• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • ABOUT
    • All About Grantourismo
    • Work With Us
    • Meet Lara and Terence
    • Itineraries, Tours & Retreats
    • Media Coverage
    • Contacts
  • SLOW
  • LOCAL
  • EXPERIENTIAL
  • RECIPES
Grantourismo Travels Logo

Grantourismo Travels

The website of globetrotting professional travel writing and photography team Lara Dunston and Terence Carter

Grantourismo Travels Logo
  • AFRICA
        • KENYA
          • Masai Mara
          • Mombasa
          • Tsavo West
        • MOROCCO
          • Essaouira
          • Marrakech
        • SOUTH AFRICA
          • Cape Town
  • ASIA
        • CAMBODIA
          • Battambang
          • Phnom Penh
          • Siem Reap
        • INDONESIA
          • Bali
        • JAPAN
          • Tokyo
        • LAOS
          • Luang Prabang
        • MALAYSIA
          • Borneo
          • Kuala Lumpur
          • Penang
        • MEKONG RIVER
        • SINGAPORE
        • MYANMAR
        • THAILAND
          • Bangkok
          • Chiang Mai
          • Isaan
          • Phuket
        • VIETNAM
          • Dalat
          • Hanoi
          • Hoi An
          • Saigon
          • Sapa
  • AMERICAS
        • ARGENTINA
          • Buenos Aires
        • BRAZIL
          • Rio de Janeiro
        • COSTA RICA
          • Manuel Antonio
        • MEXICO
          • Mexico City
          • San Miguel de Allende
        • UNITED STATES
          • Austin
          • New York City
  • AUSTRALASIA
        • AUSTRALIA
          • Adelaide
          • Darwin
          • Gold Coast
          • Melbourne
          • Perth
          • Sydney
  • EUROPE
        • AUSTRIA
          • Vienna
          • Zell Am See
        • ENGLAND
          • London
        • FRANCE
          • Céret
          • Paris
          • Perpignan
        • GERMANY
          • Berlin
        • HUNGARY
          • Budapest
        • ITALY
          • Alberobello
          • Calabria
          • Italian Lakes
          • Sardinia
          • Venice
        • MONTENEGRO
          • Kotor
        • POLAND
          • Krakow
          • Zakopane
        • PORTUGAL
          • Porto
          • Portugal Wine Regions
        • SCOTLAND
          • Edinburgh
        • SPAIN
          • Barcelona
          • Jerez
          • Mallorca
        • TURKEY
          • Istanbul
  • MIDDLE EAST
        • JORDAN
          • Desert Areas
        • QATAR
          • Doha
        • UAE
          • Dubai
Best Saigon Cooking Classes in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Best Saigon Cooking Classes, Street Food Tours and Culinary Experiences

The best Saigon cooking classes, street food tours and culinary experiences include everything from the hands-on cooking classes at GRAIN Cooking Studio started by Vietnamese-Australia chef Luke Nguyen to Saigon Street Eats’ in-depth street food tours to off-the-beaten-track neighbourhoods.

We’ve long said that the fastest way to get beneath the skin of a place is to shop the local markets, learn to cook the local food, and connect with locals over a meal or two (or three or four) – which is one of the reasons we started Grantourismo almost a decade ago, and why we’ve long suggested you sign up for cooking classes, street food tours and culinary experiences when you travel.

Cooking courses, culinary tours and foodie experiences provide some of the best opportunities for food-loving travellers to immerse themselves in great eating destinations such as Southern Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City – nostalgically called Saigon by its locals. While travellers to the sultry metropolis are often under the misapprehension that Ho Chi Minh City is Vietnam’s capital (it’s Hanoi), for the city’s residents Saigon is Vietnam’s culinary capital.

And while we don’t have favourites (although we do love the food of Hanoi and Hoi An, where we briefly lived, and Dalat and Hue, where I also take participants on my Vietnam Culinary Tours), Saigon definitely boasts some of Vietnam’s best cooking schools, food tours and culinary experiences – from busy markets bursting with fresh local produce and fantastic Southern Vietnamese street food to memorable restaurants that offer so much more than a meal.

