Thai Cooking School Phuket (Kata Thai Cooking Class) — Restaurant in Karon

Kata Thai Cooking Class by Sally is located in Kata, just on the hill as you head down into town. Open Monday – Saturday, they offer a morning (11am-1:30pm) or an afternoon session (3:30-6pm) for approximately $1900 Baht (at the moment that’s around $700. The cost includes the ingredients for cooking including meat, a cooking station, recipes, chefs hat, the meal, a soft drink & water as well as the chef’s time. It also includes free transport if coming from the kata and karon area. Sally was in Bangkok for a work conference/cooking seminar so her business & life partner Jim taught my class. The class can be mixed in numbers depending on the day, sometimes big and sometimes small. On the afternoon class I visited, I was the only one there, so it was especially good for me to learn. It has a table set up to prepare the food and workbenches to cook the meals once preparations have been finished. The menu options change depending on which day you visit, but they are predominately popular thai choices like a Red or Green Curry, Massamun (though as I learn, this isn’t typically thai), cashew nut chicken, tom yum soup, pad thai and spring rolls to name a few. The classes are also possible for vegetarians as the choices can be adjusted. Jim is entertaining and I find his banter most suitable to the experience. He quizzes me on each ingredient before explaining what it is, a little bit of the history and how the ingredients grow and where they can be found. What I find extremely interesting is that you simply swap out a few ingredients only and you’ve got yourself a whole new curry. Basically, you prep the ground work and can make 3-4 different curries at home. For example, basically the difference between a green and red curry is the green uses green chilli (not dried) and the red uses dried red chilli for the paste. Then for a green curry you also add dried roasted coriander seed, cumin seed and a basil leaf. That is the simple difference! A penang curry is similar to the green without the basil leaf and add more green chilli. So I begin with the Red Curry, and after we’ve discussed each ingredient, I soak the dried chill in water, then pound the dried chilli, black pepper and salt, followed by the galangal, lemongrass and a skin of kaffir lime. Later, add the garlic, shallot, turmeric and add the fresh chilli and shrimp paste (keep the paste out if vegetarian). It is awesome that you are making your own paste. You add as much chili as it pleases your taste buds. Once this is done, you can cook. Jim took me to the cooking station and taught each step, one by one. I heat up the vegetable oil, add the coconut milk and dissolve the curry paste, once it starts boiling, pour the rest of the milk in. Add the meat, veggies and wait until it thickens. It was interesting to cook as I was able to watch the curry thicken and taste the flavours as they developed. Once it was cooked, it was served in a bowl and ready to eat, they provided some rice too. I wasn’t a fan of the thai eggpland and probably at home would use carrot or broccoli. The chicken cashew nut is my favourite. A very easy one to make – chop up the vegetables and prepare your ingredients. At the cooking station you lightly fry your nuts and chilli and remove, then add and lightly fry your chicken. Add your sauce (fish paste, chilli paste, water and sugar), as well as all your other ingredients and it is ready in no time. Garnish with nuts and dried chilli and it’s ready to eat. This had a beautiful taste and so much better than ordering from the store. The last dish was the pad thai. Also, very easy to make once you know how. The noodles had been previously soaked and softened and prepare all your ingredients to cook. The sauce is made with tamarind paste, fish sauce and palm sugar. When you’re ready to cook, remember this takes a lot of tossing the noodles to get it all to mix without breaking the noodles. This dish has egg, tofu and I had shrimp. It can be vegetarian if you please. Once it is ready, top it with chives and serve. Another...

I don’t know where to start: this was the most fun we had in Thailand! I booked a session with Jim as a Christmas present for my boyfriend and another couple of friends joined us. My boyfriend does these sort of classes in every country he visits and even he says it was the best one he did so far! I looked at a few other cooking classes, and there was one that was just 5 mins away from our hotel, but I am super happy I went with this one.

Our group’s cooking experience ranged from none to home cook, and Jim made all of us feel at ease while teaching us the basics of Thai cooking. It also helps that he is HILARIOUS, the man has jokes! The set up was very professional: all stations were ready for us beforehand and all the ingredients; we had aprons and bandanas and notes for us. He also had an assistant who’d help us out while he instructed.

Jim took his time introducing the ingredients to us, also adding where we’d find them and the alternatives for when we’re back home, he also told us about the logic behind everything. At the end of the course we ate the things we prepared and boy it was soooo good!

I highly recommend this to everyone who comes to Phuket. Honestly the best time ever. And for this price you learn something new about the Thai cuisine and traditions AND get a looot of food. We couldn’t finish it, they give you cups to take home whatever you cook.

Dishes we prepared:

Tom yum soup (with variations) Green curry Pad...

My wife and I took this class while visiting Phuket. I cannot tell you how much fun we had. Both Sally and Jim were amazing hosts. Jim had the best sense of humor, and made you feel like best friends from the moment you met him. We started with a market tour and got seriously schooled on when and why to use certain ingredients. We got to taste test a ton of local fruit, and learned how to properly open them. Everything in the market tour was super well coordinated. We then went to their kitchen and got right into prepping ingredients. Again, everything was super well choreographed, and you never felt rushed to prep things faster. Once we started cooking you could tell Jim was a master. Everything was explained perfectly and both my wife and I were cooking like pros. That just shows how good of a teacher he was. After all the food was cooked, we got to eat together as a class and got to know the other students and Jim better. We already had a wok at home, but this course just explained the nuances of cooking with it in such good detail. You can be sure you will be cooking with a wok 100x more after this class. If you don’t believe what I am saying, just look at the food we made below. It tasted as good as it looks. 10/10 would take this course again if we ever make our way back to Phuket. Also, check out their youtube channel if you want to know how to cook other dishes: My...