Beachfront Cooking Class in Phuket, Thailand

I was never a huge fan of Thai food. Maybe because the few times I tried it, I selected a dish that I didn’t care for. Or maybe because I had just never had food from a GOOD Thai restaurant. Whatever it was, I figured I had better learn to like the food since I would be in Thailand for two weeks. And what better way to learn (or at least get familiar) than to take a Thai cooking class. So after a little research, I found a half-day cooking class in Phuket, Thailand and eagerly signed up to attend on my second day in the city.

Before School:

Getting to the cooking school was very convenient because a shuttle van was sent to pick me up at my hotel. In the van, I met two ladies from Australia, a guy from Germany, and a newlywed couple from Canada. Everyone was very friendly and we were all looking forward to this culinary adventure. However, we were all surprised to learn that the van wasn’t taking us directly to the school. Instead, the van pulled up behind two other vans at a local market and our non-English speaking driver motioned for us to get out.

We were a little apprehensive, but did as instructed and exited the vehicle. And there we stood – confused and in the middle of I-Don’t-Know-Where, but at least we had each other. Plus there were about ten other people who had exited the other two vans also standing around. After a few minutes, a bubbly young lady approached us and introduced herself as our guide. She let us know we would be touring the market and purchasing some of the ingredients we would be using and then we would head to the school.

The market was a bustling array of everything edible one could imagine. From tropical fruits and vegetables, to exotic meats and seafoods, to fragrant spices and condiments, to varieties of rice and grains I had never heard of, this market had it all. I could have easily been lost in this labyrinth of foodstuffs if I were on my own. But our guide effortlessly ushered us through the maze of vendors and swarms of local shoppers to successfully collect our items, all while teaching us about the plethora of items available.

Arriving at School:

After leaving the market, it was off to school we went. I didn’t know it when I booked the class, but upon arrival, I was pleasantly surprised to find the main kitchen and dining room were under a large open-air pavilion. And best of all it was located just three steps from a beautiful, secluded shoreline known as Siray Beach. Being the water-lover I am, it was hard for me to resist the urge to say “forget the class” and go jump in the water. But somehow I managed to refrain – although it wasn’t easy.

Now We’re Cooking:

There were five recipes on the agenda for us to learn. I was completely unfamiliar with all of them, but they sounded good, so lets do this! Each recipe started in an indoor classroom with a lecture on the history of the dish, followed by an introduction to the ingredients, and then a demonstration of the preparation method. Next, we went to our individual cook stations in the outdoor kitchen to recreated the dish we were just taught. And finally, we moved to the beachfront dining room area to eat our dish. We repeated this sequence five times until we had completed all of the dishes on the menu.

All of the instructors were both entertaining and informative and clearly took pride in both their heritage and their skill.

The Results:

Every dish turned out amazing, but my favorite was the Tom Ka Gai (Coconut Soup). It was absolutely delicious! And I don’t even like coconut – or so I thought. But since attending the class, this soup has become one of the regular dishes I now make at home. And I still love it!

I’m so glad I took this class. Not only because I learned to LOVE Thai food, but also because I left the class with more general cooking skills. It was something different from the usual touristy activities and I would love to repeat the experience in a different country.

After School:

On the way to school, we passed a tiger sanctuary that I had read about online and really wanted to visit. So during one of our breaks, I asked the guide from the market if she could ask my van driver to drop me off at the tiger place instead of taking me back to my hotel. He nodded in my direction, so I was hopeful he understood the request. And fortunately, he did! The tiger sanctuary was an amazing experience that I will write about in a separate post.