Unlike Hoi An, where a cooking class and street food tour have become so obligatory that every restaurant and hotel seems to offer them and the options are overwhelming, in Ho Chi Minh City there are so many other things to do and see (impressive museums, for instance) that the choices are fewer and decisions easier. Nevertheless, we’re here to help: these are the best Saigon cooking classes, street food tours and culinary experiences we recommend you book.

Best Saigon Cooking Classes, Street Food Tours and Culinary Experiences

Best Saigon Cooking Classes

These are the best Saigon cooking classes for learning to cook Vietnamese food in Ho Chi Minh City.

GRAIN Cooking Studio

If you’re serious about learning to cook Vietnamese food in Vietnam, GRAIN Cooking Studio offers one of the best Saigon cooking classes, with a high level of instruction (the head cooking instructor is a chef with deep knowledge and excellent English), an impressive set-up with individual cooking stations with gas burners and all the pots, pans and utensils you need right on hand, and roaming assistants in case you need help. GRAIN Cooking School was established by Australian-Vietnamese chef Luke Nguyen, co-owner of one of Sydney’s best Vietnamese restaurants, Red Lantern, and author of a slew of Vietnamese and Southeast Asian cookbooks, and restaurateur Bien Nguyen, owner of Xu Restaurant in the same building. Menus change frequently, but expect to learn to cook four Vietnamese dishes, including an appetiser, starter, main, and dessert, and to enjoy each dish after you make it. Highly recommend the optional wine pairing. There’s also a traditional Vietnamese filtered coffee-making demonstration at the end. Participants are a mix of tourists and locals, including Vietnamese studying abroad. Skip lunch if you’re doing the afternoon Vietnamese cooking class.

Saigon Cooking Class at Hoa Tuc

Another one of the best Saigon cooking classes on offer, the Saigon Cooking Class is located above Hoa Tuc restaurant in a former opium warehouse that’s now home to a handful of restaurants and bars. One of Saigon’s oldest Vietnamese cooking schools, the Saigon Cooking Class is aimed firmly at tourists. That doesn’t mean it’s not good – we made the dish above in the Hoa Tuc cooking class – it just means that these hands-on Vietnamese cooking classes, based on recipes for dishes served in the restaurant, are very relaxed, with plenty of time to share travel tales and trade tips in between preparing four traditional Vietnamese dishes. Instruction is at a slower pace than GRAIN with the chef providing step-by-step directions before participants cook their dishes together. Instructors take time to teach as much about Vietnamese produce and ingredients as they do cooking techniques and kitchen utensils. Saigon Cooking Class caters well to participants with food allergies and vegetarians and can adapt recipes and dishes accordingly, but you need to let them know when you book.

Vietnamese Cookery Centre

Said to be one of the oldest of Saigon’s cooking schools, the Vietnamese Cookery Centre has been offering Vietnamese cooking lessons to visitors to the city since it was first established in 1999 and is arguably another of the best Saigon cooking classes around. The cooking school is located on the top floor of a charming French colonial-era residential building dating to the 1930s, which you may recognise if you’ve been to the War Remnants Museum or you’re familiar with the iconic image from the Vietnam War of an American helicopter evacuating people on 29 April 1975, the Fall of Saigon, from the rooftop of the neighbouring building. The apartment complex was home to USAID and the CIA had offices on the top floor. The Vietnamese cooking centre offers six menus that change daily and each menu includes four dishes and dessert, and complimentary drinks. They also cater to vegetarians.

