Chiang Mai Travel Forum

Planning a trip to Chiang Mai in August 08 and would like to do a cooking class. Has anybody got any suggestions or recommendations to make?

There are several cookery schools in Chiang Mai, just google, I have been to this one twice and it was very good, they pick you up from your hotel and return you later. There are several different courses from half day to one week. All the information can be found here.

http://www.thaicookeryschool.com/

Hi

Last year, I and my wife also facing the same problem, which school should we enrol for our cooking class. After reading some review from Trip Advisor in Chiang Mai. We decide to use A Lot of Thai, it is really nice, Yui, the teacher, she is really good, patience and have a very good knowledge on different spices and cooking skill. They pick you up to and fro from your hotel. No regret, value for money. Hope it helps.

Website : http://www.alotofthai.com/

i looked for a cooking class too but eventually didn't do it in CM. i didn;t like the fact that it was all a standard menu and if you wanted to learn more, you needed to come back for a 2nd and even a 3rd day... We went in Pai (a nice little place a few hours from CM) and ended up with cooking classes with BeBe's Wok 'n Roll (BeBe being the owner's grandmother). It is a very small setting and you can invite friends for dinner in the evening. He's very nice and he'll teach you all in a day

at 10 am - walk to the market area (night time becomes the night bazaar)...

walk into one of the restaurants / hawker in the hole style...(it should be failry quiet in the morning part of the day)...

ask the cook, usually the owner of the restaurant...ask him / her to show you how to cook 3 things...suggest: tom yum goong, pad thai, chicken basil leave...

they might be a little surprised...tell him / her you will pay 500 baht for the course and the meal you're about to cook and eat...

that's the best cooking course ever - no fancy certificates, no fancy aprons - just the real thing...down to the grind. the whole experience? simply thai!

and all VTers ask for "off The Beaten Track" - - well, here's one for you.

happy, chilly, happy, chilly!!

thanks for all your replies all very helpful.
Sounds good travelagent but how receptive to such a request are these restaurant owners and do they speak enough English for me to know what they are doing or do you just watch them?

apologies for coming back late to your inquiries...

the restuarant owners may be a bit surprised, but they'd be open to it...the language may be a bit of a challenge.

perhaps ask your hotel concierge to write a short note in thai, the intent of your visit...worth a try! it'll be quite a tale that you can tell it to all your friends in the years to come! :-)

i recently returned from chiang mai and did a thai cooking course at the thai farm cooking school www.thaifarmcooking.com it was the highlight of our trip between my husband and i we learnt 12 different dishes for only $30 aust each well worth the money. highly recommended.