Disclaimer: This site contains affiliate links and is a member of the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. If you buy something through those links, I will get a small commission that won't cost you anything, but it does help me run this site. Privacy policy

ByPetra Udomprasert Updated on

My Review of The Most Unique Luang Prabang Cooking Class

Looking for a Luang Prabang cooking class? Well, I can tell you right now, very confidently, that I can’t answer you whether the Tamarind cooking class is good. I haven’t taken it. Sorry! 😅

But I did take another cooking class that barely anyone talks about. Honestly, I have no idea why no one talks about it. I had a blast the whole evening, and it felt like a really authentic, local experience.

Because I’m from Thailand, and I know how many of the Lao dishes are made, like papaya salad and Larb, I was searching for an experience that’ll do more than teach me how to cook. And true to form, this one did teach me much more than how to cook.

I learned how to weave a bamboo coaster (and that I’m a terrible weaver), joined in on a local blessing ceremony, and laughed a heck ton with our classmates and our guide. I’m gonna share my whole experience, in case it looks like your ideal cooking class, too!

👩🏻‍🍳 Luang Prabang Cooking Class & Baci Ceremony 👈

Important Information on the Cooking Class

I know we can all do a little Googling and find official information for things anywhere and whenever we want. But those answers aren’t always the same as how things actually go.

So, here are some important things to know about the class, from my real experience, not from the activity booking page.

⏳ Planning last minute? Use my quick recommendations! 💡

Best Hotel: 3 Nagas 👉 Check on Booking | Check on Agoda

What You’ll Need:

⏰ Other Recommended activities in Luang Prabang

Outdoor cooking setup during a cooking class in Luang Prabang, with a charcoal clay stove heating a pot while steam rises in a rustic bamboo kitchen. A table in the foreground is covered with fresh Lao herbs, limes, garlic, chilies, tomatoes, eggs, raw meats, tofu, and fish sauce prepared for the lesson.

What Happens On the Experience: My Full Recount

The morning of the class, I got a message from our host, Somsay, asking if it was convenient for me to meet him at Joma Bakery by the post office, so we could save some time from multiple pick-ups.

His tone was already super polite and welcome, so my hopes for this went even higher.

We met our guide and two other classmates in front of the bakery at 3:55 PM, and we all hopped on… not a van, but his personal pick-up truck. It legit felt as if we were going to a friend’s place instead of a booked experience.

Self-introductions happened on our way to the market. We talked about where everyone was from, why I could respond to his WhatsApp message in Lao, what each of us knew about the Lao cuisine, and so on.

Market Visit

After a ten-minute ride, we arrived at a local market and we followed Somsay around as he shopped for the ingredients we were going to use that evening.

Bustling local market in Luang Prabang with vendors selling fresh vegetables herbs and ingredients under large umbrellas. Shoppers browse produce stalls as the guide explains common items used in Lao cuisine. This market visit is the first stop of the cooking class.
Market stall displaying several types of fresh noodles including thin rice vermicelli folded rice sheets bean sprouts and tofu. The ingredients are arranged in plastic lined trays and bowls at a local food stall.
Fresh vegetables and produce including banana flowers, okras, and herbs displayed at a market stall in Luang Prabang. The colorful ingredients highlight common vegetables used in Lao cooking. The guide explains these foods during the ingredient shopping portion of the Luang Prabang cooking class.

He introduced us to everything as he bought each, as well as pointed out anything else that’s frequently used in Lao cuisine. We learned about the different types of noodles, herbs, and how to spot the difference between farmed banana flowers and wild ones, and more.

A woven bamboo basket filled with fresh Lao herbs including cilantro and local greens lined with banana leaves instead of plastic bags. The basket reflects the guide’s effort to shop sustainably at the market. These ingredients were gathered during the market visit at the beginning of the experience.

Somsay made huge efforts to avoid using plastic. He had a bamboo basket on one arm, and used banana leaves to line the basket for produce instead of accepting bags from merchants. It may not change much on a systematic level, but one small step at a time.

