Thai cooking classes
A good class starts in a market, ends with you eating four dishes you cooked, and sends you home with a recipe book you will actually use. A bad one is forty people watching a chef stir a wok. The difference is not the price.
Six questions to ask before booking
1. Is there a market visit, and is it a real market? A morning class should start at a wet market where the chef buys the ingredients in front of you. If the “market” is a souvenir hall with pre-arranged stalls, it is theatre.
2. How many people per station? Four is fine, eight is a demonstration. Ask explicitly; “small group” means nothing.
3. Do you cook or watch? You should each have a wok and a mortar. In a proper class everyone pounds their own curry paste.
4. Can the menu change? Good schools ask about allergies, vegetarian and halal requirements before the day, not when you arrive.
5. Morning or afternoon? Morning. The market is alive at 07:30 and dead by 14:00, and you eat lunch rather than dinner.
6. Is the recipe book real? Ask to see it. A four-page photocopy is a warning sign; a bound booklet with weights in grams is not.
Bangkok or Chiang Mai?
Bangkok teaches central Thai food — green curry, tom yum, pad Thai, massaman. The markets are bigger and the ingredients more varied. Chiang Mai teaches northern food — khao soi, sai ua sausage, nam prik dips — which is quite different and, frankly, more interesting if you have cooked Thai food before. A northern class in a village kitchen is also a nicer half day than a classroom in Sukhumvit.
| Type | Group | Dishes | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group class, city school | 8–12 | 4 | $38 |
| Small group, market + class | 4–6 | 5 | $52 |
| Private, hotel kitchen | Just you | 5 | $78 |
| Village kitchen, Chiang Mai | 2–6 | 5 | $68 |
| Evening dessert class | 6–10 | 3 | $45 |
Both are easy in Thailand and both need telling in advance. Fish sauce and oyster sauce are in almost everything; a good school keeps separate woks and a vegetarian curry paste. Halal classes exist in Bangkok and Chiang Mai — ask us and we will name the school rather than promise vaguely.
The four that always appear
Almost every class includes a curry paste pounded from scratch, a soup, a stir-fry and a dessert. That is the skeleton. What changes is the specifics — and the specifics are where the memory is.
In Bangkok expect green or massaman curry, tom yum, pad Thai and mango sticky rice. In Chiang Mai expect khao soi, a northern nam prik with vegetables, sai ua sausage and banana in coconut. The northern menu is harder to reproduce at home, which is either a flaw or the best souvenir depending on your kitchen.
Is it suitable for children?
From about seven, and most schools welcome them with a simpler station. Younger children enjoy the market and the eating more than the chopping.
Do we need to be good cooks?
No. The class assumes nothing. What it needs is patience with a mortar and pestle — the curry paste takes fifteen minutes of grinding and nobody escapes it.
Can we take leftovers?
Usually yes, in a box. Most people eat what they cook at the class because it is lunch.
Is a private class worth it?
For two people, roughly $78 each against $52 in a small group. What you buy is the ability to change the menu and ask questions continuously. Worth it for serious cooks, unnecessary for a fun morning.
Which city are you cooking in?
Tell us the date, the dietary requirements and whether you want a village kitchen.