Learning Indonesian Cooking in Bali – Absolutely Worth It!

📍 Location: A very local cooking school in Ubud (search “Bali Spice Cooking Class” to find it) 💰 Price: approx. IDR 350,000 per person (around RMB 165, including pickup, market tour, cooking class, and lunch)

🌶️ Morning market visit – a spice journey begins! Early in the morning, the chef took us to the Ubud traditional market to get to know various spices and local ingredients: ✔️ Taught us how to choose lemongrass, turmeric, galangal – so practical ✔️ Learned three must-know bargaining phrases in Indonesian: “Boleh kurang?” – essential! ✔️ Also tasted some really special fruits, especially salak (snake fruit), sweet and sour – totally addictive!

👩🍳 Cooking time: a bit chaotic but so much fun! The class is set in a traditional Balinese family compound, wonderful atmosphere～ Lasts about 2.5 hours, covering appetizers to desserts, with a dedicated vegetarian menu too. We learned: 1️⃣ Rendang beef: traditionally simmered for 8 hours! We learned a simplified version, the key is adding coconut milk in three stages – layers of aroma! 2️⃣ Spicy banana-leaf grilled fish: we mixed our own spice paste, my fish nearly fell apart… luckily the chef came to help 3️⃣ Homemade sambal: pounding chilies in a stone mortar, tears streaming from the heat, but so satisfying～

🍽️ The food we made was incredibly fragrant, we ate every last bite! At the end, we plated with banana leaves and frangipani, looked like a fancy restaurant set meal. When I posted on Moments, everyone asked “Which restaurant is this?” 😂

💡 A few practical tips: ✅ Morning classes are most comfortable, afternoons can get pretty hot ✅ Wear dark clothes – turmeric stains just won’t come out… ✅ You’ll receive an e-cookbook so you can recreate the dishes at home ✅ On the way back, you can buy some ABC chili sauce or shrimp crackers as souvenirs, just make sure to pack them well in your checked luggage (I learned the hard way...😅)

🚐 The course includes hotel pickup and drop-off (most convenient from the Ubud area) 🕗 Pickup around 8:00–8:15 a.m., drop-off around 2 p.m. ✈️ I flew with 翎亚航空 this time, and the airfare was really reasonable. If you’re planning a trip to Bali, keep an eye out for it～