Yesterday we booked a cooking class and had to get up to meet the class at 08:20 am. I hate getting up early, especially on vacation. It’d better be worth it.

The class took place at Vy’s Market, a European-style market restaurant. Trinh Diem Vy seems to be a kind of institution in Hoi An as she owns nine place in the village, one of it being Cargo Club where we dined yesterday. Judging from the two I know now every place is run with passion for food and you are offered high cuisine at a low price. Fantastic!

We started off with a visit to Hoi An’s market and were educated on the different native groceries one could find everywhere in Vietnamese cuisine, but also on the differences between Northern and Southern cuisine.

Lin was a great guide with attention to details and could explain everything to our inquisitive group. She even revealed to us the probably best-kept secret of all natives: The good’s local prices!

The group of 13 was split into 3 groups and we continued with a general overview of traditional Vietnamese food and its preparation. Some dishes were more compatible to Western taste like the traditional white roses, some less, like the stuffed escargot, the silk worms (masked as salad), brain, frog, or the half-bred eggs that already looked like chicken. Yes, some of it sounded remotely like typical French dishes, but – no offense – I haven’t been a huge fan of these… Although I was brave enough to give everything a try!

When we were done trying and tasting, I was already full, even though I hardly had any breakfast. What we cooked was delicious, and I found myself overly stuffed at the end of the class.

The menu we created consisted of four courses and we were “awarded” all recipes afterwards to take them home with us:

1. cabbage roll with shrimps in Vietnamese soup
2. crispy scrambled egg with shrimps in rice paper with a hot dip
3. and 4. spicy chicken on mango salad

There are many cooking classes but this experience was truly awesome and despite the fact you might not be into cooking at home, this is by far one of the best activities you can do here.

// cooking class: Vy’s Market and Cooking School

 

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