Shilla Monogram Da Nang Cooking Class 🥢

The cooking class at The Shilla Monogram Danang is a program where guests personally make traditional Vietnamese dishes and experience the local culture firsthand, held mainly at Dining M, the hotel's in-house restaurant. The adult class focuses on learning representative dishes from central Vietnam, with banh xeo (Vietnamese savory pancake) and shrimp spring rolls being some of the highlights. Under the guidance of a professional chef, everything from ingredient explanations to cooking methods is conducted in English, but basic English is more than enough to fully participate. You can taste the dishes you've made right on the spot, and you'll even receive a certificate of completion.

Classes for children are run separately at Little Monogram, a dedicated kids' space, and mainly focus on cookie making. Even children aged 4 to 5 can easily follow along, as an assistant chef provides close, hands-on support. The Kids Zone operates from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and advance reservation is required. You can book through the hotel's Activity Studio (+84-235-625-0088) or the reception desk, and the individual usage fee is 350,000 VND (excluding tax and service charge, about 20,000 KRW).

I experienced the cooking class, the program I'm most confident in and love the most. I learned how to make bánh xèo together with the sous chef from Shilla Monogram, and since I had already made it before on the Hoi An eco-tour and sometimes make it at home too, it was a familiar cooking time for me ^^ It was held at Dining M, the breakfast restaurant, which had a pleasant and excellent kitchen, and putting on the hygiene cap and modern apron made me feel like a professional chef.

With fresh local ingredients and clean tools, let's start making Banh Xeo, beginning with an explanation of the pre-set seasonings and fillings! You'll make the batter yourself, spread it thinly in an oiled frying pan, then add plenty of filling and fry it sizzling until crispy. One thing to watch out for here is that you shouldn't flip it too often. Since the batter is thin, you can check the level of doneness with your eyes, so you need to flip it once it's cooked enough for a crispy, crunchy Banh Xeo to come together.

When I finished the course, they gave me a certificate with my actual name on it, which made it feel even more meaningful and rewarding. There were a lot of people taking the class together so it was a bit chaotic and noisy, but learning together with everyone made it really fun. The bánh xèo we made could be eaten right away or packed to go, and we asked to have ours packed. They made sure to include the vegetables and sauce too, without forgetting anything. Since I ate it the next day for lunch, it wasn't warm anymore so it was a bit less crispy, but maybe because I made it myself, it was so delicious I finished it all. I cracked open a cold can of Larue beer (I just can't resist the beer + banh xeo combo 😆) and enjoyed it so much ^^