Farm To Table Cooking Classes Near the Cu Chi Tunnels

If you like the idea of getting out into the countryside and getting onto a farm to do some cooking, the Ho Chi Minh City agricultural villages near the Cu Chi Tunnels, offer some of the best Saigon cooking classes for learning to cook Vietnamese food. The full day farming and cooking class will give you the best insights into life on the farm in Vietnam as well as teach you how to prepare healthy Vietnamese meals using fresh organic produce. You’ll get to see livestock being fed – this is Vietnam’s cattle country, after all – and don a traditional Vietnamese conical hat and take a bamboo basket out to pick your own vegetables, herbs and fruit to use in your cooking class. The instructor, who is a professional chef, will teach you some regional cooking techniques and share lots of tips, as you learn how to cook local Vietnamese dishes, before enjoying what you’ve prepared for your lunch. One thing that participants always find fascinating about these experiences is that many of the local farmers have maintained the agricultural traditions of their ancestors and are doing some things in ways that they have always done them. Other highlights include learning about rice cultivation, mushroom growing methods and insights into how herbs are not only used for their fragrance and flavour in Vietnamese cuisine, but also for their medicinal properties and health benefits. If you don’t have a full day to spare, they also offer a half-day cooking class on the farm, as well as a day out that includes the farm-based cooking class and Cu Chi Tunnels tour.

Best Saigon Street Food Tours

After doing one of the best Saigon cooking classes, we suggest doing one of Saigon’s best street food tours.

Saigon Street Eats

Started by Saigon local Vu and his Australian wife Barbara, Saigon Street Eats was Ho Chi Minh City’s first street food tour company and remains the best, offering a range of specialised small group food tours. If you’re a fan of noodle soups and Vietnamese phở in particular, then the 4.5 hour Pho Trail is a must. Expect to kick off the morning walking tour with lessons on how to cross the road and how to pronounce Vietnam’s best-known dish (it’s ‘fur’ not ‘foe’), before exploring the ‘real’ Saigon starting with a 35 year-old soup joint. The four-hour walk also takes in a chaotic wet market, a laidback park and a temple famous for its fortune telling. Seafood lovers shouldn’t think twice about signing up for the evening Seafood Trail, which includes a stroll through a lively local neighbourhood, where you’ll get to feast on an array of ‘Ốc’ (crustaceans), including sea snails eaten with a safety pin, scallops, mussels, and prawns, and learn how to drink like a local, beginning with a lesson in the art of Vietnam’s boisterous toasting ritual. I assure you that if you like a drink you’ll put your “Mot! Hai! Ba! YO!” to very good use on your trip. If you’re new to Vietnamese food, then the evening Street Food 101 Tour by Moto is your best bet and the best introduction to Vietnamese street food you’ll get. If you’re game, you can ride behind a local driver on the back of a motorbike taxi (xe om), but if you’re not, or your insurance doesn’t cover it, you can move between locations by taxi. You’ll begin in a bustling hẻm (alley) crammed with food stalls, where you’ll sample a couple of specialties before moving onto a different neighbourhood. Vu has a very deep knowledge of Vietnamese cuisine and its culinary history, so you’ll leave his Saigon food tour with a head full of stories as well as a full stomach. A typical tour includes a handful of stops, dessert at a local market, and beers. If you’re a beer lover, you can upgrade to the craft beer option and get a pack of three Pasteur Street craft beer packs to enjoy on the tour.

Saigon Secrets Night Food Tour and Cooking Class

If you enjoy cooking but don’t see yourself doing a 4-hour cooking class and you like trying street food but can’t imagine spending a whole evening eating, then this Saigon Secrets Night Food Tour with cooking class is probably the best option of the best Saigon cooking classes and street food tours for you. Over four hours, the guides will zip you through seven districts of Ho Chi Minh City behind your guides on the backs of motorbikes to sample seven different types of food and drink – that’s seven in total, not 14 if you’re getting worried! You’ll do as much exploring as eating and sipping, and you’ll round off the experience with a short and sweet cooking class in a local home. The food you’ll sample will give you a taste of the breadth (and length!) of Vietnamese cuisine, from bun thit nuong (grilled pork, noodles and fresh greens) to banh xeo (Vietnamese turmeric prawn and pork filled pancakes), while places you’ll visit include everything from the wholesale flower market, the ‘fashion street’ of Nguyen Trai, where many locals shop for clothes and accessories, and the island that is District 7, where you’ll visit a floating market and get a cooking lesson is making a secret family recipe.

