Austin Healthy Chef

Cannot say enough wonderful things about Chef Mike!
For my birthday Chef Mike did a private cooking class for four of my friends and I. Before our class he went out and bought all of the necessary ingredients to make our 4 course Thai dinner (Thai lettuce wraps, a cucumber salad, Panang Curry, and Pad Thai). At the beginning of the class he went through all of the ingredients and let us taste or smell the flavors, thoroughly explained their origin, explained how each ingredient added to the cuisine, and told us where we could buy the ingredients within the Austin area. After going over the ingredients, he did a demonstration for us on various knife cutting techniques and then allowed all of us to try for ourselves. The ingredients that we cut up ended up going into the salad and the Pad Thai. Next, Chef Mike demonstrated how we could make our own Thai lettuce wraps from scratch (he did cut up the other vegetables, cilantro, etc. beforehand to save on time). But all of us got a chance to make our own lettuce wraps – complete with homemade peanut sauce and ginger dressing! We then moved on to the cucumber salad using the ingredients that we had cut up earlier. The homemade dressing was delicious and it was such a big hit that there was not a trace of the salad left before we moved on to the next course. For the Chicken Panang Curry we learned how to simmer the sauce and each of the ingredients – we learned that the key to making the perfect curry is the timing and order in which you put each of the ingredients in. We ended up making a lot of the curry and I shared some of the leftovers with my family and they devoured it by the next day! Lastly, Chef Mike demonstrated how to make a two-​size serving of Pad Thai and then allowed a couple of us to make it for ourselves. I was one of the lucky ones who got to make the Pad Thai with Chef Mike’s supervision, I feel so much more confident that I can make the dish on my own now. Pad Thai is usually my go to dish at a Thai restaurant and there have been so many times where my Pad Thai comes out drenched in oil or just tastes like grease. However, this Pad Thai was extremely flavorful, yet clean and fresh. After we finished our cooking class we each got to take home a list of all the recipes and a can of the red curry sauce for us to try at home.
Having been to many Thai restaurants (many of which boast to be «the best» of NYC, San Francisco, Austin, etc) I can honestly say that this was the most delicious and flavorful Thai food that I’ve ever had. In addition, one of the things I love about Chef Mike is that he believes in using organic and fresh ingredients. In preparation for our dinner he made sure that the meal would accommodate any food allergies or dietary restrictions – proving that eating healthy doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice taste.
TL;DR
All in all I highly recommend Chef Mike because he was very friendly, thorough, and genuinely cared about customizing the cooking experience to our own tastes. I will definitely be contacting him again for my next cooking adventure!