My Grandma's Home Cooking

We met up with Thom our guide and cooking instructor in Hoi An. Went on a easy boat ride to her family's home. There we learned about old methods to prepare rice for cooking, and grinded rice which together with water made the basis for the selfmade rice noedels. In a clean and practical set-up we received the necessary ingedients and followed step-by-step the clear (and very good English!) instructions on how to prepare and cook several delicious dishes, instantly becoming chefs! Our main meal we ate together at the diner table with added rice and vegetables, and a litle rice-wine. Back at the office we received a very nice cook-book, with the recipes, the ingredients and all the instructions on 'how to make'. As the ingredients are easy available at home, and the instructions are very clear, I will be making and enjoying them at home. Thank you very much Thom, I had a great time!

For years, I’ve been reviewing cooking classes around the world for magazines — and more recently on Instagram for Cookbookandkitchen. This class was exceptional: flawlessly organized and genuinely hands-on. Eight attentive assistants guided every step and made sure we sliced, shaped, cooked, and worked correctly — relaxed, but with real precision. Thom, who led the course, spoke excellent English, had a great sense of humor, and ran the session with confidence from start to finish.

Fantastic course, we learnt so much regarding how the course indeed was started by Grandma. The food was delicious and well put together. Would I recommend it a 100%

If you only do one thing in Hoi An - go on this cooking course. You get to see a part of regional Vietnam and how many of the Vietnamese are still living today. We got to use equipment for splittng rice and making rice milk. The cooking class itself was really well done. I am not a great cook but the others in the class were really proficient - and Thom catered to the different skill levels. The recipes are inspiring for cooking more at home. The 30 minute trip to and from Hoi An was lovely - especially on the boat. Cannot recommend highly enough.

It was nice to interact with local people in a traditional house on an island a bit out out of the city. We learned some very good meals to prepare and the company as well as the instructor was very good.

Very tasty

A authentic, the old Vietnam experience. We were only 2 people booked so we skipped the boat ride for a scooter, you get to see the country side, the people and everyday life far removed from tourists. The class itself was amazing and very hands-on. The options are great and can easily be made back home. They do sell all the ingredients on site and beautiful ceramics to match, even the claypot at very reasonable prices. There is alot of food to eat, so come very hungry. Bonus you get to take home a full colour Cookbook with all the recipes.

Great class with a lot of different dishes and interesting Informations about the Vietnamese Life in the country side. Our Guide spoke really good English and was always ready to help us.

We had a great time! Food was delicious! Organisation was perfect! Team very friendly and helpful! Very nice set-up on the island. We loved the atmosphere. Thank you.

A friend recommended us this place. It was our favourite part of the trip so far. Do not miss this experience:)

.

We had such a great time on the cooking course, and would also recommend going to the market in the morning. Thom was a very informative guide and gave clear and simple instructions when we were cooking and the food was delicious. It was one of our favourite days of the holiday and we would recommend to anyone visiting Hoi An! Thanks so much

Lovely outing great host. Definitely recommend.

Lots of information, well planned day.

Great team and beautiful location. Interesting dishes, a lot of food to eat!

Very nice trip across the river to a small island with pristine surroundings. Not crowded and very quiet. The cooking class showed a very good insight into the original Vietnamese cuisine and the preparation of the food.

Thom, our guide, was just wonderful. Our detailed tour of the central market was informative and fun. We got to sample many different herbs and fruits. We took our bikes on the ferry to an island where we rode to Grandma’s house. We appreciated seeing Vietnamese people moving through their day. The cooking class was great! We made interesting and tasty dishes. Thom’s talent as a cook clearly visible. Would recommend to anyone. Learned some things we will use at home. Great day and tour.

We had a great time at the cooking class. The host was so lovely, very easy to talk to and had great English. The dishes we made were all delicious with a nice range of things and catered well for both meat and vegetarian options. Thank you!

The entire experience was well-planned and the instructions were relevant and informative.

I had an enthusiastic and knowledgeable guide who was happy to share her experiences of living in Vietnam.

One of the best cooking classes we have done so far. Due to heavy rain we decided to skip the boat ride and take a ride on the motorcycle. Trough the small winding roads of the small islands we drove to the owners’ grandma's house. During the ride we stopped, and they explained all sorts of plants, vegetables and places to us. Arrived at grandma's house we get to experience the old architecture. Together with several utensils to harvest rice that are more than 100 years old we were told how people in the region lived, worked and cooked. We made rice paper on our own and started cooking grilled pork on a bamboo skewer, banh xeo, the famous Vietnamese pancake, and tuna in a clay pot. Overall, it felt more like cooking with friends while they teach you, their culture. We can heavily recommend this class to anyone coming to Hoi An. Thanks Lob for the great time!!

