At Fooditude, every dish starts with an idea or flavour combination worth exploring. ‘From the Kitchen’, our new social-first series, takes you behind the scenes with our chefs whose creativity and passion shape our menus every day.
First up in the series is our Development Chef, Elizabeth Mackenzie, a 2025 StrEATfood Award Finalist known for her bold approach to flavour. Here, Elizabeth shares her take on a Vietnamese-inspired classic - lemongrass fried chicken bánh mì with a sticky chilli glaze.
Building flavour from the ground up
For Elizabeth, everything starts with a marinade designed to do more than season. It's about building depth at every stage.
The chicken is coated in a punchy blend of ginger, galangal, lemongrass, chilli, garlic, spices and egg, creating a marinade that clings to every piece and infuses it with flavour. It's then left to rest for at least two hours, though overnight gives the best results.
Once marinated, it's dredged in a mix of potato starch, cornflour and spices to lock in texture and amplify that crisp finish. The chicken is then deep-fried and finished in the oven, delivering a golden, crunchy exterior while keeping the inside tender and juicy.
The glaze that brings it all together
The signature glaze is where everything comes together. Elizabeth combines palm sugar, fish sauce, chilli, garlic and lime juice to create a sticky, caramelised Vietnamese-style sauce.
It's sweet, salty, sour and hot all at once, designed to coat the chicken rather than sit on top of it. Finished with crispy onions and fresh spring onions, it adds both texture and brightness.
Assembling the bánh mì
The final build brings freshness and crunch into the mix. A crusty Vietnamese baguette is filled with:
- Sriracha mayonnaise
- Pickled carrot
- Fresh herbs
- Crispy fried chicken
- Sticky chilli glaze
It's then served with extra pickles, more sriracha mayo and a wedge of lime for a final squeeze of sharp acidity.
Behind the scenes at Fooditude
From one-off plates to long-term business contract catering, it’s the same kitchen culture driving every menu, showcasing the process as much as the plate from early experimentation to final execution. Elizabeth’s bánh mì highlights what sits at the heart of Fooditude’s kitchen culture: confident flavour building, thoughtful technique, and a willingness to explore beyond the obvious. Dishes like this often begin as kitchen experiments before making their way onto our business lunch catering menus, from London meeting catering to large-scale events.
Stay tuned as we continue the series and share more behind-the-scenes moments from the chefs shaping what we do.
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