Dude, Benny & her family are the bomb. My wife and I had a blast with them when we were in Chiang Mai on our honeymoon. Benny & her cooking class were honestly the highlight of my wife & I's few days in Chiang Mai.
As an American whose favorite food is all things Asian, it was so awesome to go to the market with Benny and learn about all the produce and ingredients. In America, I've spent soooo much time in Asian grocery stores, cluelessly trying to google what certain ingredients are, and what they're supposed to be used for. Benny's tour around the market clarified sooooo many things that I was previously confused about, and never knew exactly what some of the stuff was meant to be used for.
My wife is gonna be so annoyed with me moving forward, because I can't stop using Benny's motto "never try, never know". I absolutely loved that Benny encouraged us to try any food we were curious about, and never pressured anyone in the group to try something they weren't comfortable with.
I really didn't have any expectations going into it because my wife does all the planning, and I'm just the passenger prince, but I was so pumped at how much I learned. There was a good amount of technique that I learned that you just can't find in food blogs or info online. Benny passed along some awesome Thai techniques from her grandma. Benny is an amazing chef herself, and taught us some blends of traditional Thai cooking, as well as some modern twists.
Wish we could've paid Benny to take a few days off and just spend the next few days with us lol. I also can't finish the review without giving credit to Nam and Nan, the cleaning fairies! I friggin love cooking and not having to clean dishes afterwards. They are absolute gems that deserve so much credit for letting us do the fun parts of cooking, and avoiding the aftermath of dishes lol.
This is the cooking class to take, hands down. Thank you so much to Benny & her fam!