Ho Chi Minh City Sightseeing and Street Food Tour

If you’re a street food lover and it’s your first time in Saigon and you have a tight schedule, this private Ho Chi Minh City sightseeing and street food tour is a terrific option. You’ll get to see Saigon’s most notable landmarks, learn about the city’s history, and gain an insight into local life on a tour that combines popular sights and local experiences, with five food tastings to keep you sated. And you’ll do it all on an exhilarating, fast-paced 5-hour ride through the city’s chaotic traffic from the back of a motorbike. You’ll take in Saigon’s main attractions, the Saigon Opera House, City Hall, Central Post Office, and Notre Dame Cathedral, as well as get a taste of local life at a popular temple, a wet market, where you’ll local drinks and street food snacks, and the Ho Thi Ky wholesale flower market, where you can join the locals for a hair wash and massage before visiting the Cholon Saigon’s Chinatown and exploring the city’s canals and a floating neighbourhood. Dietary issues can be accommodated and accident insurance coverage is included.

Best Saigon Culinary Experiences

Binh Tay Market

While most market-lovers visiting to Saigon make a beeline to Ben Thanh Market in the city centre, we prefer to hit Ho Chi Minh City’s Cholon or Chinatown, dating to the late 1770s. Unlike many Chinatowns around the world it hasn’t given over to tourism, perhaps because it sprawls across a number of blocks with no single thoroughfare that can easily be pedestrianised. At its centre is Binh Tay Market, which is predominantly a wholesale market, but is still a wonderful place for food enthusiasts to explore as much for the aromas of herbs and spices, the photogenic sacks spilling over with dehydrated mushrooms and dried chillies, and tables and shelves crammed with pickles, condiments and dry goods. There’s a dimly lit food section where you can pull up a stool and slurp a bowl of soup with the stallholders before wandering the streets around the market where you’ll find more food, as well as fresh herbs, fruit, vegetables, seafood, and the like for sale. Go early in the morning when it’s most lively.

Those were our picks of the best Saigon cooking classes, street food tours and culinary experiences. Do let us know if you do any of these and what you think, and do feel free to share your tips below if you think you’ve discovered one of the best Saigon cooking classes or food tours that you think we should be including. We’re happy to test them out on our next trip and add them.

BEST SAIGON COOKING CLASSES, STREET FOOD TOURS AND CULINARY EXPERIENCES

Powered by GetYourGuide. Become a partner.

Support our Cambodia Cookbook & Culinary History Book with a donation or monthly pledge on Patreon.

SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Share14
Tweet
Pin3
Yum
17 Shares

SUBSCRIBE TO THE GRANTOURISMO TRAVELS NEWSLETTER

Sign up below to receive our monthly newsletter to your In Box for special subscriber-only content, travel deals, tips, recipes, and inspiration.

100% Privacy. We hate spam too and will never give your email address away.

Share14
Tweet
Pin3
Yum
17 Shares

Related Posts You Might Like

Advertisement

Find Your Vietnam Accommodation

Booking.com

Shop for related products

About Lara Dunston

A travel and food writer who has experienced over 70 countries and written for The Guardian, Australian Gourmet Traveller, Feast, Delicious, National Geographic Traveller, Conde Nast Traveller, Travel+Leisure Southeast Asia, DestinAsian, TIME, CNN, The Independent, The Telegraph, Sunday Times Travel Magazine, AFAR, Wanderlust, International Traveller, Get Lost, Four Seasons Magazine, Fah Thai, Sawasdee, and more, as well as authored more than 40 guidebooks for Lonely Planet, DK, Footprint, Rough Guides, Fodors, Thomas Cook, and AA Guides.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

About Grantourismo

Lara and Terence are an Australian-born, Southeast Asia-based travel and food writers and photographers who have authored scores of guidebooks, produced countless travel and food stories, are currently developing cookbooks and guidebooks, and host culinary tours and writing and photography retreats in Southeast Asia.
READ MORE…

Featured Posts

Thai Fried Egg Salad Recipe for Yam Khai Dao Crispy Fried Egg Salad. Christmas salad recipes. Copyright 2021 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

Thai Fried Egg Salad Recipe for Yam Khai Dao, a Deliciously Addictive Crispy Fried Egg Salad

Southeast Asian BLT Breakfast Salad Recipe with Jammy Soft Boiled Eggs. most popular recipes of August 2022. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved.

