I’ve been meaning to write about our fabulous market tour and cooking class that we did on our visit to Hoi An late last year.
There are a wide number of cooking classes and tours offered in Hoi An and we chose Ms Vy’s for it’s reputation and ease of access…it was walking distance from our hotel, the Anantara Resort. We chose the half day Holiday Masterclass which includes a market tour as well as tastings and demonstrations in Ms Vy’s market restaurant before the class.
Ms Vy is also the founder of the well known Morning Glory restaurants in Hoi An and has written the highly successful Taste Vietnam cookbook, as well as opening the Home of Hoi An restaurant in Melbourne, Australia.
We met up with the group of about 20 tourists at the restaurant to then board a boat for a trip down the river to the Hoi An market. We were split into 2 smaller groups for the market tour.
Here we were shown and explained the different seafood, vegetables, herbs, meat, poultry and even cooking utensils on sale. Whilst we had actually walked through the market earlier on our way to the restaurant, having a knowledgeable guide to introduce us to stall holders and their produce was great. We even got to taste the different herbs on sale and visit the butchery section which is a far cry from what we are used to in Australia! (mind you, it was all super clean and super fresh)It was great for photos and videos took s we were with the guide at stalls that had been pre-arranged to visit rather than feeling self-conscious about taking photos without permission.
We then returned to the restaurant where we cooled down with an icy cold drink, before being given a tour around the market restaurant “stalls” which showcase how different noodles are made, unusual ingredients such as tripe, pigs brain, snails, silkworms and frogs are used in Vietnamese cooking. We had the chance to sample these delicacies if we wanted and also to get hands-on having a go at making noodles. This was a fun and different aspect of the cooking class not offered by others.
After this we were taken upstairs to a very well set up cooking school, where we were given our own cooking stoves, equipment and ingredients to learn how to make cabbage and shrimp roll soup, ban Xeo pancakes, green mango salad and green mango salad.
The large mirror over the main stove at the front of the class meant we could all follow the demonstration by the Chef teacher, and her clear instructions and her jokes made the class lots of fun.
Our favourite was learning how to make the delicious Ban Xeo pancakes, including the tip to just buy the packet mix at home from Asian grocery shops to meal it really easy to make at home.
The experienced chef teaching us was excellent and of course we got to enjoy our efforts by eating it all.
We were given the recipes and a special Vietnamese chopping utensil as a special gift.
The entire experience went for about 5 hours from 8.30-1.30pm and was very well run. Great way to learn a bit more about Vietnamese cuisine, as well as a great market tour.
Here’s a link to their website:
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