What the Pho?! Cindy Lam’s Fresh Take on Vietnamese Cooking

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with one of our clients, Cindy Lam Lorimer about her new food blog, Cindy Lam Cuisine. I always love how much energy, vision, and passion shines through when she speaks.

Cindy balances a busy real estate career with her food blog. Her enthusiasm for Vietnamese cuisine is infectious, and it’s clear she’s deeply committed to making her mark in the food blogging world. “Real estate is my bread and butter,” she says, “but the food blog is something I really care about. It’s not easy balancing both, but I’ve made it work.”

Her website has been live for about a month and a half, and she’s creatively managed her time. Cindy is fortunate to have assistants and a housekeeper who help her out with various tasks, including grocery shopping, prepping ingredients, and handling updates on her blog. “I’m very grateful,” she says, “because my housekeeper acts as my sous chef, and my assistant handles the website updates when I revise a recipe. I just don’t have the bandwidth to do it all myself.”

Cindy’s clear on her goals for the blog. “I want to be the go-to for Vietnamese food,” she says. To make the cuisine more accessible, she mixes familiar dishes like chicken curry salad with traditional Vietnamese recipes. Her ultimate goal? “I want Vietnamese food to be as common as sushi or pizza.”

One of Cindy’s favorite parts of the process is reading the comments and ratings on her recipes. On the other hand, she’s not a fan of calculating nutritional information, especially for custom ingredients like fried tofu. “It’s tedious,” she admits, “but I know people care about that stuff, so I make sure to include it.”

When it comes to staying inspired, Cindy intentionally avoids looking too closely at other food blogs. “I don’t want to be influenced by them,” she explains. “I want my content to be authentic, in my own words.” This desire to keep her voice and style unique stems from her creative background, which also includes interior design, a field she and her husband are launching a business in.

When asked about must-try recipes, Cindy suggests her summer rolls with hoisin dipping sauce and her pho. “That hoisin sauce—it’s like crack,” she laughs. “And pho? It’s not as hard as people think. It just takes time, but it’s mostly hands-off.”

Cindy is building Cindy Lam Cuisine with a balance of practicality and passion. Between her real estate career and her love for Vietnamese cooking, she’s steadily working toward her goal of making Vietnamese food a household favorite.

You can find more of Cindy’s recipes at cindylamcuisine.com.