My wonderful food experience in Saigon: Cooking Class & Market Tour
Last winter, I took a one-week
college leave to join my family trip in Saigon with https://www.hellovietnam.com/. To my surprise, this bustling
city was much more fantastic than I’ve ever imagined. Everything, from outstanding
landscapes, hectic life, hospitable people, to modern high rise buildings and
crowded shopping centers, all leaves me in awe. Above those wonderful Saigon
things, what impressed me most about this Southern city was its amazing foods
and my joining its open-aired local markets. Follow my steps and I will tell
you about my exciting Saigon experience: cooking class and market tour.
Ben Thanh market |
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Prices:
$56.25
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Duration:
5 hours
Highlights:
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Half-day
cooking class and market tour in Saigon
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Select
spices and fresh vegetable at Ben Thanh market
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Make
yummy Saigonese dishes, including soup/ salad for appetizer, on tray and
dessert with the instruction of expert local chefs
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Have
a chance to expose and first-handly experience Southern Vietnam culture,
especially its culinary heritage
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Dine
on an exquisite meal with like-minded cuisine crushers
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Small-sized
tour limited to 20 people to ensure a private and full experience with your
guide
Embarking on that Saigon tour, I had had such a great
time learning how to make a well-decorated and yummy Vietnamese plates, as well
as walking down Saigon street and shopping in one of the most bustling flea
markets.
Our tour kicked off with pickup from the hotel we
stayed. Followed the lead of an expert guide to visit Ben Thanh Market, we had
a chance to wander pass numerous stalls selling a wide range of goods, from
foods and beverages, souvenirs, clothes, and accessories, to technological
devices and household gadgets. Not only that, we gained considerable knowledge
as to choosing fresh ingredients and aromatic herbs, learned how to get a real
bargain in a local market and bring home fresh, qualified ingredients to cook a
typical Vietnamese meal. The chefs also shared with us stories about this market,
a shopping hub, and a historic destination. Not until that visit in Saigon did
I find out that Ben Thanh market is the oldest surviving market of its kind in
this populated city.
Left the market, we headed to the Vietnam Cookery
Center, which was just within a throwing stone to Ben Thanh market for a
real-life lesson in Vietnamese food. We were given great access to traditional
equipment, expert chefs’ guidance and fresh ingredient essential to prepare the
nation’s most popular dishes. The small-sized cooking class offered us plenty
of space and time for interacting with new friends as well as preparing papaya
salad, coconut-centric dishes, and chicken curry, with the help of the chefs.
Once stepped outside the kitchen, I and my fellow classmates sat together and
yay, we enjoyed our final products and it was totally worth our first time
cooking Vietnamese food, looked stunning and tasted out of this world! Yummy!
We head back to our hotel late that evening with a full
belly and a new understanding of Vietnamese culture, cooking styles and its
flavorful cuisine. And that was my Saigon experience: cooking class and market
tour. It’s your turn to go discover this amazing city. Let’s go with https://www.hellovietnam.com/