Minh Quan Cooking Class

Minh Quan, also known as Pet Garden, is a quiet green spot by the water, a few minutes from Tam Coc village. You cook outside in the garden with the water in front of you and the limestone mountains behind it. Late in the afternoon the sun drops in behind those mountains, which is a good reason to book the later hours.

The class runs about an hour and it is properly hands-on. Your host cooks with you rather than at you: you roll, chop, fry and taste as you go, and then you sit down and eat what you made while it is still hot.

You pick your menu when you book, so nothing is a surprise. Fresh spring rolls with lemongrass tofu, bún chả with grilled pork and fresh noodles, phở bò with stir-fried duck, or fried fish with chicken. One menu is fully vegetarian. Every one of them ends with a Vietnamese coffee, and you choose: coconut coffee, cold and thick and close to a dessert, or salted coffee, which sounds like a mistake and turns out to be the thing you order for the rest of your trip.

Because it only takes an hour and runs any day between 11:00 and 17:00, it fits into a day you have already planned. Boat through Trang An in the morning, cook here after lunch, still make it up the Mua Cave steps for sunset. It is also the obvious thing to do when the rain comes in and the bikes and the viewpoints are off the table.

Groups stay small, usually two or three people. If you are the only booking in your hour, it is a private class and it costs you nothing extra. Tell us about allergies or anything you do not eat when you book, and we pass it on.