Très jolie journée avec Diem, notre guide / chef francophone, incroyablement souriante et enthousiaste ! Découverte du marché et de ses produits avant une petite croisière en bateau qui vous emmène sur une île, dans un endroit charmant en pleine campagne. Recettes délicieuses, accessibles mêmes au plus novices. Un conseil, commencez la journée le ventre vide, le menu est aussi copieux que savoureux ! Merci pour cette belle journée !

It was nice to be shown around the Hoi An day market with the local people and a detailed explanation from our guide. The stay in the countryside was also really relaxing. The cooking class was nice because we used the local recipes and learned how to make everything from scratch (including rice paper). The food was more than enough so you won't be hungry. Our guide spoke English okay. It was sometimes hard to understand but if you indicate that you did not understand something, they'll try their best to repeat or make you understand another way.

We’re so glad we did this cooking class! All of the dishes we made were wonderful, we loved that everyone in the class had their own cooking station and how hands-on it was. Grandma’s House is a beautiful setting and it was wonderful to get out of the main part of Hoi An to do the class.

A fantastic day out. Really enjoyed the market tour with our guide and the boat trip was scenic before we began our cooking class. We cooked a range of tasty dishes. The bike trip was enjoyable and we got to experience a bit of life in rural Vietnam. Great guides and a really worthwhile day trip.

Lucky was a fantastic instructor. I really enjoyed the class and the meals we made they were super tasty.

The cooking class was very good and informative. We learned a lot and laughed. In addition, you have the opportunity to learn more about the life of people in the countryside, which was very good. The bike tour to the cooking course was very nice and you could get new impressions of the landscape. The dishes was very good to cook and we got every step explained perfectly. The products for cooking were of very good quality. Many thanks for the beautiful day.

We took this cooking class in hoi an with lucky as our instructor. First we took a beautiful bike ride through the Country side of hoi an. We cooking experience at the grandmas House was very nice, we learned a lot and the Food was delicious. Lucky was so friendly and very passionate about Vietnamese cooking.

Very nice experience. Started with a welcome drink, followed by showing us how they traditionally hull rice, then how they separate the hulls, and then liquefy the rice to make the rice paper. Then we each took turns making one. We then made spring rolls with out 'rice pancake'. All in all we made 4 dishes and had a locally made sesame pudding for dessert. We parted ways with the folks going back by boat some time around 2pm I think and hopped on our bikes, but not before visiting a local home and seeing how sleeping mats are woven. The bike pace was very leisurely with several stops along the way to see rice wine production, a temple, how basket boats are made and used with an opportunity to try it out, and saw how they do shell inlay. One thing I really appreciated about this tour was that there was 0 pressure to buy anything ever.

The cooking course started with us on bicycles riding through villages to the cooking destination. Our guide was great and there was so much to learn. Spices etc were laid out in little bowls and we were leaf through the recipes at a good pace. Only disappointment was that we didn’t go to the market first as advertised, this may have been because it was so close to New Year.

It was great! We had a lot of fun with Loc, she explained everything very well and even gave alternative ingredients if we were ever to recreate the dishes. Before we started cooking, we were shown how they used to make rice, which was very interesting. Loc told us a lot of interesting stories about Hoi An, and the different traditions they have. Highly recommend this cooking class, I do not think it can get any better than this :)

The whole experience was great. We really enjoyed all the dishes we made. The food was very generous.

To get in touch with locals, learn local methodes and take a look to the country side of Hoi An, you should do this cooking class. By visiting the local market, you get a lot of information about local food and farmers. After that you make a boat and cycling trip to the villages where you finally cook a great menue of vietnamese food. It was no problem to have vegan and vegetarian options and it tasted really good. Thank you, Mesa, for your effort!

Everyone was lovely, we cooked great food, and had a wonderful time. We even got to see some may weaving. Highly recommend.

We signed up for the Market Tour with the boat ride to the cooking class. The activities were well-thought out and the small group (6 adults) made for a relaxed environment. The market tour was informative and it was a great way to learn about not-so-obvious uses for familiar items, and sample/ask questions about foods we'd seen prior to our visit to Hoi An but didn't know the names of. The class itself was hands-on and we cooked 4 different dishes, but we also enjoyed some quick breaks to wander on the back roads of the small village, and our lovely host shared details about growing up in the area and day to day life. After running around so much on our short vacation and feeling rushed on other tours we'd been on, this was a welcome change - and we have already made some of the dishes at home! Definitely recommend!

