Cooking class in Saigon

One of the world healthiest cuisines is Vietnamese cuisine. With rice, herbs and fresh vegetables, Vietnamese meal is deserved with its rank.

If you are love cooking some Vietnamese dishes, there are some cooking classes around Saigon Even when you travel to Saigon just for 1-2 days, you are still able to learn cooking Vietnamese dishes.

1) Caravelle Hotel - Cooking Classes Caravelle Hotel
19 Lam Son Square, Dist 1

The Caravelle Hotel is 5-star hotel in Saigon. It offers 1 day cooking class.

Cooking class start at 8:00 am, all participants leave hotel by Cyclo go to the Ben Thanh Market where Chef assists and advises participants how to hand-pick the freshest ingredients.

After that, all people will return to the hotel kitchen and Chefs will personally walk them through the preparation and presentation of an entire menu: fresh shrimp spring rolls with hoisin peanut sauce, BBQ eggplant, braised river prawn with Vietnamese curry, fried spring roll, beef luc lac, chicken salad with Vietnamese herbs, spicy and sour fish soup, and banana sweet.

The best part of the class is when everyone gets to enjoy the fruits of their labors with a lunch in Caravelle’s Restaurant Nineteen. Recipes are presented as a memento from the hotel.

The Caravelle Hotel Cooking Class Package starts from US$ 45 per person, plus 5% Service Charge and 5% VAT. Classes of minimum 10 participants, 15 maximum, must be booked at least 7 days in advance.

For enquiries, please contact 3823 4999 Ext 27100 or email: fbd@caravellehotel.vnn.vn

2) Vietnam Cookery Centre
 VIETNAM COOKERY CENTER– HOCHIMINH CITY & NHA TRANG BOOKING CENTER
Address: 362/8 Ung Van Khiem St, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City, VIETNAM
Tel: +848 351 22 764 Fax: +848 351 22 3764
E-mail: vietnamcookery@expat-services.com
 
Here you can learn to cook some of the most popular Vietnamese dishes. Popular with foreigners, the Vietnam Cookery Centre offers a whole range of courses ranging from a half-day course to an eight-day course.

All participants will go Ben Thanh Market with Chefs. In the market, People will learn how to recognize the different Vietnamese ingredients and be guided in their application. Also, Guests will learn about the classic Vietnamese produce, from fruit and vegetable, to meats and seafood.

For US$ 39 per person you could attend our Morning Course (from 09h30 to 13h00 including Lunch), or our Afternoon Course (from 15h30 to 19h30 including Dinner). Also, you can ask for : In-depth Course, Course for professional Cooks, classes for children. Thematic dinner with cooking shows etc.

 

3) Hoa Tuc Restaurant – Cooking Classes
Hoa Tuc Retaurant
74/7 Hai Ba Trung, Dist 1
Tel: 3 825 84 85
Fax: 3 825 16 77
Email – contact@saigoncookingclass.com

Tuesday to Sunday, 2 sessions: 10:00am-1:00pm Or 2:00pm – 5:00pm (duration about 3 hours).
Adult cost: $ 45. Kids until 10 years old: $ 36.
Only small group: from 1 to 8 people.
Note: payment is required before the class (free pick up at your hotel possible). No refunds.
Current menu, offer a cooking class, 
You need to book 24 hours in advance.











4) Connections - Cooking Classes
Email – info@connectionsvietnam.com

Cook is our cooking class in a Saigon home. We take you to a real Vietnamese family home where you will be a guest for the morning. You will visit the local market to buy the ingredients and then cook the dishes

You will be met at 8am at your hotel by one of our student guides. We like to start the cooking class early so we can get you to the local market whilst it is still busy. You need to take a taxi to the chef’s house somewhere in Saigon (we currently have a number of chefs around the city so journey time and location will vary). After arriving and getting your bearings, you’ll head off to the local market (usually within walking distance) to shop for ingredients, all at a leisurely pace. You’ll then head back to the house to start your cooking, where you’ll eventually devour the results for lunch!

