We recently had the opportunity to stay at the Panviman Spa in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Here we were in the midst of the kind of luxury that honeymooners dream about. But who knew that while in these beautiful surroundings, we would also find a cooking class where we were able to cook with a Thai chef in an outdoor kitchen. We walked away from the experience at the Panviman fully relaxed and armed with a few new Thai food recipes (that of course we will share in our food finds/recipe section).
The Panviman Spa Resort
When we first arrived at the Panviman Spa Resort (which is about 30 minutes outside of the center of Chiang Mai) we were blown away by the view.
Paradise found in Chiang Mai Thailand
While checking in I found information about the Thai Cooking Class and decided right away that we needed to book it for the next day. We each got to choose 2 things to make, and to my delight they had one of my favorite Thai dishes, Massaman (or Matsaman) Curry on the menu. We hadn’t gotten to our room and our stay was already going perfectly. And then, we were shown our room (or Jacuzzi Villa).
And look what we found on the private deck
After a quick check on the mini bar (yep, fully stocked and reasonably priced) we decided that the next 2 days were going to be pretty good.
We could have probably just spent the whole day right here, but decided to explore a little. And found the pools.
Because we chose a weekday and the resort is so spread out, we had the whole pool area mostly to ourselves.
Chiang Mai Thai Cooking Class
The cooking class area was tucked into a quiet area overlooking the Panviman’s organic garden.
The resorts’s organic garden and cooking school area
The staff had already fully prepped all of the dishes. It was a small group, so we had the full attention of the chef (with the help of an interpreter).
Chef adding chicken to Sean’s dish
Based on the difficulty level (low) and all of the hands-on attention, it was pretty had to mess things up. Everything we absolutely delicious. And as promised, some of the (slightly adjusted) of the things we made are below.
Green Curry with Chicken
Tom Kha Gai
Beef Massaman Curry
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A special thank you to the Panviman Spa Resort, who hosted our stay. As always, our opinions are our own.
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