Cooking Class

Cooking school has been a popular post-Angkor Wat activity to do for the past few years. There have been a slew of cooking classes that have opened up with a wide range of dish and course varieties. The prices and class sizes depend on the class so I suggest that you go do a bit of research before you enroll in one.

Le Tigre de Papier is one of the “old-school” restaurants that exists in Siem Reap and it is a favorite to both old time expats as well as tourists (better yet, it is open 24hours. Now who can’t love that?).  My coworkers and I decided to have our cooking class here because of the proximity from our work place, the price was reasonable, and everyone around us gave us good reviews.

Each person picks one appetizer and one main dish from the actual restaurant menu which is quite extensive. I picked the vegetable fried spring roll and the som'loh machu kreung (sour soup). Each of us each chose a different dish so we can compare. 

We then got a tour of Old Market. I had first thought we were going to buy our ingredients fresh from the market but it turns out it’s a tourist oriented “extra feature”. I felt a bit arrogant but I ignored most of the tour and went on my own within the market. This is where I do my daily shopping so I knew my way around perfectly well without a guide. I even got some groceries done.

Considering we had 10 people in our class, the instructor was surprisingly efficient, going around teaching each step along the way for each person. The downside was that the kitchen tools were limited so we had to wait around a lot until they became available. I quickly became a favorite of my lovely instructor, who liked the fact I can speak Cambodian. She taught me about the different kinds of herbs and vegetables that I can get at the market to make for myself. 

You need a variety of herbs to make any dish but other than that, many of dishes are not too hard to make which I think contributes to the popularity of these cooking classes. I really came to love Cambodian food so hopefully this will increase the popularity on a global level. Considering how many tourists come and how many have taken the cooking class, I think it is already in the works…!

In proper attire!

My deftly skilled instructor

Making fresh spring rolls

What men do when they get bored of cooking

Serious cooking mode