Boutique Rum & Chocolate Tasting at Lunático — Restaurant in Cartagena

Doing a the market tour + cooking class with Maria was our #1 favorite thing we did while in Cartagena. The market tour was such a unique experience - we wouldn't have ever done it by ourselves (chaotic wouldn't begin to describe the markets) but getting to meet the vendors and try so many fruits we hadn't ever heard of beforehand was a fabulous experience. (Also, if you are nervous about going to a busy market like this, I wasn't nervous at all with Maria - it was clear she knew what she was doing and where to go for the friendliest vendors. Everyone was just busy going about their business, and it was actually surprisingly clean and fresh smelling too, except for the fish & meat area of course)

Then the cooking class itself was such a great experience. We love going to cooking classes and do it in a lot of places we travel to, but this one was unique in that we were all (about 8 of us plus Maria) cooking one big meal together. This meant that we got to learn how to make a ton of different things and each contribute as we went. The food in the end was delicious (mote de queso, ceviche, and the posta negra cartagenera) - the best meal we had in Cartagena - and the venue was really cute and fun.

We recommend this as an experience for everyone traveling to Cartagena! Would do it again in a heartbeat - thanks...

I came across Maria's cooking experience as an opportunity to immerse my American friends into my Colombian culture during our recent trip to Cartagena - I live in the US but often travel to Colombia to reunite with family. Without a doubt, this was an amazing activity that brings people together over delicious food. The workspace is incredible, super clean, with fantastic views of Castillo San Felipe. Maria is a passionate, bilingual chef with an eminent background in cooking and endless patience. She made sure every single person felt included and learned something (either from cooking or Colombian cuisine and culture). We had a private group of 10, with a mix of my Colombian family and American friends. It was amazing to see everyone bond over food with the help of Maria, regardless of the language barrier. Maria took the time to speak to us in both English and Spanish so everyone felt at ease and comfortable. Everyone loved making the Ceviche, Coconut rice and Mote from scratch and sitting at the beautiful dining table to toast and enjoy the food. This experience truly made our trip to Cartagena unforgettable. You can sightsee all of the beautiful city, but learning and cooking traditional recipes immerses you in the culture. Certainly MUST TRY while...

Didn’t like the experience for what it costed — the program was poorly organized, and turned into more or less a hibachi experience. The chef, Andre, was great, but there were too many people to really reach anything in the allotted time.

Things started off well — we learned how to make coconut milk for making coconut rice, but things quickly went south after that: Chef Andre took over doing all the cooking. What kind of cooking class doesn’t involve cooking? We were only involved in the prep work. No access to the stoves were given to “students”.

The food we were allowed to prepare was basic and didn’t taste great — the “shrimp ceviche cocktail” was just pico de gallo with blanched shrimp and snails, and a sauce made from literally ketchup and mayonnaise. No other seasonings.

The last course, a mojarra, was prepared entirely by the chef — he filleted one big fish, then prepared it in front of us with salt pepper and garlic. We were allowed only to plate. Granted, this process may have been the case only because we were running late, but again, that’s the fault of the program and having a too-full class.

Overall a badly organized class with poor food and...