Half Day Course - Mama Noi Thai Cookery School

Mama Noi is a family cooking school on the edge of Chiang Mai city, and the half-day course is the easy way in: one morning or one afternoon, three dishes plus dessert, and you leave with the recipes. It suits first-timers, solo travellers and families who want to cook rather than watch.

The class starts with a walk through a local market, where your instructor points out the herbs, pastes and vegetables you are about to use. Back at the school you stroll through the organic garden, then take your own cooking station. You choose your three savoury dishes from the menu, with favourites such as pad thai, green curry, khao soi, pad kra prow and tom yum on offer, and finish with mango sticky rice and a glass of Thai tea. You eat everything you make.

Every dish can be made vegetarian. Classes run in the morning from 09:00 and in the afternoon from 15:30, and take three to four hours. Free pickup and drop-off by songthaew is included within 5 km of the old city, and a photographer covers the class so you get an online album afterwards.