Busaba Eathai - Thai cooking masterclass

Traverse Events put on conferences aimed mainly at travel bloggers.  The recent Traverse15 was held over the weekend of 27-29 March and the venue was Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey.  The only impression I had of Kingston was a huge one way system and a department called Bentalls.

Our informal group of food bloggers attended this conference hoping to get an insight into the travel blogger world and to find a way to cross the bridge and take our food blogs further afield.  I write a food blog and want to write it from somewhere else!

One of the Sunday experiences we could book into was a cooking master class at Busaba Eathai restaurant on the riverside and on a cold, wet and blustery morning myself and fellow food blogger Nayna were the first to arrive. Slowly other participants arrived and we were off to a good start with a briefing from Hesh, one of Busaba’s executive chefs and our personal tutor for the morning.

Hesh’s lighthearted approach hid a wealth of knowledge of Thai cuisine as he took us through the first recipe which we prepared alongside.  We put our creation into a serving dish and realised that we had prepared a Som Tam in an easy and straightforward way. 

We left our Som Tam and proceeded to group around Hesh in the kitchen and prepare the Thai fish cakes the restaurant is so well known for, a literally all hands on deck moment!

( I wondered what people passing by the restaurant would think if they were to peer inside and see a group of individuals holding their cameras high and taking photos of someone with their hands in a bowl of coral coloured mixture.)

Following the prep of the fish cakes we proceeded into the main part of the kitchen, got acquainted with gas cookers that were more like jet engines, roaring with the flames and taking it in two groups of three we prepared our Pad Thai dish that would be our main course.

All of our ingredients were pre-measured out to save time and allowed us to get straight to the cooking. 

Watching the first group prepare their Pad Thai looked more like something out of MasterChef than a group of food and travel bloggers!

A group lunch followed with so much food in front of us (and Hesh decided we also had to try Busaba signature fried squid).

There was so much food that the only solution was to take some home to eat for lunch the following day!

I picked up loads of information and tips on Thai cooking, a cuisine I have already learned to love and with the recipes we were sent home with I plan on making a Pad Thai very soon.

I was a guest of Busaba Eathai and this session was arranged for us by Kingston First.  Thank you both for a fun and educational morning.  I was not required to write a positive review and as always all photos and opinions are my own.