Very good class

We were a group of 4 Friends and de really enjoyed It! The guide Vi was crear! We'll recomend to our Friends and family!

It was a very enjoyable cooking class

The boat ride is long, but it was also nice to feel like we got to go somewhere completely different. There were 9 people in our cooking class but only myself and my brother did the market tour before -- everyone else missed out. I've done market tours in southeast Asia before, so I'm familiar with a lot of things, but she also found some stuff I haven't seen, and we got to taste a number of things. (steamed sticky rice treats in banana paper, fruit, coffee) Getting to meet Grandma at the class was really special (She's 97!!) and we made lots of yummy food, with good vegetarian options for me so I felt included in everything.

Nice tour but I wished we spent more time in the actual cooking with more explanations and preparations (there were a few things already prepared for us). Too much timed spent on the boat and other activities. Interesting and good recepies. Good guide.

It was a pleasure to meet grandma and see the island she lives on! I also really liked getting to make rice paper and rice milk the traditional way! Our teacher was great and super friendly and we made tons of good food. Highly recommend!

First at arrival at the office the staff is very friendly and made jokings. Good beginning the day:) We had a nice boat trip before we arrived on a lovely island where the cooking class is. The cooking class scenery is very nice with bamboo houses. The fact is in the nature made it even better! Then we started cooking amazing dishes! We had good explanations and we had so many dishes:) Thank you very a great day to remember!

The market tour and the cooking class was great, our guide was very nice and explained us a lot of things about Vietnamese culture and cooking. I recommend it to all foreigners who want to discover more deeply the Vietnamese culture !

The location was great and the guide was very sociable & skillful in explaining everything. We had such a great time learning 4 delicious Vietnamese dishes.

We really enjoyed the time we spend with Thom and her family

Vi was very friendly and helpful

We had a lot of fun during the trip - from learning a lot of new things! First, we learned about the typical local veggies & fruits and some of the extra delicious, yet quite local and hard to find snacks on the market tour. We even came back to the market after the class to buy some of the “banh it” sweets :) we got interesting info on how the market works, particularly the fish market. Then we took a boat to Grandma’s place on a small island really off the beaten path (40 min boat ride!). I loved that the class was situated there and that we got to see some of the rural life. Making rice milk and our own rice pancakes was very interesting and fun! Also seeing the 94 yo grandma was impressive! The 4 dishes were all good, particularly loved cooking on the charcoal “grill” in the garden! The food was more than enough and we did some real recipes, not the typical, boring Pho Bo. Really liked that the recipes can be done more or less 1-to-1 also at home in Europe. Our teacher (Vy) was great, with quite good English and good teaching skills. She really put an effort to make everyone feel satisfied and happy. On the ride back I talked with her lengthy about life in Vietnam, her private life and really, really enjoyed her openness! It was a pleasure to do that course and we can recommend it highly!

I really enjoyed the class and the market tour too. It was great to learn so much about Vietnamese food and how to cook. The lesson was easy to follow and I will try some out at home.

Such a wonderful experience. Vi was fabulous as a guide and a teacher in the cooking class. Thank you for a memorable experience.

From the moment we left the office with Vi, our family of four had a ball. She showed us all the produce at the market & made sure those feisty market ladies didn’t get cross at us. The cooking lesson itself was really well organised & the food was superb. Having the class on the island made it a special experience. Grandma put in an appearance & amazed my 9 yr old. I ate everything we cooked & couldn’t eat another morsel for 24 hours!

All great!!

Le guide nous a expliqué beaucoup de choses intéressant pas seulement sur la nourriture mais aussi la culture vietnamienne. L'excursion sur l'île des pêcheurs a donnée une bonne idée sur la vie hors la ville et hors le tourisme. La nourriture était formidable, mais vraiment beaucoup ! Je le recommande vivement.

The class was perfect. We took a boat from Hoi An to an island where the class was held. We got an insight into the family’s life who runs the cooking course and the history of the island, which we learnt a lot about the culture from. The cooking was great; it all tasted incredible and were things I hadn’t tried before. Vi’s English was great, and she really made our experience special. Her instructions were easy to follow and she helped us when we need it. I would highly recommend this class!!

This cooking class was hands-down one of my favourite experiences in Southeast Asia. The class takes place in an outdoor kitchen on a beautiful island, the ingredients are deliciously fresh, and you learn so much more about Vietnamese culture than just a few recipes. It’s hard to do the class justice with words, so don’t hesitate, just sign up! You’ll finish the day with a full stomach, a fantastic repertoire of local cuisine, and a new appreciation of Vietnamese rural life. Overall, it’s amazing value for money- I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this class to anyone!!

