Such a wonderful experience, I highly recommend it to all!
I went to the cooking class with 2 friends, and we all loved it- we're already planning to see when we can go back again for another round!

We took the morning class, so we started off with a market visit- it was great to see all the different spices and the offerings being prepared for Galungan.

Then we got to the kitchen, and the class was a lot more hands-on than I expected. All the ingredients were portioned out for us, the utensils set out, and everything washed for us, so all we had to do was chop, cook and eat!

We cooked 4 dishes and dessert, tried our hand at traditional grilling with coconut husks, hand-ground spices and peanuts for satay sauce on a volcanic stone mortar, and pounded the traditional spices for the Balinese bumbu or spice paste. Although we did get some help from some of Ketut's family who were clearly more experienced at grinding smooth pastes than us- it's tiring work!

Smelling all the aromas while you cook really makes your mouth water, so it's great to be able to enjoy your own cooking for lunch afterwards. Ketut is a great host and a lot of fun- he makes it seem so easy and enjoyable that we all came out thinking we were great cooks and had a fantastic day too.

This was such a fun positive experience! I love to cook and learned a few things that I was able to take home with me. They do a great job of moving the class along quickly but also making sure everything stays clean and safe. I highly recommend this if you are even considering doing it!

We went on Sunday 1/3/2020.
We were picked up from the hotel at around 8.30am for the market tour. Unfortunately because of Kuningan festival, many of the food market stores weren't open but there was enough for Chef Made to show us what we needed to see.

We then went to the compound and met Ketut, who is a 'larger than life' presence and great fun. We were provided with a cool drink and a water bottle whilst we sat and waited for all attendees to arrive.

We got direction to make the basic foundation sauces peanut (Saus Kacang) and Base gede (bumbu bali). We chose to do both the vegetarian and non-vegetarian menus as there were two of us. We made a soup (cucumber and tomato or chicken), satays (chicken or tempe), fried chicken or vegetable curry, mie goreng (Balinese fried noodle). We got to make and eat all these dishes at the and were also able to eat the Kulak Pisang (Braised banana saba in palm sugar gravy) that was made by the staff.

We had a fun few hours, it was quite warm as the cooking area is open and standing over gas cook tops which give out a lot of heat. The staff made sure we had water and gave us reminders to wash hands and keep tidy.

This, for us, was an interesting day with simple recipes and dishes which we enjoyed as an introduction to Balinese cooking. The group was mixed in ages and also had a family with young children (under 15 people).

The staff were very attentive and supportive.

Would recommend this course for families, novice cooks, people wanting a fun introduction to Balinese cooking.

Wear good shoes and comfy clothing as you are standing for a couple of hours on concrete.