We had a combined cycling and cooking class which was also run by the Morning Glory crew. The cycle ride was my first in Vietnam and turned out ok apart from a flat tyre. I realised that I would be able to cycle around which means that my fear of motor bikes wouldn’t stop me from going out (it’s along story). We cycled out to a very large market garden (a bit like an allotment) where we tasted various herbs and watched a farmer plant some seedlings by lining the planting ditch with seaweed. Then back to the cooking class which turned out to be run by our cycling guide Bao. This time we cooked individually and then ate at our cooking stations. It was a very professional set up. We started with a green mango salad, then cooked crispy omelette (from a packet no less) which we rolled in rice paper with lots of herbs including a slice of starfruit and green banana. We then tackled 2 versions of the local speciality – White Rose dumplings. The shrimp (or pork) version is fashioned a bit like a white dog rose and the vegetarian version like a tiny pasty. Marinated grilled pork was rolled up in rice paper with lots of herbs and dipped in a satay sauce. The lemongrass ice cream at the end was a bonus – not made by us…
Category: Travelling stuff
Locavore, Ubud
This is probably the coolest restaurant in Ubud right now and wow what an experience! Not so much going out for dinner but taking part in a wonderful tasting journey based on local Indonesian ingredients. I was extremely lucky to get a reservation it seems – it’s booked up months in advance. Maybe the IMF and World Bank folks had booked out the restaurant on 11th October and changed their minds?
Anyway, I went for the 5 course tasting menu with beverage pairing but in reality I had 16 different dishes – yes 16! There were 5 pre-courses before the amuse bouche followed by the 5 course tasting menu and of course a couple of palate cleansers and 2 extra desserts. Peggy requested that I take photos of everything so I asked if I could and also asked if I could take photos of the chefs as I was actually sitting in the kitchen. Chef patron Ray greeted me and explained most of the main courses to me – what a great guy. I’m not sure whether this was the usual service or if he really thought I was reviewing the restaurant? The 5 courses were served with tiny little cocktails to match the food and they were all delicious. My favourite tasting experiences were Bonito, Burung Puyuh (quail) and “Nuts about orange” dessert. The photos are all in the order that they were served apart from 2 which I scoffed before I remembered to take photos…
I can highly recommend this experience. At 20 times the cost of the dinner I had the previous evening (which was particularly cheap) it was still very reasonable compared to Noma.
Anna's Travels 