The guide Thom was very friendly, spoke very good English and explained a lot. We first took a boat to an island where the cooking took place and where Thom’s grandma lives. She showed us how the rice is processed and we each got to make our own ricepaper. The meals were delicious, unfortunately we couldn’t eat it all because we were too full. The location was an open space in quiet and beautiful nature. Also, the facilities were really clean and everything was well organised. We were only four people in the group so we had the chance to go back the Hoi An by bicycle. Thanks for the nice day!

Such an interesting and unique experience! The food was spectacular! Such a great time! Staff is amazing

Very friendly tourguide and speaks good english. Nice boatride to a small vietnamese villagr which is a nice break from touristic Hoi An. I would definately recommed this.

I loved the fact that you are away from the beaten track here, taking a boat out to the beautiful island location. Set up was very professional and it was lovely to be involved at every stage of the food preparation. I would highly recommend!

Thoroughly enjoyed our cooking experience. In addition to learning how to create a few dishes we learnt more about family life and a bit of a history lesson as well. We were with a small group, so plenty or opportunity to get to know each other as well. We liked the informality of the location and the class itself, having said that it was really well organised. Great to receive the cookbook at the end

What a great day from the informative market tour and leisurely boat ride to the yummy cooking class and learning about the family. Thom was wonderful and it was a pleasure spending the day with her and our group. Can’t wait to try the recipes at home.

We really liked the class and the atmosphere. Our guide was super nice and spoke excellent English.

It was good that each of us had our own cooking station and we eat what we cooked. The venue was lovely and meeting grandma was a nice touch! The whole process of making rice crepes was an eye-opener. So much work, skill and time involved in cooking each delicate piece! Overall great fun and an interesting day out. I would also like to commend the cooking instructor as well. She was charming and very knowledgeable about the use of local herbs.

Recommend very much, we had a great time cooking traditional dishes. At the end we were so stuffed that we had to roll out of the house!

There was some delay at the start as we had to wait for another group to join our tour. However, once the tour started it ran very smoothly. The experience was very local and authentic. I felt that I was really on a remote island and away from urban areas. I enjoyed all the activities from cooking to cycling. Would be even nicer if we could spend a bit more time on the basket boats. Overall, I was very satisfied with the experience. I even tried to sign up for 2nd cooking class the next day! But I was informed that there was 1 menu so I didn't want to repeat the same thing. Will definitely do 2 full-days of the tour with this operator if they offer a 2nd cooking menu so that I won't be repeating the same thing on the 2nd day!

Very good class! We learned to cook 4 Vietnamese dishes, with both vegetarian and meat options. Clear communication and instructions for the relatively easy, but delicious, dishes. Nice situation in a small village, a 30 min boat ride from Hoi An.

Although it seemed a bit expensive at first but was worth it! The highlight of our stay in Hoi An!

We started the day with an hour visit of Hoi An's market then we had a boat trip on a small island wherein we visited local farmers and their secret garden. There, we got to speak with locals and the guide helped us understand the herbs and spices used for Vietnamese cuisine. We went back to the school and started the cooking class. Seeing the Vietnamese culture definitely makes sense on how they prepare each food and meals. And it was a great experience to immerse yourself with the richness of this culture. At the end of the class, i was able to make rice milk and rice paper and a short Bicycle tour to Hoi An on the way home.

Very nice cooking class & delicious recipies. Very well prepared at a nice location.

I’m a French cook and I was so excited to go for a cooking class and it was awesome. Our guide was the sweetest girl ever!!!! The food was so great and so glad to learned this great and tasty food.

Everything was delicious!

Loved this class. A great thing to do on my 3rd day here in Hoi An. Enjoyed the boat ride, the authenticity of the experience, the friendliness and expertise of the main host and getting to see 93 year old grandma showing some traditional rice hulling. I learnt some great tips on Vietnamese cooking which I shall try on my friends at home. Oh and I waddled back to my hotel as there was so much delicious food to try!

It was very good!

It was really great. I would advise everybody to do this experience. The food was great and we even got the recipes on a letter at the end of the trip. The guide was also very helpful and spoke very good English.

We were glad to make this decision to join Grandma's Home Cooking. Love the boat ride & the island village. Friendly tour guide with helpful assistance. My mum and my aunty at age 70 plus were enjoying throughout the whole time. Though they have to be in the kitchen at all time, they think the recipe is useful and simple. The only downside was.......we were full after the 4 dishes 🤗.

It was very interesting to learn something about the life on the island and to learn to cook vietnamese Food.

