Mai Home on the Co Co River: Six Hours, Their Own Recipes

Six hours, and the thing that separates it is on the menu card rather than the itinerary: the recipes here are the kitchen's own, developed at Mai Home rather than taken from the standard syllabus that most classes in this village teach.

The setting helps. The restaurant looks over its vegetable garden on one side and the Co Co river on the other, and the herbs, vegetables, meat and seafood are bought fresh every day from Tra Que village and the local market, which is where the class starts.

Tra Que is the organic herb village outside Hoi An, and its produce is what the good kitchens here use, so what you cook with is what the town's restaurants cook with.

There is a bamboo basket boat as part of the day, and the group is a daily join-in class rather than a private one.

Ten people at most, in English, with the village fee, a welcome drink, lunch, the class and transfers by van or car from Hoi An hotels. Insurance and personal expenses are not included.

Not recommended if you are pregnant, have a spinal injury or a heart condition.