HH03: Hoi An Cooking Tours

STYLISH VIETNAMESE DINING

The popular Red Bridge Cooking School offers half day, full day and evening programs everyday of the year. Highlights include a guided tour of Hoi An's colourful central market, boat trip on the Hoi An River, and hands on cooking class. Let Make the most of what Hoi An has to offer, sample local foods, test your cooking skills ...

RED BRIDGE CLASSIC HALF DAY TOUR

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We start the day (8.15am) with a welcome drink at Hai Café (98 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street)

Visit Hoi An’s colourful market, and experience the amazing sights, sounds and aromas of this busy market. We will have the opportunity to interact with the local sellers and learn about all the ingredients to be used in the cooking lesson later.

We board the Red Bridge boat for a leisurely cruise (25 minutes) along the Hoi An River to the Red Bridge Cooking School. This is a chance to view local river life, so make sure your camera is handy.

On arrival, we explore the cooking school’s herb garden, before learning about some of Hoi An’s and Vietnam’s well-known dishes. The cooking lesson runs for about 2 hours – the Red Bridge chefs first demonstrate each dish before we prepare the same dish ourselves. Included in the class is a brief introduction to Vietnamese food carving (plate decoration). After the lesson, we sit down and eat what we have cooked.

Bring your swimsuit and after the cooking tour has finished relax and enjoy free use of our new 20 metre swimming pool.

Recipes:

•Rice paper (making)

•Fresh Rice Paper Rolls of Shrimp

•Crispy Hoi An Pancakes with Shrimp, Herbs, Bean Sprouts & a Peanut Sauce

•Seafood Salad with mixed Vietnamese Herbs served in Half a Pineapple

•Vietnamese Eggplant in Clay Pot

•Food Decoration - Pineapple Boat, 3 Coloured Flowers & Vietnamese Hand Fan

•Vegetarians are provided with replacement ingredients.

Lunch includes the above meals as well as:

Steamed Ocean Fish on a bed of Fresh Vegetables (not included in the demonstration).

Inclusions:

1 Drink (non-alcoholic) at Hai Scout Café – extra drinks at Red Bridge will be charged for.

Local English speaking guide and chef.

Boat trip.

Cooking demonstration and lunch.

All recipes and notes.

Transfer from Red Bridge Cooking School to central Hoi An.

Free use of the new Red Bridge swimming pool (towels & showers provided).

Taxis are available back to town / beach area for around US$2-3 per car.

RED BRIDGE DELUXE DAY TOUR (8am to 3pm)

We start the day (8am) with a welcome drink at Hai Café

(98 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street, Hoi An Ancient Town, Tel: 3863210) – our meeting point.

Travel by minivan (10 mins) to Tra Que Organic Village, and walk through the market gardens where local farmers work their fields using the traditional methods of hundreds of years ago - no electrical machinery here. We pick fresh saw-tooth coriander and Vietnamese mint for our cooking lesson later, before trying a special herbal drink at a local home.

To the local village market and with shopping list in hand we purchase a range of local ingredients, including star anise, cardamom, sesame rice paper, water spinach and banana flower.

Arriving at Red Bridge Cooking School we have a chance to freshen up before beginning our class. Working together with our Red Bridge Chef we learn the traditional ways of preparing and cooking Vietnamese food from scratch. Using the freshest ingredients and traditional Vietnamese utensils (still in use today) we cook 4 famous dishes, including the national dish ‘Pho’.

After the class we sit down and a chance to savour the dishes we have prepared.

Leisurely cruise (25 minutes) along the Hoi An River back to central Hoi An.

Bring your swimsuit and after the cooking tour has finished relax and enjoy free use of our new 20 metre swimming pool.

Recipes:

•Beef Noodle Soup (Pho) – includes the making of fresh rice noodles

•Clay Pot Fish with Fresh Dill (Cha Ca)

•Lemongrass Shrimp grilled in Banana Leaves (Tom Nuong La Chuoi)

•Grilled Chicken and Banana Flower Salad (Goi Hoa Chuoi Ga Nuong)

•Vegetarians are provided with replacement ingredients.

Inclusions:

Lunch and all drinks (excluding wine and spirits)

Guided tour of Tra Que village (10 mins from Hoi An) with herbal drink at a local home

Red Bridge apron and recipe booklet

Boat from Red Bridge Cooking School to central Hoi An.

Free use of the new Red Bridge swimming pool (towels & showers provided).

Taxis are available back to town / beach area for around US$2-3 per car.

HAI CAFÉ EVENING COOKING CLASS (6pm to 8pm)

Our evening class is an interesting and fun way to learn about the local cuisine. Together we prepare 3 dishes before sitting down for dinner to enjoy our efforts.

Your chef will introduce you to the local ingredients, take you through the preparation, and explain the Hoi An style of cooking. Then it is your turn to chop, grate, crush, slice, roll and cook the ingredients into a delicious meal.

Your 5 course dinner also includes 2 additional Hoi An specialties* - White Rose and Fried Wanton. These secret recipes are made by only 1 family in Hoi An, and are included in the meal, but are not part of the cooking class.

Each class has a maximum of 10 persons, runs for 1 hour & 15 minutes and is then followed by dinner.

Recipes are provided at the start of the class.

Recipes:

•Spring Rolls Hoi An Style

Fresh prawns and market vegetables wrapped in rice paper & deep fried, served with

soya, sweet chilli & fish sauces.

•Hoi An Beef Salad in a Bamboo Basket

Tender thin strips of beef stir fried in tamarind then tossed with a salad of mint,

coriander, green mango & roasted peanuts – served with sesame rice paper.

•Grilled Fish in Banana Leaf – local ocean fish stuffed with lemongrass, coriander, garlic, onions, sugar and rum. Fish is wrapped in banana leaves and barbecued for approximately 30 minutes.

• A side dish of morning glory (water spinach) is served with this dish.

•White Rose * – shrimp and pork wrapped in steamed rice flour.

•Fried Wonton * – wheat flour steamed to produce a wrapping filled with shrimp and pork. Wantons are fried in hot oil and garnished with market vegetables and crushed black pepper.

END OF HOI AN COOKING TOUR