We just returned from Thailand where my hubby and I experienced the best cooking class, ever. We’d done some research with fellow travel and food bloggers to ensure we signed up for a class we’d enjoy and that would incorporate a market visit and authentic dishes. Based on some recommendations, we opted for the Private Dinner Course at Benny’s Home Cooking Chiang Mai (https://www.bennyhomecooking.com).

About Benny and Her Cooking School

Benny has been a Thai cooking instructor for over 8 years and now owns her own cooking school which is adjacent to her home in an organic vegetable garden.

Benny, Hubby and Me

Team Benny truly care about the quality of their food and grow organic foods in their garden that cooking school participants can harvest ingredients from to use in their class. No pesticides are used and many of the plants in the garden are grown to help control bugs and insects.

Cooking Classes

Students of the cooking class select from a menu of dishes that they’ll be cooking. Benny offers two cooking classes:

Daily Course which is from 9:00am until – 4:00 pm for 1,200 Baht/person (about $36 USD). Students prepare five dishes and learn how to make curry paste. Transportation is included and class size ranges from two to eight.

Dinner Private Course is offered to groups of one to eight people within the same party. It runs from 5:00 pm until 9:30 pm and is 2,000 Baht/person (about $60USD). Students prepare four dishes, learn how to make curry paste and fix special fried rice served with the curry at dinnertime. This is the option we signed up for.

We got private transportation from our hotel to a market where Benny showed us around and helped us understand the main ingredients we’d be cooking with later. We then continued with the transportation to Benny’s home which has the classroom set up in her organic garden.

We were greeted with a tea made from blue flowers from her pea plant then we set up to cook. Very welcoming touch!

We were taken to our work stations and given instructions on key ingredients, prepping techniques and monitored us as we cooked our various dishes. She allowed time between courses for us to retreat to a communal table to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Benny also showed us how to prepare pad Thai (please see video below) and made us banana steamed cake and black sticky rice and mango for dessert. Drinks, including Thai beer, were available for a very modest fee.

Green Curry

Benny was very informative and has an awesome personality (see this short video for proof of that) and gave us incredible tips on preparing our multi-course dinners, the food was flavorful and beautiful! I’d 100% recommend this experience- Benny is a gem and so fun!

How to Reserve

Benny’s cooking classes can be booked in a multitude of ways, including through her website at https://www.bennyhomecooking.com/contact-us.html. Reviews and other booking methods can be found on TripAdvisor and Viator.

Cheers,

Veronique