Vietnamese Cooking Class in Hoi An: 4 Dishes with Market Tour

You learn to make rice paper and grind rice milk by hand using stone mortars and wooden pestles.

This cooking class in Hoi An teaches you to prepare 4 Vietnamese dishes—including Pho soup, rice pancakes, vermicelli and salad rolls—in a traditional stilt house overlooking the river. A chef-guide in English walks you through pounding, separating and grinding techniques with traditional tools, then you sit down to eat what you made. The optional add-on includes a visit to a local market to select fresh ingredients and a bamboo basket boat ride through the Bay Mau coconut forest before class begins.

The Experience

The class runs 5 hours and starts with pickup from your Hoi An hotel. If you choose the market and boat option, you'll spend time at a local market learning which ingredients anchor Vietnamese cooking, then head to Cam Thanh coconut village for a ride in a traditional woven bamboo basket boat through the Bay Mau forest—you can try fishing while you're there. After that, you move into the stilt house where the cooking begins.

Your chef-guide teaches you four dishes in sequence: Vietnamese-style noodles with beef or chicken, rice pancakes, southern-style beef vermicelli, and fresh salad rolls. You work with a stone mortar, grinder and wooden pestle to pound rice, separate it and grind it into milk for the rice paper you'll make yourself. The guide shows you each step and you follow along, building the techniques as you go. Unlimited mineral water and passion fruit juice keep you going through the afternoon.

Once the four dishes are done, you sit down and eat them—lunch or dinner depending on which time slot you book. You leave with chopstick souvenirs and the muscle memory of how Vietnamese cooks actually work. Pickup and drop-off at your hotel are included.

What’s included

• All ingredients for the four dishes.
• instruction from an English-speaking chef-guide.
• lunch or dinner.
• unlimited mineral water and passion fruit juice.
• chopstick souvenirs.
• hotel pickup and drop-off in Hoi An.
• market visit and bamboo basket boat ride through Bay Mau coconut forest (available as an add-on option).

Good to know

Infant seats availableNot for back problems

Operated by Bay Mau Tour

Is this one for you?Book the cooking class alone to focus on technique and four dishes, or add the market visit and basket boat ride to trace ingredients from source through the coconut forest before cooking.

Traveler reviews

4.98★★★★★★★★★★

207 verified traveler reviews

5 ★203

4 ★4

3 ★0

2 ★0

1 ★0

Read all the reviews ›

Top questions

What four dishes do I actually cook in this class?

You prepare Vietnamese-style noodles with beef or chicken, rice pancakes, southern-style beef vermicelli, and fresh salad rolls. The chef-guide walks you through each one using traditional techniques like pounding rice and grinding it into milk for rice paper you make by hand.

Does the market visit come with the cooking class, or is it extra?

The market visit and bamboo basket boat ride are optional add-ons you choose at checkout. The cooking class alone runs without them; adding both takes you to a local market first to pick fresh ingredients, then to Cam Thanh coconut village for the boat ride before class begins.

What's included in the 5 hours?

The class includes all ingredients, instruction from an English-speaking chef-guide, lunch or dinner once you finish cooking, unlimited mineral water and passion fruit juice, chopstick souvenirs, and hotel pickup and drop-off in Hoi An. If you add the market and boat option, those activities come before the cooking class itself.

What traditional tools do I use to cook?

You work with a stone mortar, wooden pestle and grinder to pound rice, separate it and grind it into milk. These are the same tools Vietnamese cooks use to prepare dishes like rice paper and noodle bases from scratch.

Can I do the cooking class without the market and boat ride?

Yes—the cooking class only option lets you skip straight to the stilt house and start cooking. You'll still learn to make the same four dishes and eat them when you're done, with all ingredients provided and hotel pickup included.