Flavors of Oaxaca: Cooking Class with No Set Menu + Local Market Tour

It was very authentic and personal. Nice people in a nice atmosphere and over all: very good food! Oscar was a perfect teacher!

We really enjoyed this class. Went to the market to buy various ingredients and then spent around 2 hours preparing them into wonderful dishes. The best part was eating them when we finished!

I was so impressed with the class that if Ican convince my family to come to Mexico, we will all be taking this class. The food was delicious.

a great way to spend a sunday afternoon in Oaxaca--

Oscar did a great job explaining the complexities of Oaxacan food, spices, and cooking techniques in a very pleasant, relaxing atmosphere. The market trip was fun too. We learned that making mole is not that complex and that we can likely do this at home. It was fun to sit with new friends and eat the lunch we all helped to prepare.

Oscar and his team were chill, welcoming and knowledgable. From a market tour to cooking to serving us the prepared dishes in a beautiful setting, it might be the best money I spent my entire trip. Can't recommend enough.

Oscar was a terrific instructor, making the class a social, gastronomical, cultural, and educational pleasure. We first made a series of choices about the menu we would prepare; then, we visited the market, where we learned a great deal about Oaxacan ingredients while Oscar obtained the needed ingredients for our cooking. And then we participated as much as we liked in preparing the multi-course meal, which we all got to enjoy--along with plenty of beer and mezcal. All in all an extremely enjoyable, educational, and rewarding experience. Don't miss it!

Loved every minute of it and then had a fabulous meal — that we made ourselves! Highly recommend.

I enjoyed every minute of the class. Oscar was great, explained everything and answered many questions. The class was well organized and I learned a lot about local cuisine. I definitely recommend this cooking class to everyone :)

The Casa Crespo was a really fun class in Oaxaca. We had eaten a lot of mole there and it was really impressive to experience what goes into it. It is one of those dishes that is greater than a sum of its parts. The setting was very good and all got to participate in the cooking, chopping, peeling, frying and stirring...and running the blender. And great to eat it all at the end.

This was one of the best cooking class I ever taken! I will recommend it to everyone!

I loved how the chef asked me questions of my cooking level and preferences. Then we made a menu to suit. After that, we took to the markets and he shared all his local knowledge. Then we prepped and cooked. Together we sat down and ate, discussed our stories and enjoyed the food.

The class was excellent. We were given a lot of options. I was the only vegetarian in the class but it was not a problem at all. Oscar the teacher and his assistant were really accomodating. The courses we cooked were delicious and hands on. It was fun and I highly recommend it.

The facilitators were incredible, they were completely open to teaching us how to cook Oaxacan style - but vegan which was really appreciated. The teacher was patient, informative, knowledgeable and obviously very talented. It was really cool to visit the market as well. The highlight of our trip. Thanks!

Overall the cooking course was excellent. We started with composing the menu together with Oscar, the chef, and thereafter went to a local market to gather ingredients. We prepared 3 different salsas, a soup, mole, 3 different tacos, tamales and ice cream. In the end, the entire menu was served including beer, Mezcal and coffee. Very tasty! The only little improvement could be to take a bit more time at the market and focus on explaining the ingredients that were relevant for the menu.

The staff/chefs were very engaging and organized. They started off with asking us what we were interested in making and helped select a menu that was to our liking. Then they took us on a tour of the market That was a short walk away and they showed us a lot of the local crops and what they were traditionally used for. We were able to sample some of the products. After returning we cooked together with their guidance. After, the staff did the plating and serving which was on the outdoor porch with beautiful plating. They also served some mezcal and drinks. Very fun and friendly. Would gladly do it again!

I highly recommend this class. The market tour was interesting. The cooking clear and we got to take part in all the steps. The email afterwards with all the recipes a great touch.

Three cheers for the Casa Crespo team. Their hospitality, flexibility, and attention to details made for a lovely day. We prepared three moles (fiesta/rojo, amarillo, and mancha manteles), three salsas, three types of tortillas, tortilla soup, and an incredibly easy and delicious flan. Not only were we full of the delicious flavors of Oaxaca, but we left with recipes we can—and will—replicate at home.

Interesting and fun

Loved making all sorts of amazing foods, 2 moles, tortillas, crab empanadas, tortilla soup, duck mole and chocolate ice cream! Surprisingly easy to make. Cant wait to try at home!

