Thaikhun Cooking School Visit: May 2016
Thaikhun is pronounced “Tycoon” both a homage and celebration to the street food sellers in Thailand. Owner and Chef Director Kim Kaewkraikhot started out with a small restaurant in Bangkok. Establishing a renowned reputation for fantastic fresh flavours which has enabled Kim to introduce the UK to the true Flavours of Thailand. Opening their first Thaikhun restaurant in the heart of Manchester city centre on the 26th May.
Thaikhun at Manchester’s Spinningfields offers people the opportunity to participate in a Thai Cooking School to test out their culinary cooking skills under the guidance of a skilled chef.
Approaching the venue you feel excitement and spark and for a brief moment you forget that you are based in Manchester city centre, as the venues exterior featuring a terrific tuk tuk parked directly outside transports you to the streets of Bangkok, but all minus the expense of the airfare and bother of carrying baggage! The Thai word ‘Khun’ means ‘your’ this definitely summed up the welcome. It is not a case of “them” as employees and “us” as customers, it is about “we”. A place to feel relaxed and at home. Warmly welcomed by the lovely Roisin Finnerty, an employee that understands the ethos of the organisation. Relaxed, informative, friendly and importantly provided genuine service. An asset to the organisation and really represents the brand brilliantly.
The bar area had been pre-prepped for guests arriving, including a welcome folder that included full recipe sheets, which we were able to takeaway, detailing the dishes that we would be making. Tables already featured tasty Thai prawn crackers with a scrumptious sweet chilling dipping sauce. While we dipped and crunched our way through the Thai crackers, Roisin prepared our welcome Virgin Mojitos. Many venues over sweeten virgin cocktails, but these were prepared correctly, well balanced and Fresh. The informal introduction was perfect for guests to mingle before heading off together into the kitchen. Excitement peaked when we were all handed our ‘chef attires’ which included a chef hat and pro apron. This really gets you in the mood and makes you feel part of the Thaikhun Team! Health and safety talk was delivered well and now it was ‘Thai m” for cooking.
Donned in chef wares we were all ready and raring to experience some Thai action. This started with the creation of Por Pia Gai- chicken spring rolls. Pom our lovely chef and instructor was perfect offering a good balance of professionalism, humour and friendly fun. Poms method was to teach rather than preach demonstrating processes and then letting us loose to attempt our Thai cooking challenges. This delivery makes you feel part of the experience rather than just an on looking observer.Guests are involved in the full end to end process from the prep, woking and spring roll rolling! My plus one Mark cut the carrots the size of shards, but Pom gracefully guided him in the right direction, so we could create chicken spring roll perfection! Rolling the spring rolls was a lot of fun, as you can see from the pictures, even Pom looks both shocked and surprised that we managed to produce and roll out the goods! However, it is not a surprise as we had excellent tuition from the number one Pom!It was a rare and unique experience to get behind the scenes and let loose in the Kitchen where Thai time became fry time! Pom did not dominate and instead assisted us to delicately direct our chicken spring rolls into the fryer. We crossed our fingers that they would make the grade and that it would not be an epic fail. Pom had faith and really made you feel proud of your achievements. Challenge one starter completed and passed, after a break, chicken spring roll indulgence and light refreshments we moved onto the main course the classic Thai green curry.
Geang Kiew Wan Gai – Thai green curry started with Pom educating and guiding us through the Thai ingredients also allowing us to taste test prior to prep. Learning a lot about Thai ingredients, again Pom kept things light hearted, but informative. Sensible that ingredients such as onion had already been pre-prepared. This did not detract from the experience and allowed participants more time to engage and learn about traditional Thai ingredients that they had perhaps never been introduced to before.
A highlight was creating our very own Thai curry paste. Fully hands on we used the pestle and mortar and grinded our way to curry paste success! After Poms fabulous teaching, I may even be brave enough to put this new found knowledge into practice and give this recipe a go at home. What’s the worst that can happen, if I fail I know where Pom and the team are and I would welcome any excuse to visit them and taste their tantalising Thai cooking.
During the course of the Thai cooking school we all had grown from cooks to chefs! Clearly down to being motivated and inspired by Pom. The pictures demonstrate our increased levels of confidence. Myself demonstrating that I was top of the wok. The ladies had time for a hand on the hips moment, as they clearly had things under control and Mark pictured getting the thumbs up and approval from the Thaikhun team represented everyone’s achievements that day, we all walked out of the kitchen like pros!
For our hard work and efforts we were rewarded with the most fabulous goody bag. Usually organisations use this as an opportunity to bombard you with printed literature, most of which heads straight to the recycling. However, this was not the case the goody bag was of top quality. They included a traditional Thai bottled beer, a tuk tuk stress ball, a tuk tuk keyring, a pen, a £5 Thaikhun voucher all presented in a lovely cute canvas branded bag.
The finale was getting to sit down and enjoy our Thai green curry culinary creations. As a group we shared our thoughts and key moments about our experience and also this sparked memories and conversations about past and future Thai travel adventures. This was a really nice touch and represents what Thaikhun is all about. Bringing people together, sharing experiences, feeling at home while enjoying delicious and yummy authentic Thai food.
