Samui Institute of Thai Culinary Arts or SITCA

Samui Institute of Thai Culinary Arts or SITCA

Loyal readers of my blog might remember that my sister is visiting Samui right now and yesterday she and her family went to the Samui Institute of Thai Culinary Arts or SITCA. An institution when it comes down to Thai cooking classes on Samui and one of the very first to offer this on our lovely island. A success story now copied by many hotels, if you want the original, this is the place to go and make sure you make a reservation well in time!

SITCA is located in Soi Colibri, very near to the entrance for Centara Grand Beach Resort in Chaweng. Within walking distance of the Chaweng Cove Resotel where they are staying. It's in the very beginning of the Soi at your right hand.

A little bit further down the Soi you will find the excellent Japanese Yamato Restaurant.

I must admit that the frontal view of SITCA is very inviting and makes me nosy to see what's going on inside.

They offer two cooking classes per day and my sister and family went to the class that starts at 4pm. The nice thing is that you can invite somebody to share your cooked dishes with once you're finished with the cooking. Since they're 4 and my family is 4, that was bit of a no brainer so around 6.30pm we arrived, a tad bit early but after a short wait we all went upstairs to enjoy a nice meal.

The photo above shows the preparation table where all the food is chopped and rolled together and who knows what you do with the food before it's going to be cooked.

After that it's off to the kitchen where on 10 stoves all the ingredients are mixed together and some wonderful dishes see day light. Yesterday a Massaman curry was on the menu with spring rolls and a sourish but lovely prawn salad. It was interesting to see how all 4 of them produced different curries!

After the cooking was completed, everybody goes upstairs, including possible guests and your meal starts. It's nice to meet other people who participated in the cooking class and enjoy everybody's effort.

The actual portions are very luscious and SITCA claims that nothing goes to waste, either the staff will finish the food or it's given away to the needy!

If this course wetted your appetite, contact SITCA well in time, yesterday there was a group of 10 and a group of 5 people, so a reservation may not be a luxury.

They also offer various dishes on each weekday so you can choose what day you prefer food wise and afterwards you will receive a book and a cd with instructions on it, o you can repeat your efforts at home once more.

Inside the store they also sell loads of cooking accessories and ingredients.

Well worth a visit and an afternoon spend with fun!

Camille