For 4.5 hours, this is pretty much the most one could hope for from a cooking class. Oscar is a true professional. After having been doing this for 10 years (3 classes/day/7 days per week) he has it down. I think he meets the 10,000 hour mark for a pro. Besides Oscar and his assistants, the other participants are all interesting and from all over. The trip to the market is actually a short walking tour complete with a lesson on the local vegetation. The cooking, itself, is made straightforward. But he points out all of the steps that are taken for preparation. This allows ample time for picture taking of the process while you yourself are not chopping, blending, or cooking. I would definitely recommend this to anyone with any skill level of cooking. You will learn something! Gracias, Oscar.

I love that we had an option to create our own menu

The class is highly recommended. The experience was excellent from beginning to end, and we appreciated the menu being tailored to the desires and preferences of the attendees. Oscar is very personable and knowledgeable and has a relaxed and helpful demeanor in class.

My spouse and I, skilled home chefs, took our eighteen year old niece and nephew. The instructor, Chef Oscar, created many opportunities for the novices to be able to participate in all steps of the preparation of the meal. Everyone enjoyed it and we all felt that we had learned a lot about authentic Oaxacan regional cuisine.

Enjoyed both the local market and learning about Mexican foods.

Was very well thought out and executed. Everyone had a go at making dishes and at the end we all sat at a beatifully set table to eat numerous courses with wine, beer and mescal!

This was a fantastic experience for my cousin and I, as well as our spouses, who joined us afterward to help eat our meal. Chef Oscar was very thorough, from our tour of the Mercado, through preparation of the appetizers, main course, deserts and tortillas. We decided on the menu (and the language the lesson would be taught in) as a group and began cooking after the market tour. Chef Oscar made sure that everyone took part in the meal preparation, regardless of level of experience, and he also made sure that we were all sufficiently challenged, according to our prior experience. The few things we could not do for the meal, due to time or space constraints, Chef Oscar explained thoroughly. The meal was presented by staff, to everyone's delight. Muchas gracias, chef Oscar.

Just go there with a good breakfast - you will cook for about 4 1/2 hours before you eat what you cooked - and it is delicious, I personally do not like too much of Mexican food but anyhow, Now I know how to make the real tasty guacamole and real good moles! 14 people were a bit too many, but Oscar tried to keep everybody to do something. If you like Mexican food with a gourmet taste - I would really recommend the class!

When chef took my email after class I was hoping for some recipes...so far nada! Class was lots of fun, made lots of dishes, enjoyed the quick market tour, drank mescal and beer. A follow up email from the chef with a list of the dishes we made, and a few recipes would add lots of value

This is by far the best cooking class I’ve had! We were able to choose our own menu and then shop in a perfect little market that I would never have found on my own. We did not only learned about the different foods but, always had the connection to Oaxacan culture. The dishes we made were varied and delicious. Our lunch was beautifully served and I won’t be needing dinner tonight. I love Oscar, our host, teacher, chef and now our friend. I will be looking forward to more Cookly classes.

This is a one of a kind experience! We went to Mexico to see the view and it's attractions but we heard from the hotel that cooking classes are great for an activity here in the city. Our chef, is very talented. His name was Oscar. He made the class so enjoyable and fun! It was no pressure. The room was full of laughter and humor. I loved that Oscar chatted to us at the beginning of the class and went through the varieties of meals we had the options of cooking, so we could choose exactly what we wanted to make from an extensive repertoire. Definitely recommended!

We made around 10 delicious dishes. Oscar the chef was very well organized (much of the food was prepared in advance) and he managed our group of 8 very well. As others said, he is a serious person. We got to chose our own menu which was fun - Oscar presented a wide variety of options. The market trip was great and the meal was absolutely delicious.

We booked online knowing nothing about this class and it was a complete fantastic surprise. We met great people and Oscar was a fabulous teacher.

We had a great time with Oscar, we were the only people who had booked so ended up with a private class! Covering a huge amount of dishes, Oscar even threw in a few more with some ingredients they had spare in the fridge. Would highly recommend, a fantastic way to learn about the food, ingredients and dishes of Oaxaca!

Oscar is evidently a very talented chef and the recipes we made during our class were absolutely delicious. I loved that Oscar chatted to us at the beginning of the class and went through the varieties of meals we had the options of cooking, so we could choose exactly what we wanted to make from an extensive repertoire. For a short day class we made an impressive number of dishes.

Oscar was awesome! We made several dishes and at the end of the class, all the students sat down and ate together. The class was fun and informative and we made some great new friends.

The class was really engaging and Oscar was very knowledgeable . Overall a great place to check out if you are interested in learning about Oaxacan cuisine.

The trip to the market to get ingredients was informative and a lot of fun. There were a lot of unique dishes to cook and all around a very hands on class.

Very hands on class. I really enjoyed being shown around the market and the mole was incredible!

Loved the market and the fact the menu wasn’t set. Oscar was very good