Hanoi Cooking Class with Local People

We had a great time with out guide, Thien (Thomas). The morning started out with buying some of the ingredients from the local market. That in itself was an experience my two teenagers won't be forgetting soon. Thien also did a great job introducing us to various noteworthy landmarks, and most importantly, gave us a great perspective on how the people of Hanoi go about their day. Then we got to the main event - getting to the cooking classroom. That was a lot of fun - I'm the cook in the family so it was eye-opening layering on the various seasoning techniques used in Vietnamese cuisine - especially the preparation of the dipping sauce for Bùn (similar to Phò, but round instead of flat). The making of the various spring rolls was also a treat - that both my teenagers were so engaged is a testament to the quality of the experience. Highly recommended.

My husband and I were surprised on the overall conduct of this tour. The guide,the cook and the cook's husband were all friendly and hospitable although it was only the tour guide who spoke English. Here are our honest observations:1 tour transpo - we were surprised that we were not picked up by a private car like the other Viator tours we joined so we had to take a cab to and from the cooking class with our guide we even had no choice but to ride the motorbike going to and from the local market which was a bit scary.2 no recipes were given so we had to rely solely on what the guide interprets from what the cook says the guide promised that Daisy from the local tour company will e-mail the recipes but I haven't received them until now, almost 2 months after the tour. 3 a major concern was the oveall hygiene and cleanliness of the kitchen, the utensils and the water supply. The food we cooked were more than enough for the 4 of us and tasted good but we were very concerned about the dining utensils that we used. i'm sad to say that this tour is not worth recommending to my family and friends due to safety and health reasons:

Sadly this trip was not at all what I expected. I was shocked to learn after being collected from our hotel that we were to travel on the public bus to the home of the local chef, and to navigate walk across a major highway in peak hour. Although the family were very hospitable it was disappointing that the chef didn't speak English and there were no cooking notes supplied. I was also very dubious about the hygiene of the kitchen and quality of water used to wash the food items. The kitchen was not really setup for hosting guests and to include them in the food preparation. The overall concept was ok, but a number of things need to be included in the information about the trip.