Cooking classes

Anyone with recent experience of a cooking class/school in LP?

I%26#39;m a solo traveller and interested in participating in a class but not in LP on a Friday, which I understand is the day that one operator offers a class for solo travellers otherwise the classes are restricted to 2 or more people.

Cooking classes

Not sure that I understand exactly what you are asking, but for what it%26#39;s worth we participated in a cooking class at Tum Tum Cheng and it was ery interesting. It included a tour of Phousi market with one of the cooks, hands-on preparation of a lunch and lots of information about obscure culinary herbs and barks. I wouldn%26#39;t say the food was totally traditional (e.g. tomato ketchup in a sweet %26amp; sour sauce) but it was well worth the US$25 fee.

Cooking classes

Thanks for your reflection.

Sorry to write a confusing post but I was unclear from the company websites for if they only offered the cooking classes to organised [tour] groups or allowed individual people to sign-up to a class.

I took the class offered through the Tamnak Lao Restaurant. You also visit the Phousi Market to purchase your items and learn about things like water buffalo and the large vat of fish sauce.

Each person has your own station to prepare your dishes. We had three people in our class but the instructor said they would have offered the class even if just one person was interested.

All of us really enjoyed our class. Have fun at your class.

Cheers!

There seem to be about 3 cooking courses in Luang Prabang. In addition to the ones mentioned (Tum Tum Cheng and Tamlak) Tamarind restaurant also offers one. Tamarind seemed the cheapest ($20). I took the one at Tum Tum Cheng because it was the shortest (half day). Even though it was more expensive than the others they advertise a class with the owner (Chandra ???). So I thought it might be worth the extra price. But he is too busy doing other things now so he doesn%26#39;t even do the classes. I was a little disappointed, more out of principle, but I did enjoy the class nonetheless. The woman teaching us has been there for about 7 years. I am not sure what the other classes are like but maybe if you took a whole day course you would get more hands on experience. We went to the market and learned some chopping techniques but because of time restraints the staff did most of the prep. Each guest did one dish, so it was hard to see what the others were doing. All very quick and the next thing we are eating. Still good though. You have to pay 50,000 kip for the recipe book, however they do give you free copies of the recipes we made (about 6) plus a little sticky rice box with a few spices. Nice experience.

The Tamarind cooking classes were not happening the week I was in LP. I did the class with The Three Elephants Restaurant. It was fantastic. We met at 10am, visited the local market to look at some of the produce then headed back to the kitchens to cook some dishes for lunch. After eating we cooked some dishes for an early dinner (finish at 6pm). There are a max of 10 people per class and a cookbook is included in the price. The teaching is very professional and clear. We did most of the preparation too so got to really understand the recipes. We had a fun, jovial group who also enjoyed a couple of beerlaos to quench us as we cooked.I can highly recommend this cooking class. It was the highlight of my trip to Laos.

The Tamarind class is great, their classes have about 8 people, though ours only had 6, and it is different from the others I think because you go to a lovely outdoor room overlooking the river, and cook the way Lao people do, over little open braziers. We did a tour of the market and learned lots of interesting things about the food. We cooked some really nice Lao dishes, and then sat down in the garden to eat. We were finished by about 3, and were taken back to the restaurant. We received copies of all the recipes included in the cost, and had a lovely time. I would not have liked the class to go on longer, we cooked stacks of dishes and had enough time to go home, digest our meal and feel refreshed for the evening meal adventure! Highly recommended.