Luckily, we also had the opportunity to stay on and sample some of Thaikhuns delicious cocktails. These are not included within the cooking school, but can be purchased off the menu for an additional cost. Full moon £7.50 Sweet but yet refreshing! Vodka and orange liqueur with watermelon, apple and cranberry with a drizzle of Midori. An enjoyable drink to sip while your imagination transports you to a Thailand Paradise under a fantastic full moon. Thai Takeaway £8.50 Ketel one vodka and Captain Morgan spiced rum with handpicked basil and mint leaves shaken with pineapple and lime juice finished off with a dash of coconut cream. Need I say more, this Thai takeaway really does pack a punch. Street Sipper £7.95 Tanqueray No.10 gin simply mixed with passion fruit and orange juice served to sip from a plastic bag. The cocktail is served in a plastic bag and not a glass, as this subtly represents the Thai theme and culture of resourcefulness.
Our Traditional Thai Foodie Journey sadly had to come to an end. I can now see why the Tuk Tuk is static, as no one would ever want a taxi to take them away from this Thai paradise.
Khop Khun Kha (Thank you) for reading 🙂
Melanie xx
Brief details of the class:
Location: Thaikhun Manchester– 3 Hardman street, The avenue, Spinningfields, Manchester, M3 3HF
When: Second Sunday of each month
Time: Cooking Class starting at 11 am – 1 pm (approximate).
Availability: Limited places available.
Price: £50 per person
Included:
Welcome Drinks reception
Introduction to Thai ingredients.
Demonstration and practical hands on sessions.
You are keeping my diary busy for the rest of the year. I will be giving this a go looks like alot of fun Jx
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Haha glad you are finding the blog useful! Yes, it was a lovely experience you will have a lot of fun for sure 🙂 x
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Chang beer – happy memories :-o)
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Aw glad to hear! The ‘Chang’ beer was wonderful 🙂 x
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Very Informative! I wish I was in Manchester…..
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Thank you. I can imagine this thai cooking school was such a fab experience everyone needs to know about it and give it a go 🙂 x
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Sounds really amazing !
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Hi Lynne, you sum it up well! It was amazing. Alot of fun and really worth a visit :)x
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Wow what a fun Thai M! I love that, that was very clever of you!! Seriously though what a great way to spend a Sunday. I love how they teach you and I must say those Spring rolls looked delicious. Your review is sensationally written, as always! My guess it will be posted on Facebook, retweeted, and other outlets!! The chef’s hat suits you!! 🙂 xo
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Haha thanks Debs! I try my best lol. It was fab, a unique activity with yummy food as well. The spring rolls tasted yum. Thanks for the vote of confidence. Maybe I should consider wearing one more?! 🙂 xx
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You’re welcome. Yes even if your just serving up orange juice in the morning, put it on, why not!! Lol. 😉
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Haha…I may give it a whirl! Le Chef’s best Orange juice 🙂 xx
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xo 🙂
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Trying this next time im in Manchester!! Thank you 🙂 🙂 Great pictures too!!
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Ooo good stuff! You will have an amazing time. Do let me know how you get on. Well, that is good to hear. I enjoy the photography side just as much as wiring the reviews. Thank you once again :)x
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Oh, I like the layout of this post. The text then the three little pictures. That is cool. Is that part of this blog theme?
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Thank you lovely! Well spotted, it is my blog theme. It keeps it consistent and gives a quality finish 🙂 Glad you think that it is cool 🙂 feel free to pop by the blog anytime x
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Greetings from Los angeles! I’m bored to tears at work so I decided to
check out your blog on my iphone during lunch break. I enjoy the knowledge you present
here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home.
I’m amazed at how quick your blog loaded on my phone ..
I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, good site!
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Hey, Greetings from the UK! Apologies for my late reply, been in Oxford and also this message was cheeky and jumped into my spam! Thank you for the positive feedback and glad I could save you from the boredom. Feel free to pop by the blog anytime 🙂
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This was a great read. Other than making me very hungry it also made me very sad because I didn’t realize it was in the UK. I will have to keep an eye out for something like this in the US. It sounds awesome!
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Thank you Lauren! Aww well you know where they are if you visit the uk. In the meantime perhaps try creating your own mini Thai kitchen experience at home?! It was fab and the Thaikhun team are awesome! Hope that you find a similar gem in the US x
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This is a great post, well laid out and interesting. It’s obvious you go to a lot of trouble.
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Hey Jane, thank you for this fab feedback! Much appreciated 🙂
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I’d like to sample some of the food in those Manchester Restaurants, but it’s a long way to go from Devon, just for a bite to eat 🙂
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Ah Devon is quite away to travel. However, Manchester is definitely worth a visit for a weekend away 🙂
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If I ever manage a weekend away… 🙂
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I know how you feel! In saying that I am soon off to London. Keep smiling and I am sure you will get chance for a weekend away soon lovely 🙂 x
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Well, I was planning on Bristol, where I have family, but Manchester could work… 🙂
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Haha Deffo Jane. Let me know if you decided to give Manchester a whirl and I will happily provide tips and additional advice on where to go and what to see 🙂 x
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Thank you – I don’t know the city at all well, though I used to go there every couple of months to buy stock for my shop. It was worth the travelling time. I think Manchester is lovely. The way the new buildings contast with, and complement, the new ones is stunning 🙂
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I agree it is a fab city to live in! The mix of old and new buildings do work very well 🙂 x
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I visited this city and it is very interesting, in particular there has many great foods.
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I totally agree 🙂 Manchester is a great place! x
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