10 Most Popular Recipes of August from Poached Chicken Salads to Easy Noodle Recipes

Charcuterie Spread, Khema Restaurant, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Copyright © 2022 Terence Carter / Grantourismo. All Rights Reserved. Best Phnom Penh French Restaurants.

Best Phnom Penh French Restaurants – From Elegant Fine Diners to Casual Buzzy Bistros

Footer

ABOUT GRANTOURISMO

  • All About Grantourismo
  • Meet Lara and Terence
  • Work With Us
  • Itineraries, Tours & Retreats
  • Media & Advertising
  • Media Coverage
  • Contacts

THE GRANTOURISMO SHOP ON SOCIETY6

The Grantourismo Shop on Society6

GET THE BEST MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING

Get the Best Managed Wordpress Website Hosting with Flywheel

IMPORTANT DETAILS

  • Terms and Conditions
  • Editorial Policy
  • Comments Policy
  • Advertising
  • Privacy Policy

AMAZON AFFILIATE DISCLOSURE

Grantourismo Travels is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for website owners to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com, audible.com, and any other website that may be affiliated with Amazon Service LLC Associates Program.

GRANTOURISMO AFFILIATES/SUPPORT

Grantourismo is reader-supported. Posts contain various affiliate links. If you click through and purchase something, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. That income supports the work we do to create content. Here are more ways to support Grantourismo.

SUBSCRIBE

SOCIALLY CONNECTED

  • 6,048 Followers
  • 2,579 Likes
  • 1,859 followers
  • 19,049 Followers

INSTAGRAM FEED

Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check o Still looking for Christmas cooking inspo? Check out our seafood recipe collection, especially if you celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve with a fish focused meal in the Southern Italian tradition, transformed by Italian-Americans into the Feast of the Seven Fishes, or like Australians, who celebrate Christmas in the sweltering summer, feast on seafood for Christmas Day lunch, we’ve got lots of easy seafood recipes for you.

Our recipes include a classic prawn cocktail, blini with smoked salmon, a ceviche-style appetiser, and devilled eggs with caviar. We’ve also got recipes for fish soup, seafood pies and pastas, salmon tray bake, and crispy salmon with creamy mashed potatoes.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/seafood-recipes-for-christmas-eve-and-christmas-day-menus/
(Link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas if you’re celebrating!! 

#christmas #christmasfood #seafood #fish #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #grantourismo #grantourismotravels #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you’re still looking for food inspo for Chris If you’re still looking for food inspo for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meals, my smoked salmon ‘carpaccio’ recipe is one of dozens of recipes in this compilation of our best Christmas recipes (link below). 

The Christmas recipe compilation includes collections of our best Christmas breakfast recipes, best Christmas brunch recipes, best Christmas starter recipes, best Christmas cocktails, best Christmas dessert recipes, and homemade edible Christmas gifts and more.

My smoked salmon carpaccio recipe makes an easy elegant appetiser that’s made in minutes. If you’re having guests over, you can make the dish ahead by assembling the salmon, capers and pickled onions, and refrigerate it, then pour on the dressing just before serving. 

Provide toasted baguette slices and bowls of additional capers, pickles and dressing, so guests can customise their carpaccio. And open the bubbly!

You’ll find that recipe and many more Christmas recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/best-christmas-recipes/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Merry Christmas!! X

#christmas #christmasfood #recipes #christmasrecipes #foodstagram #salmon #smokedsalmon #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood #picoftheday #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels 
#xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas
If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I sh If you haven’t visited our site in a while, I shared a collection of recipes for homemade edible Christmas gifts — for condiments, hot sauces, chilli oils, a whole array of pickles, spice blends, chilli salt, furakake seasoning, and spicy snacks, such as our Cambodian and Vietnamese roasted peanuts. 