Baci Ceremony

We arrived at the cooking school, which also happens to be his home, at almost 5 PM. The place was right by one of the very few remaining rice fields around Luang Prabang.

The open-air villa had tables downstairs, and some more on the second floor. Somsay said he turned the place into a restaurant for locals during COVID in order to survive when foreigners couldn’t come for the cooking class.

Open air wooden dining area with rustic tables and a woven bamboo roof overlooking greenery and nearby rice fields. The peaceful setting shows the countryside home where the class takes place.

A few local elders were waiting for us upstairs, along with a small altar with marigolds, banana leaves, and white cotton strings for the Baci ceremony.

In Lao culture, this particular ceremony is held to receive guests, or for blessings and restoration of personal guardian spirits after important occasions like childbirth, weddings, or new year. We were given basic instructions as to how things would go and what to do.

Traditional Lao Baci ceremony setup with a decorated offering centerpiece made of marigolds banana leaves and white cotton strings surrounded by elders seated on the floor. This cultural moment was part of the Luang Prabang cooking class experience before the cooking began.

We all sat on the floor in a half-circle as we listened to the elders chanting. After a few minutes, they lined up and took turns tying cotton strings to our wrists as they gave us blessings in the local language. I understood maybe 70% of it.

Close up of a wrist tied with white cotton blessing strings after participating in a traditional Lao Baci ceremony. This ritual was one of the cultural highlights of the experience preceding the cooking class.
Plate of traditional Lao sweets served on banana leaves alongside fresh bananas after the Baci blessing ceremony. The small desserts are shared while guests chat with the host and local elders.

Then, we each got a small plate of local snacks and a banana to eat as we chatted with Somsay and the elders. This whole section of the experience took 40 minutes. It felt much shorter than that, to be honest.

😍 Join the local Baci ceremony & cooking class 👈

Bamboo-Weaving Class

After the elders had left, Somsay introduced us to the practice of bamboo-weaving, and how he’s trying to spread the knowledge to other locals and reduce the use of plastic.

We went downstairs to meet his wife, who would be teaching us how to make our very own bamboo coaster. As soon as she showed us the example, a part of me knew I was doomed 🤣

Thin strips of bamboo tied together in a bundle and placed on a wooden table ready for a weaving lesson. These flexible bamboo pieces are used to create handmade coasters during the class.
Close up of bamboo strips woven together in a crisscross pattern while learning traditional bamboo weaving. The partially finished coaster shows the step by step technique used in the workshop. This hands on craft activity was included in the experience before the meal preparation.
Petra's hand holding a completed square bamboo coaster woven in a traditional craft lesson preceding the cooking section of the experience. The finished coaster shows the tight interlocking pattern created from natural bamboo strips.

She was very clear with her instructions, but lawd… Trying to repeat a pattern is super confusing to me because I kept forgetting which line I was on already.

If you know you’ll be as terrible as I am at bamboo-weaving, don’t worry. She actually came over to help fix things every few minutes or so. In the end, I got a coaster to bring home!

Cooking Class

At around 7 PM, it was finally time for the cooking class. We went over to the kitchen, which was this lovely, rounded, open-air pavilion. To save time, some of the ingredients, mostly meat, were already prepped beforehand by our cooking teacher.

We made Mok Pa (steamed fish in banana leaves), Papaya Salad, and Larb. You control the amount of chilis you put in your food, so everything can be as spicy (or not spicy) as you want.

The class was hands-on enough that we got to do things and learn, but also well-designed and controlled enough that we didn’t have to eat crappy food after class.

Cooking station setup during the cooking class with shredded green papaya, garlic, lime, tomatoes, and salt arranged on banana leaves beside a mortar and pestle.
Plate with finely chopped garlic, shallots, chili, and lemongrass prepared for cooking Larb. This step was part of the food preparation during the cooking class.
A wooden serving tray lined with banana leaf holding Lao papaya salad made with shredded green papaya tomatoes and lime.

