Trip Info
Get away from the classical cooking classes and learn Vietnamese cuisine at a local home. We will start our day with a short stop at a local market where you will browse hundreds of stalls, and interact with vendors selling everything from garlic to tapioca flour. Take in all the colors, sights and smells! Hanoi’s markets are world famous, and you’ll quickly see why. After local hosts explain about the ingredients for sale and assist you with purchasing items to take home, we will come back to a local home where our host will teach you a typical Vietnamese menu.
Detailed Itinerary:
At 8.00AM your tour guide will pick you up at your hotel in the old quarter and we will catch a bus to a local house. The hosts will warmly welcome you, introduce their members and talk about their lives. The tour guide will then teach you some simple phrases from the “local language”, which will prove very important with your shopping skills when interacting with the friendly sellers.
You then will start walking to the local market only 5 minutes away. This is a great chance to learn about and taste some of the ingredients used in the local cuisine, and to watch the buying and selling rituals of a Vietnamese market. The tour guide will assist you in buying a variety of foods such as: herbs, spices, vegetables, meats, fishes, fruits, all of which are so fresh. You will have a fun time communicating and using body language with the locals, these will be incredible and unforgettable memories. Do not forget to take some photos with them – there will be many opportunities available in this bustling, vibrant and colorful scene.
At 10.00, we complete our shopping and return to the local home where you will prepare and cook by yourself under the instruction of the tour guide – learning how to marinate and to spice will be the most crucial lesson. You will also enjoy decorating dishes with carrot flowers, lemon grass stems, banana leaves and curved chili. The authentic magical sauce mixed from fish sauce, water, sugar, lime, chili, garlic and herbs is very easy to make.
At 12.00, enjoy your meal with a local beer or wine. After that, your tour guide will transfer you back your hotel and you will also receive a selection of recipe cards to help you recreate Vietnamese dishes at home!