This is not only a normal cooking class; this is a genuine insight into a Vietnamese kitchen and home.

Saigon top Mid-Range Restaurants



Tib
187 Hai Ba Trung, D1 Tel: 829 7242, HCMC
Very popular choice serving up typical dishes from Hue in beautiful surroundings. Personal recommendation!

Chi Nghia
53 Thu Khoa Huan, D1 Tel: 823 5563, HCMC
With a decor of Old Saigon this place serves up great quality local dishes at very reasonable prices.

Com Nieu Sai Gon
6b Tu Xuong, D3 Tel: , HCMC
Popular with locals and tourists alike with a sometimes raucous atmosphere.

121 Restaurant
121 Vo Van Tan, D3 Tel: , HCMC
Great selection of grilled and smoked meats at this lesser known gem of a restaurant.
Gardener in Ho Chi Minh City

Au Pagolac 1
19 Nguyen Dinh Chieu, D1 Tel: 910 4405, HCMC
Fantastic selection of beef dishes created in imaginative ways. Heaven for non-vegetarians!

Cay Gon

12 Ngo Van Nam, D1 Tel: , HCMC
Popular locals joint serving up typical Vietnamese food with plenty Saigon Beer to wash it down with.

Gio Restaurant

33 Nguyen U Di, Thao Dien, D2 Tel: , HCMC
Relaxing locale near the river offering mainly light dishes. Oysters and deer are two of the menu's novelties.

Hong Hai
54 Pham Ngoc Thach, D3 Tel: 829-2977, HCMC
Excellent seafood restaurant with dishes prepared in the style of Nha Trang such as coconut steamed prawns.

Banh Xeo Saigon

That is until a couple of weeks back when I received 2 emailed hints (much appreciated) plus a location suggestion from a real live Saigonite in Saigon. Great – you’re thinking – that’s 3 banh xeo spots to check out. Wrong. All three had independently suggested the same joint – 46A Dinh Cong Trang Street in District 1. This many potty pancake lovers can’t be wrong, surely?

This saliva springing sight fizzin’ away in the frying pan above is the reason why Saigonese flood to this 50 seater outdoor, alleyway eatery. Bean sprouts, shrimps (or pork… hell… you can have both if you like to experiment) chucked in a thin batter. Fry that baby up, flip one side over and serve. I had a bit of a banter with the owner who told me the restaurant opened 50 years ago. It was the first of its kind and remains the most popular in the whole of Saigon. The chef told me her favorite frying pan (she has six permanently on the go on separate charcoal burners) is also 50 years old. Hmmm… maybe she said 5 years old, but I am sure I heard 50. Whatever, it was a mightily knackered pan she wielded at me.

Across the street at 49A there’s a much larger, more modern copycat banh xeo restaurant. Tellingly, it was entirely devoid of customers for the length of my lunch, which was over an hour. What I love about many of these ‘famous’ places in Vietnam is despite heaps of loyal customers, oodles of cash coming in, they never lift a finger to improve the aesthetics of their restaurant. You need to devour this prime pancake as soon as it hits the plate. Don’t hang around for any late dinner arrivals and leave the civilities at home, “Oh no, please, you start.” “Oh no please you should try it first.” Stop it right there. Dive in. Banh xeo pancakes should be crispy on the outside and ever so slightly moist on the inside. Leaving it hanging around too long and you’ve got a soggy savory crepe on your hands and you don’t want that, believe me.

This dish comes with a plate of nine different leaves and herbs. The most important to my mind is this leaf – cai be xanh (mustard leaf) – which can be used to wrap combo-morsels of banh xeo and herb up before a quick dip in some nuoc mam (fish sauce) and down the hatch.

46A Dinh Cong Trang serves up a stormin’ banh xeo and I would highly recommend trotting along if you’re in town. 17,000VND a pancake. Watch the banh xeo movie below. They also serve excellent bi cuon – a herb packed, pig skin rice paper wrap number