I love giving homemade edibles as gifts as much as I love receiving them. Who wouldn’t appreciate jars filled with their favourite chilli oils, hot sauces, piquant pickles, and spicy peanuts that loved-ones have taken the time to make? 

Aside from the gesture and affordability of gifting homemade edibles, you’re minimising waste. You can use recycled jars or if buying new mason jars or clip-top Kilner jars, you know they’ll get repurposed.

No need for wrapping, just attach some Christmas baubles or tinsel to the lid. I used squares of Cambodian kramas (cotton scarves), which can be repurposed as napkins or drink coasters, and tied a ribbon or two around the lids, and attached last year’s Christmas tree decorations to some.

You’ll find the recipes here: https://grantourismotravels.com/homemade-edible-christmas-gifts/ (link in bio if you’re seeing this on IG)

Yes, that’s Pepper... every time there’s a camera around... 

#christmasgiftideas #ediblegifts ##christmasfoodgifts #foodgifts #giftideas #homemadegifts #christmasfood #ediblegiftideas #hotsauce #chillisauce #sriracha #pickles #homemadepickles #recipes #foodstagram #foodblogger #food #foodlover #igfood 
#blackcat #blackcatsofinstagram #picoftheday 
#christmas #christmastree #xmas #merrychristmas #happychristmas #cambodia #siemreap
This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’ This crab omelette is a decadent eggs dish that’s perfect if you’re just back from the fish markets armed with luxurious fresh crab meat. It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and very, very moreish.

Our crab omelette recipe was one of our 22 most popular egg recipes of 2022 on our website Grantourismo and it’s no surprise. It’s appeared more times than any other egg recipes on our annual round-ups of most popular recipes since Terence launched Weekend Eggs when we launched Grantourismo in 2010.

If you’re an eggs lover, do check out the recipe collection. It includes egg recipes from right around the world, from recipes for classic kopitiam eggs from Singapore and Malaysia and egg curries from India and Myanmar to all kinds of egg recipes from Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Mexico, USA, Australia, UK, and Ireland.

And do browse our Weekend Eggs archives for further eggspiration (sorry). We have hundreds of egg recipes from the 13 year-old series of recipes for quintessential egg dishes from around the world, which we started on our 2010 year-long global grand tour focused on slow, local and experiential travel. 

We’re hoping 2023 will be the year we can finally publish the Weekend Eggs cookbook we’ve talked about for years based on that series. After we can find a publisher for the Cambodia cookbook of course... :( 

Recipe collection here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio):
https://grantourismotravels.com/22-most-popular-egg-recipes-of-2022-from-weekend-eggs/

If you cook the recipe and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either in the comments at the end of the recipe or share a pic with us here.

#recipe #recipes #eggs #eggslover #breakfasteggs #WeekendEggs #egg #breakfast #brunch #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #lookingforapublisher #writingacookbook  #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angko I’m late to share this, but a few days ago Angkor Archaeological Park, home to stupendous Angkor Wat, pictured, celebrated 30 years of its UNESCO World Heritage listing. 

That’s as good an excuse as any to put this magnificent, sprawling archaeological site on your travel list this year.

While riverside Siem Reap, your base for exploring Angkor is bustling once more, there are still nowhere near the visitors of the last busy high season months of December-January 2018-2019 when there were 290,000 visitors. 

Last month there were just 55,000 visitors and December feels a little quieter. A tour guide friend said there were about 150 people at Angkor Wat for sunrise a few days ago.

If you’re looking for tips to visiting Angkor, Siem Reap and Cambodia, just ask us a question in the comments below or check Grantourismo as we’ve got loads of info on our site. Click through to the link in the bio and explore our Cambodia guide or search for ‘Angkor’. 

