s in Vietnam for the APEC summit, said this is what free trade can bring to Australia.
“The key to securing our prosperity is free trade and open markets, this is a rapidly growing economy,” he told reporters.
Mr Turnbull is meeting the Vietnamese President, he's also scheduled to sign a Free Trade Agreement with Peru.
RELATED STORIES:
Dual citizenship debacle follows PM to Asia
