Evening Thai Cooking Class in a Home Garden Kitchen – 6 Dishes
A small evening cooking class in an open-air home garden kitchen in Chiang Mai: six dishes of your choosing, your own curry paste, and dinner you cooked yourself.
- Duration
- Half day, evening (16:30–21:00)
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Max group
- 10 pax
The evening version of Chiang Mai's friendliest small cooking class. Same open-air garden kitchen in a quiet lane on the river side of the city, same two-to-ten guest limit, same unhurried teaching — but you cook in the cool of the late afternoon and the class doubles as dinner.
You are collected between 16:00 and 16:30 and start with a hands-on introduction to fresh Thai herbs in the garden: lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime, holy basil, turmeric and the chillies, tasted and smelled rather than just named. Then you take your own station — one person, one wok, one burner — and get to work.
Six dishes, one from each of six categories: curry paste, curry, soup, appetiser, stir-fry and dessert. The pick-list runs from green and massaman paste through panang and khao soi to tom yum goong, tom kha gai, som tum, fried egg salad, pad thai, cashew chicken and sticky rice with mango. You pound your own paste from raw spices and use it in your own curry the same evening. Everyone also learns to steam sticky rice properly. Everything you cook is eaten at a long table in the garden as it comes off the heat.
The class ends around 21:00 with a certificate, a recipe cookbook, free photos of your session and a drop-off at your accommodation. Vegetarians are welcome with advance notice. Closed on Sundays.
- Small class — between 2 and 10 guests, never a production line
- Open-air home garden kitchen rather than a commercial classroom
- Choose six dishes from six categories: curry paste, curry, soup, appetiser, stir-fry, dessert
- One person, one wok — your own station throughout
- Learn and taste fresh Thai herbs before you cook with them
- Everyone learns how to steam proper sticky rice
- Vegetarians genuinely welcome
- Recipe cookbook and free transfer within 3 km of downtown
- Cook in the cool of the evening — the class replaces dinner
What's included
- ✓ Free transfer to and from your accommodation within 3 km of Chiang Mai downtown
- ✓ All ingredients for six dishes
- ✓ One person, one wok — your own station
- ✓ Learning and tasting fresh Thai herbs
- ✓ Make your own curry paste
- ✓ English-speaking Thai instructor
- ✓ Recipe cookbook
- ✓ Open-air outdoor kitchen
- ✓ Certificate and free photos of your class
- Transfer from accommodation beyond the 3 km downtown radius (ask us for a quote)
- Alcoholic drinks
- Gratuities
- Travel insurance
- Market tour (the evening session starts at the garden kitchen)
- 16:00
Pick-up
Collected from your accommodation between 16:00 and 16:30 (within 3 km of downtown Chiang Mai).
- 16:30
Welcome and herb tasting
Arrive at the open-air garden kitchen for a hands-on introduction to fresh Thai herbs, then choose your six dishes.
- 17:00
Curry paste
Pound your chosen green, red or massaman paste in a granite mortar at your own station.
- 17:30
Appetiser and stir-fry
Som tum, fried egg salad or spring rolls, then pad thai, fried rice or cashew chicken at your own wok.
- 18:30
Soup
Tom yum goong, tom kha gai or Thai noodle soup from fresh herbs.
- 19:15
Curry, sticky rice and dinner
Cook a curry from your own paste, learn to steam sticky rice, then eat the whole meal at the garden table.
- 20:30
Dessert, certificate and photos
Sticky rice with mango or banana in coconut milk, certificate, cookbook and free class photos.
- 21:00
Drop-off
Returned to your accommodation.
Yes. Every dish on the menu can be made vegetarian or vegan — tofu and vegetables in place of the meat and seafood, soy-based seasoning in place of fish sauce and shrimp paste. Tell us at booking so the shopping is right, and remind your instructor of any allergy on the day.
Yes. The menu is a pick-list: you choose one dish from each category, so everyone at the table cooks something different. You also choose how spicy each dish is.
No — the brochure lists the market tour with the morning course. The evening session starts at the garden kitchen with the herb tasting and goes straight into cooking. Book the morning class if the market is important to you.
Between two and ten guests, so the instructor can watch every wok.
Yes, free both ways within a 3 km radius of downtown Chiang Mai.
Light clothes you do not mind splashing and closed shoes rather than sandals — you will be standing at a wok and walking through a market. Aprons are provided; tie long hair back.
Daily except Sunday — the school is closed on Sundays.