And please do let us know if you’re coming to Siem Reap. We’d love to see you here x

#siemreap #cambodia #asia #travel #instatravel #traveldeeper #slowtravel #localtravel #experientialtravel #exploremore #neverstopexploring #goexplore #igtravel #angkorwat #angkor #temple #temples #angkorwithoutcrowds #unesco #unescoworldheritagesite #unescoworldheritage #archaeology #archaeologicalsite #traveladdict #beautifuldestinations #beautifulplaces #travelgram #wanderlust #picoftheday📷 #grantourismotravels.
Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky Our soy ginger chicken recipe will make you sticky, flavourful and succulent chicken thighs that are fantastic with steamed rice, Chinese greens or a salad, such as a Southeast Asian slaw. 

The chicken can be marinated for up to 24 hours before cooking, which ensures it’s packed with flavour, then it can be cooked on a barbecue or in a pan.

Terence’s soy ginger chicken recipe is one of our favourite recipes for a quick and easy meal. I love the sound of the sizzling thighs in the pan, and the warming aromas wafting through the apartment. 

It’s amazing how such flavourful juicy chicken thighs come from such a quick and easy recipe.

Recipe here (and proper link to Grantourismo in our bio): https://grantourismotravels.com/soy-ginger-chicken-recipe/

If you cook it and enjoy it please let us know — we love to hear from you — either here or in the comments at the end of the recipe on the site or share a pic with us x 

#recipe #recipes #chicken #soygingerchicken #asianfood #southeastasianfood #igfood #igfoodie #cooking #cookingtime #recipe #recipes #comfortfood #foodblog #food #foodstagram #healthyfood #instafood #healthy #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #recipedeveloper #writingacookbook #grantourismo #grantourismotravels
Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re mak Who can guess the ingredients and what we’re making with my market haul from Psar Samaki in Siem Reap — all for a whopping 10,000 riel (US$2.50)?! 

Birds-eye chillies thrown in for free! They were on my list but the seller I spent most at (5,000 riel!) scooped up a handful and slipped them into my bag. She was my last stop and knew what I was making.

My Khmer is poor, even after all our years in Cambodia, as I don’t learn languages with the ease I did in my 20s, plus I’m mentally exhausted after researching and writing all day. I have a better vocabulary of Old and Middle Khmer than modern Khmer from studying the ancient inscriptions for the Cambodian culinary history component of our cookbook I’m writing.

So when one seller totalled my purchases I thought she said 5,000 riel but she handed back 4,500 riel! The sum total of two huge bunches of herbs and kaffir lime leaves was 500 riel.

Tip: if visiting Siem Reap, use Khmer riel for local shopping. We’ve mainly used riel since the pandemic started— rarely use US$ now as market sellers quote prices in riels, as do local shops and bakeries, and I tip tuk tuk drivers in riels. I find prices quoted in riels are lower.

Psar Samaki is cheaper than Psar Leu, which is cheaper than Psar Chas, as it’s a wholesale market, which means the produce is fresher. I see veggies arriving, piled high in the back of vehicles, with dirt still on them — as I did on this trip. 

The scent of a mountain of incredibly aromatic pineapples offloaded from the back of a dusty ute was so heady they smelt like they’d just been cut. More exotic European style veggies arrive by big trucks in boxes labelled in Vietnamese (from Dalat) and Mandarin (from China), such as beautiful snow-white cauliflower I spotted.

Note: the freshest produce is sold on the dirt road at the back of the market.

#cambodia #siemreap #foodwriter #foodblogger #foodphotography #igfood #foodstagram #instafood #instafoodie #foodie #instadaily #picoftheday #market #siemreapmarket #psarsamaki #marketfresh #vegetables #healthyfood #marketshopping #traveltips #foodtravel #culinarytravel #localtravel #cooking #cookingtime #curry #homemade #currypaste #grantourismotravels
My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recip My Vietnamese-ish meatballs and rice noodles recipe makes tender meatballs doused in a delightfully tangy-sweet sauce, sprinkled with crispy fried shallots, with carrot-daikon, crunchy cucumber and fragrant herbs. 

