Our last cooking class on the tour was at the Spice Garden which is owned and run by a well-known Vietnamese chef called Phuong. It’s far out in the country side near the Cu Chi tunnels. It took almost 2 hours from central Saigon not helped by the fact that it was absolutely tipping it down.
It’s a beautiful modern place with a garden full of 100% organic vegetables and fruit. Everything we cooked was from the garden. By now we all had a favourite vegetable – morning glory – which 3 lucky people got to pick. Once again we were cooking individually and started off with squid salad, followed by stewed chicken with lemongrass cooked over a tiny charcoal brassier. The chef made a very simple tomato and egg soup for us, as well as morning glory sauteed in garlic and for dessert, we were given sweet soup with lotus seeds which we had picked earlier. Coffee was made using the drip method in a single cup – a very cute way of making the excellent coffee which Huong had blended with 10% cocoa. Vietnamese coffee is made with condensed milk and I have to admit I haven’t quite taken to that given that I like my coffee without sugar.
Anna's Travels 