I honestly love that because I’m not a grand cook for Asian food. Ask me to make steak and pasta and I’ll excel. Ask me to make Larb on my own and I honestly have no idea how that’ll turn out. I know, it’s ironic. Wait until you find out I can’t cook Thai food, either!

Excuse me for the lack of photos. I’d have to wash my hands after touching my phone every time before getting back to cooking, and I was too lazy for that!

Dinner Time

We spent about 50 minutes prepping the herbs, fish, and everything else, and ended up with pretty good-looking plates of Larb and Papaya Salad. By 8 PM, our food were taken upstairs to one of the tables where we’ll have dinner.

A table filled with Lao dishes including Larb papaya salad clear soup fried spring rolls and sticky rice served after the cooking lesson.

Turns out that the folks had been secretly prepping other dishes so we’d have more to eat than what we had cooked. There were fried spring rolls and mango and sticky rice as well! Somsay didn’t join us for dinner, but he kept bringing more food 😂

I don’t know if other people took this long, but we were chatting and eating until 9 PM. Somsay had to drop us back of at our hotels, so I felt a little bad that dinner went on for so long.

All in all, it was a good day.

😋 Secure your spot in the same cooking class 👈

Everything We Cooked and Ate

Skimmed through the post, didn’t you? Here are the dishes we got to make (and what we got to eat with zero effort), in case you’d missed it in my recount.

  • Mok Pa (steamed tilapia in banana leaves)
  • Luang Prabang Papaya Salad
  • Larb with pork
  • Clear soup with gourd (made by the host)
  • Fried spring rolls (made by the host)
  • Mango and sticky rice (made by the host)

Another Unique Cooking Class

I haven’t personally tried this one, but you can learn how to cook Lao food on a boat!

It’s a big boat, a two-storied sunset cruise that I took one night. I saw that they had a cooking class held on board every morning and thought that would be another interesting one to try, but I had already done the one I did.

I mean, imagine cooking… quite literally… ON the Mekong River.

Final Thoughts

As many times as I had to think “when are we gonna get to the cooking class” during this whole experience, the long-awaited class and dinner turned out to be just as awesome.

Did I wish we could get to the cooking part a little more quickly? Yes. But was I excited to bring a handmade bamboo coaster home? Totally! So if you’re looking for a good bundle of local experiences you’ll remember, I think this one tracks.

👩🏻‍🍳 Join in on the local rite and cooking class! 👈

Foodie through and through? Don’t forget to check out my favorite restaurants in Luang Prabang and top local dishes you shouldn’t miss.

Have you read up on how to visit Kuang Si Falls? You haven’t been to Luang Prabang if you haven’t seen this stunning nature spot, so don’t skip it!

Check out my Laos Cultural Travel page for ideas on Vientiane if you’re going there too!

Plan the Rest of Your Trip to Laos

Below are resources to help you get ready for your trip. If you’re still looking for somewhere to stay in Luang Prabang, here’s my guide to the best walkable areas.

Don’t forget to check your visa requirements for Laos!

Grab My Trip-Planner Template

To help streamline your planning process, I’ve decided to share the template I’ve created and have personally used to plan my own trips. You can grab a copy of it for free below!

📌 Pin this for later

Luang Prabang cooking class pin graphic showing a rustic Lao cooking setup with fresh herbs vegetables meats and sauces arranged on a prep table beside a steaming pot on a charcoal clay stove. The image also displays finished Lao dishes and overlaid text reading Laos Cultural Travel Luang Prabang Cooking Class with the website polyglotpetra.com. It visually represents a hands on cultural cooking experience featured in the Luang Prabang cooking class review.

Sharing is caring!

Petra Udomprasert is a career immersive travel blogger and the founder of Polyglot Petra. Believing in travel as a force that inspires empathy and respect in our world, she writes travel guides that deeply explore the history and culture of every destination she visits, leveraging her fluency in five different languages to access the local perspective. Through her immersive guides and localized language tips, she has helped tens of thousands of travelers enjoy trips that leave lasting positive impacts on their lives.