Food is language: Television chef unlocks secrets of culinary adventures

He communicates through food.

"Through food you can communicate with all the local people, if it's through eating or hand signals. I love communicating to buy food in any country," Mr Nguyen told Explore.

You don't need to speak the local dialect when you visit a new city. Just visit a street market or street food stall.

"This just shows me what people are like, what they love to eat, and how food is such an important part of their daily lifestyle," Mr Nguyen said.

The chef and TV personality is inspired by other cultures' cuisines when he travels and Japanese is a firm favourite because of "how much love and passion they put into that one piece of that one dish or that one piece of that mouthful of food".

"I love the freshness, the cleanliness of it, and the love of the ingredient."

Italian food also holds a place in his heart - and his stomach.

"Italian's got to be really good extra virgin olive oil, Vietnamese it's got to be really good fish sauce ... So we appreciate the same quality, which I love."

Mr Nguyen is the latest celebrity to host an exclusive guided tour. He has shared his love for Vietnamese cuisine through restaurants, cookbooks and TV programs and now you can go on holiday with him in Vietnam.

Known for Luke Nguyen's Vietnam, he grew up in his parents' restaurant in Cabramatta and knew he wanted to be a chef from an early age. He opened his award-winning Red Lantern restaurant in Sydney's Surry Hills (now in Darlinghurst) when he was 23.

"At the end of every year I'd close Red Lantern and we would just go to Vietnam for research, researching recipes, regional dishes," he said.

Mr Nguyen has spent the last 20 years travelling Vietnam learning the best places to eat, and will share his knowledge with a small group of travellers through his Vietnam Food Adventure with Helloworld and Intrepid.

The 10-day tour takes travellers on a culinary journey from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City.

Guests can expect to be challenged with ingredients like sea snails which are eaten widely in Vietnam and to be led on a curated Hanoi street food tour with Mr Nguyen.

Turmeric rice flour crepe, chargrilled pork with vermicelli noodles, and udon noodles with a Japanese influence are some of his personal favourites.

"The way I had to learn was to travel Vietnam. I've been doing that since I was in my early twenties, so all these favourite street food areas, all the cafes, bars, even hotels I've stayed at, this is it," he said.

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"This is the very best of my 20 years of research condensed into this wonderful tour of Vietnam that I'm going to share with everyone."

If you're into food, art, golfing or cricket, there's probably a celebrity-led tour out there to interest you.

Celebrity chefs Gary Mehigan and Matt Preston will lead a Luxury Escapes foodie tour to Taiwan and Hong Kong in 2025.

You can kick back with Grand Designs Australia presenter Anthony Burke on a Nordic Lights tour with Renaissance Tours in June.

Footy tours are big. Australian Sports Tours runs a variety of them including the upcoming Rugby League Las Vegas 2025 tour featuring Ray Hadley in February and March.