My Cooking Experience in Sri Lanka

Being a huge fan of curries at home, I knew that I wanted to take a cooking class during my holiday to Sri Lanka. I dreamed of creamy curries, fresh fish, and exotic fruits and vegetables.

Little did I know that there would be so many different cooking classes available!

I ended up choosing Cooking Class Colombo because of the reviews and the fact that it started with a trip to a local market with a instructor to personally select the ingredients. I wanted to do this so I could get a better experience of the local culture and customs regarding food. Shopping at the market and cooking food is such an integral part of local people’s everyday lives, so I wanted to experience it for myself.

When I arrived in Colombo and confirmed the time and place I would meet Nim, I was immediately put at ease by everyone’s warm smiles, friendliness and positive attitude. we went together to the local market. Although it was early, the market was busy, full of local people going about their everyday routine. People called out the names and prices of their produce as we passed, and Nim explained the use and taste of everything I didn’t recognise. The smells of all the spices were intense but delicious – and again, he explained everything to me. Together, we decided what dishes to make, with Nim’s expert knowledge on everything from the freshness of the ingredients to the best stalls to buy from evident at this point. We selected cuttlefish, prawns and mullet, as well as a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables, and made our way back to the car.

The journey to the Rustic Tour Guide in which we would be preparing our meal was beautiful – it was great to be able to see the side of Colombo that I perhaps would have missed had I stayed in the tourist areas of the city. We reached the villa and I was immediately extremely impressed – it was in a peaceful location and surrounded by gardens, and beautifully decorated inside. All in all, a great place to immerse myself in a cooking class! Nim demonstrated how to grind, chop and cut each spice, meat, fruit and vegetable, but after this he stood back and let me do everything myself – it really was a hands-on lesson, and I genuinely felt like I had done all the work. Nim again showed his deep knowledge of cooking and Sri Lankan culture by explaining all the traditional methods as well as the modern ones, and also each and every stage of preparing the meal.

Before too long, we had a feast! I could hardly believe it – we had seafood and vegetable dishes, and complimentary extras such as plain rice, sambals and poppadums were brought out for me to enjoy.

I would recommend this cooking class to anyone and everyone – truly a professional, informative, hands-on experience that I will treasure. I look forward to recreating the curries at home!

Here their coordinates:

Rustic Tour guide
Cemetery Road. Sri Jayawardenapura Kotte, 10100
+94756066645
https://www.ceylonrusticguide.com/