Thom Culinary: Harvest the Herbs, Then Cook Four Dishes

Vietnamese cooking is built on herbs, and this class starts by making you pick them.

The venue is a garden of herbs and tropical fruit, quiet, with a family worship hall and a fish pond in it, which is a long way from the noise of the Old Quarter even though the markets come first.

Those markets are three: Dong Xuan, Cau Dong and Thanh Ha, reached by cyclo, with street food tastings along the way. Then out to the garden to harvest what the class needs.

The teaching starts with the herbs themselves, because the philosophy behind Vietnamese food is about balancing contrasting tastes and textures so that each thing on the plate stays legible. Once that is clear, the four dishes make sense.

Then the work: chopping, frying, seasoning, plating, all of it yours.

Herbal drinks are bottomless, homemade rice wine and exotic fruit come with the meal, and there is a dessert made in the house.

Four and a half hours, eight people at most, in English, with the transport in both directions included.