Cooking class started with a tour of the various prep stations at the restaurant below…and yes we got to sample.

They had a “weird and wonderful” area featuring dishes which, while common among locals, are outside the experience of most westerners. I sampled the jellyfish salad (tasty with a curiously crunchy texture) and the pig’s ear salad, but passed on the silkworm dish and a couple others I just didn’t feel the love for.

Upstairs we settled in for our cooking seasion, beginning with a “mother in law’s soup”. It is the first dish a bride cooks for her husband’s family. This soup has packages of shrimp wrapped in cabbage, cooked in the soup. It is not hard to make and it is super-delicious.

The next dish we made was banh xeo – sizzling crispy pancakes with shrimp and pork wrapped in rice paper. This is finger food. You dip it in the ubiquitous Vietnamese dipping sauce – fish sauce, lemon juice, sugar, garlic and chilies.

We then marinated some chicken (or shrimp or tofu) to be grilled to go with green mango salad. So good! 

We learned so much today and as a bonus we ate everything we cooked. The class was very professional, thorough aand a lot of fun. If you ever go to Hoi An and you like to cook, I highly recommend this class.