Presented by the same folks behind Let’s Go Tour Singapore, an experiential tour agency, known for their curated bike and e-scooter tours around Singapore, Let’s Go Cook Singapore is an experiential cooking class for both foreigners and locals alike to learn a little about Singapore’s food heritage through cooking.
The home-grown Singapore tour agency is highly rated by customers on Tripadvisor and was even awarded the Tripadvisor’s Hall of Fame (Certificate of Excellence for 5 consecutive years). Read our review on their Trails of Tan Ah Hua, Singapore 1920s tour here.
I attended one of their cooking class whereby participants learned to cook Chicken Rendang, Butterfly Pea Flower Rice and Kueh Ko Swee. The class was conducted by the elegant Chef Michelle who was dressed in a nyonya kebaya to add a little bit of Singapore cultural heritage to the presentation.
The class I was in consisted of adults, elderly and kids. Everyone managed to complete all of their dishes, so don’t worry if you are a novice cook like yours truly (I totally don’t cook at home). The instructions are clear for the preparation of each of the dishes and they are not difficult to accomplish.
Other than cooking instructions and tips, Chef Michelle also shares fun information about the ingredients and the heritage of the dishes so you get to learn a little about Singapore’s cultural heritage through food.
Take the buah keras (candle nut) for instance. This is how it looks like raw and you have to smash it to mix into your rendang to give it a nutty flavour:
I had fun during the class and was surprised at how easy it was to prepare the Kueh Ko Swee and even the Chicken Rendang. Then again, that’s probably because most of the laborious processes on ingredient preparations and portioning have already been done for us. The cooking is deceptively simplified. I am unlikely to be able to replicate cooking the same dishes on my own at home. Nonetheless, it was the experience that made it meaningful.
We started by preparing the Kueh Ko Swee desert item first:
Next, we moved on to cook the main dish, Chicken Rendang, to be enjoyed with the Butterfly Pea Flower Rice which is dyed blue naturally:
At the end of the class, it was very satisfying to wolf down your own creations. I think food always taste exceptionally good if you are the one who prepared them yourself!
The only slight complain I have is that a lot of white sugar and salt was used in the seasoning. I would prefer more natural alternatives instead of artificial seasonings. This is just my personal preference though and you can have a choice not to follow the ingredients exactly.
I have attended several similar cooking classes both in Singapore as well in other countries like Australia, Japan and Thailand. What’s most important is not so much about the recipes because you can always find these online or at bookstores. Rather, it’s the experiential aspect of it – interacting with your fellow classmates and the knowledge transfer from your cooking instructor.
In today’s world, most of us no longer cook at home and attending one session of a novice cooking class won’t transform you into a home-cook overnight. What is more valuable here is the experience you take home and learning more about the culture and heritage behind the cuisine which you worked on. With Singapore being such a food-obsessed nation, one of the best world for foreigners to learn about us is through our multi-cultural cuisines.
Next time you have foreign visitors in town, consider bringing them to Let’s Go Cook for a cooking class! Details are available on their official website, with prices going from S$99 per pax for a two-hour, two-dish class (like the one I experienced) or S$129 for a three to four-hour, three-dish class.
Let’s Go Cook Singapore
Address:
Block 462 Crawford Lane 01-57
Singapore 190462
Email address: [email protected]
Phone number: (65) 90014266
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