Anna's Ventures: Bamboo Shoots Cooking Class

Back in February, my family and I participated in a Bamboo Shoots cooking class (read about it here). My mum had organised this prior to our trip. Having done a few cooking classes before, what attracted her to this one was that it is a locally owned and run class. An Australian expat and his Indonesian wife started the classes and run them from the comfort of their villa complex in South Sanur. For what is included, it's great value for money. For 450,000 Rupiah (roughly $45 Australian) you get hotel pick-up and drop-off from the Sanur area (another 150,000 Rupiah for pick-up from Kuta, Legian or Seminyak), a tour of the local markets where some of the ingredients are bought, breakfast and lunch.

What we all loved about this class is that it's quite informal. Whether you're travelling alone, as a couple or with family, it's a great class to do to meet some lovely people. The rest of our group was Australian too; a lady from Darwin, a mother and daughter from Melbourne and a young couple from Adelaide. It was great to spend the time cooking, but being able to chat freely to everyone and get to know them. You can participate as much or as little as you like which gives you the chance to chat, take photos, have a look at the villa complex your just watch. The recipes are also very easy to transfer to cooking back in your own kitchen.

The class has a great little set-up at the back of the villa complex. It is open air so it was a little hot, but when it gets too much you can just plonk yourself down on one of the comfy seats they have to one side of the kitchen. And of course the best part is eating the food you (or everyone else) has cooked. As you cook one dish at a time, there is time between each dish to sit down and eat. The food was all delicious, authentic and there was more than enough to go around. We all received a recipe book at the start of the class so we could follow along, add our own notes or ask what specific ingredients in the dishes are. These are also free for you to take home to recreate what you've made back home.