Food Tours · Tour

By Vespa to a Clay Pot of Caramelised Fish, Hoi An

You do not drive the Vespa. Somebody else does, and you sit behind, which turns the ride between the stops into part of the experience rather than a transfer: rice fields at eye level, water buffalo close enough to wave at, village lanes a van could not get down. Three stops before the kitchen. An open market, for how the ingredients get chosen. A local fish farm, which almost no other class here includes and which explains where the fish on the menu comes from. And Tra Que, the organic garden village, to hand-pick the herbs you will cook with. Then a family-run venue and a private class with an English-speaking chef, for three Hoi An dishes with some history attached to each: green mango salad with shrimp; the crispy pancake, banh xeo; and ca kho to, fish caramelised in a clay pot, which is the one worth learning because it is a home dish rather than a restaurant one and is the hardest of the three to get right. Steamed rice and stir-fried vegetables come with them, and you eat in the garden. Three hours. Up to twelve people, in English, with the Vespa and driver, pick-up and drop-off in and around the old town, tickets and lunch. Pick-ups more than five kilometres out cost extra. Not recommended if you are pregnant, have a spinal injury or a heart condition.