The dish is inspired by bún chả, a Hanoi specialty, but it’s not bún chả. No matter what Google or food bloggers tell you. Names are important, especially when cooking and writing about cuisines not our own.

This is an authentic bún chả recipe:  https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-bun-cha-recipe/ You’ll need to get the outdoor BBQ/grill going to do proper smoky bún chả meat patties (not meatballs).

My meatball noodle bowl is perhaps more closely related to dishes such as a Central Vietnam cousin bún thịt nướng (pork skewers on rice noodles in a bowl) and a Southern relation bún bò Nam Bộ (beef atop rice noodles, sprinkled with fried shallots (Nam Bộ=Southern Vietnam) though neither include meatballs. 

Xíu mại= meatballs although they’re different in flavour to mine, which taste more like bún chả patties. Xíu mại remind me of Southern Italian meatballs in tomato sauce.

In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, home to millions of Khmer, there’s bánh tằm xíu mại. Bánh tằm=silk worm noodles. They’re topped with meatballs, cucumber, daikon, carrot, fresh herbs, crispy fried onions. Difference: cold noodles doused in a sauce of coconut cream and fish sauce. 

Remove the meatballs, add chopped fried spring rolls and it’s Cambodia’s banh sung, which is a rice noodle salad similar to Vietnam’s bún chả giò :) 

Recipe here: (link in bio) https://grantourismotravels.com/vietnamese-meatballs-and-rice-noodles-recipe/

For more on these culinary connections you’ll have to wait for our Cambodian cookbook and culinary history. In a hurry to know? Come support the project on Patreon. (link in bio)

#recipe #recipes #vietnamesefood #cambodianfood #asianfood #southeastasianfood #ricenoodles #rice #noodlebowl #meatballs #igfood #igfoodie #foodblog #food #foodstagram #instafood  #instafoodie #foodie #foodies #foodlover #foodpics #foodporn #foodphotography #foodwriter #foodblogger #writingacookbook #writingacambodiancookbook #patreon #patreoncreator #grantourismo
It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour It is pure coincidence that Pepper’s eye colour matches the furnishings of our rented apartment. So, no, I did not colour-coordinate the interiors to match our cat’s eyes. 

I keep getting DMs from pet clothing brands wanting to “partner” with Pepper and send her free cat clothes and cat accessories. Although she did wear a kerchief for a few years in her more adventurous fashion-forward teenage years, I cannot see this cat in clothes now, can you? 

#pepper #blackcat #blackcats #blackcatsofinstagram #blackcatsrule #blackcatsmatter #cat #cats #catsofinstagram #catstagram #catlover #catlovers #catlove #catoftheday #catphoto #catpic #catpics #cambodiancat #cambodiancatsofinstagram #catlife #catloversclub #catoftheday #catgram #catstagram #cats_of_instagram #catphotography #catsofig #catsoftheworld #catsofinsta #cats🐱 #siemreap #cambodia

SAFETY WING INSURANCE

Safety Wing Insurance

Images Protected By Pixsy

Protected By Pixsy

Footer Widget Header

WEB LOVE

As Seen in The Guardian As Seen on NineMSN As Seen on Tnooz
As Seen In The Independent As Seen on Frommers As seen on Viator
As Seen in Afar As seen on Gadling As seen on Context
As Seen in Fathom As Seen on Matador As seen on Inspirato with American Express
As seen on the Daily Mail website As seen on the Forbes website Grantourismo on the SilverKris website

ALL MEDIA COPYRIGHT © 2009–2023 GRANTOURISMO | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
DESIGNED IN APARTMENT RENTALS, HOTELS AND RESORTS AROUND THE WORLD BY GRANTOURISMO MEDIA.
ASSEMBLED IN SOUTH-EAST-ASIA.
GRANTOURISMO TRAVELS AND ‘MAKING TRAVEL MORE MEANINGFUL AND MEMORABLE’ ARE ™ TO GRANTOURISMO MEDIA.