Enjoyed everything. The boat ride to the island, the peaceful setting. The good was amazing and so much Very impressed with the organization.

I enjoyed grandmas place in a beautiful little village. The good was good and my guide/ chef was very nice

Grandma's Home Cooking Class was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The recipes were fun, easy and and something you can do back at home too. Thom, Phung (may have spelt that wrong) and all the other staff were very welcoming, organised and provided what felt like an authentic experience. The lessons were fun and I would highly recommend this class to anyone else who might be considering it. Also, if you like eating this place is for you, lunch consisted of five courses and I could barely move afterwards, very happy!

I had booked this activity without too much thinking and wow, they definitely exceeded my expectations! It was smooth and professional. The food was delicious and the instructions easy to follow. The setting is beautiful and we even made some new friends. I highly recommend this cooking class as it will remain one of the highlights of our travels in Vietnam!

Great menu, super host, really pleasant experience. Very good value for money!

Wonderful and friendly staff, delicious recepies

The staff were friendly and very interesting. The venue was lovely and a nice boat ride to the island added to the experience. We got to learn about the traditional ways of processing rice. We made our own rice pancakes and made 4 delicious meals. You will not be hungry when you leave! Miss breakfast! We got a recipe book to take which will help when cooking at home. If you are looking for an experience as well as wanting to learn the basics of Vietnamese cooking this is for you!

We had an amazing experience. We started with a nice boat tour, then we were invited in the house of the grandmother where our teacher explained the process of making rice. The teacher was very clear and patient. The material and ingredients were professional and the food we made was so good! A unique experience that I would recommend to everyone who is passing Hoi An.

Very nice host and a good experience overall

This was the best thing we could have done in Hoi An. It was a different view of Hoi An, displaying the rural side of the city that most tourists don't get to see. The food was spectacular, and it was great to make the food that we were enjoying in the rest of Vietnam. The staff was superb, could have not asked for more dedicated and considerate service. Totally recommend!

Amazing food, great guide, good organization!

We saw a lot of the rural hoi an and how the people living off tourism dwell there, very interesting. The class takes place in a hut, with a jungle feeling all around, the tools and ingredients however left nothing to be desired. Our guide Phuong was very knowledgable and a lot of fun. Thank you!

Highly recommend this class. You eat what you prepare. It is all very fresh, fun and delicious! You really get a sense of quiet life on a small island. This is well operated class and you will get the recipes to take with you.

Our day started with a boat ride to the local market. Our guide Phuong was super lovely and knowledged about the local food and culture. She explained us during the market tour what ingredients Vietnamese people usually use for thei cooking and also what benefits different herbs ands ingredients have. We then bought some of the ingredients that we would later user for the cooking class. After the market tour we went on a longer boat ride to the island where the cooking class took place. It's a very local farmer island with few people living there. Absolutely great and relaxing environment to get away from the busy old town in Hoi An. The food we made was delicious and the team really friendly and helpful. Grandma was there as well and showed us how to make rice milk. Overall it was a great experience and I highly recommend to take a cooking class while you are in Hoi An as it really is a must do! Thanks again to Phuong!

We did this class as a family. It was a great experience. The children (8 and 11) managed all of the cooking themselves. Food was delicious. Eat only a light breakfast beforehand as there is LOTS of it. Would recommend.

I attended this cooking class with my sister and we were very happy with our decision to choose My Grandma's home cooking. We had lots of fun there as we learned and tried so many new kinds of food. We will come back here again in the future. We absolutely fell in love with the food, the people and the amazing environment.

I definitely recommend taking this cooking class since they also offer an interesting local market tour. We then got to her family compound in the scenic village. This is a fantastic experience, not just for the cooking class but to get the chance to visit the local side of Hoi An and have a real experience of rural Vietnam.

Wonderful adventurous boat ride to little island with beautiful scenery. We visited some people in the local village and learned more about the history of the food. Then we started to prepare and cook several dishes. The best part was that we got to enjoy those absolutely delicious meals. My Grandma's Home cooking was our highlight during our trip in Vietnam.

I did this tour on the recommendation of one of my friends. My wife and I were staying in Hoi An for the week. We had the best experience ever learning how to cook Vietnamese Cuisine. We started the day with a market tour followed by the cooking class. Then, the guide took us to a small boat and we took a ride to see the lovely rural side of Vietnam. We learned how to make rice milk, then we made spring rolls, green papaya salad and tuna clay pot crispy pancakes. We felt so grateful for this genuine local experience.

We keep a very good memory of this half day cooking class on this nice island. You get there by boat which is another occasion to discover Hoi An surroundings. We definitively loved the experience!