A Taste of Malaysia – Lazat Cooking School Review

High in the hills and not-so-deep in the jungles surrounding Kuala Lumpur you will find Lazat Cooking School, a unique and delicious way to spend a day in the city. From a market tour to learning I have been cooking my curry paste wrong all these years, my day at the Lazat Cooking School was as informative as it was delicious.

Here’s why:

Market Fresh

Our day with Lazat Cooking School started with early morning pick up from our custom built Tune Hotel accommodations. Sammy, our cheery driver, was happy to give a mini-tour of his hometown enroute to picking up other guests. On the way we picked up Latty, our instructor for the day, before making a stop at a local market. There we were given a rundown of the ingredients to be used later that day.

The market tour with Lazat Cooking School wasn’t just about food. Latty explained the importance of the local market and the effort that is ongoing to prevent proposed land development from shutting it down. Latty also stopped to share stories on Malaysian traditions. This included elaborate weddings to costly funerals where effigies of everything from houses to cars can be bought for the sole purpose of burning it. Apparently death in Asia is big business.

The Lazat Cooking School

With fresh ingredients in hand we made our way into the lush hills overlooking the city. The Lazat Cooking School classroom is located in a beautiful character home and includes a great outdoor kitchen where 2 to 50 people can get their cook on.

Our traditional Lazat Cooking School Malaysian menu consisted of four dishes – Kueh Cara Berlauk/Savoury Meat Filled Cups,  Nasi Lemak/Rice in Coconut Milk, Sago Gula Melaka/Sago Pudding With Palm Sugar, And Sambal Tumis Udang/Prawn in Sambal Sauce – which is now one of my favourite curries. This Cooking School was very easy-going with Latty giving a group demonstration of each dish before we set out to attempt our own versions. Of course all the hard working prepping the ingredients is done for you. If only all cooking was this easy and this much fun.

Throughout the Lazat Cooking School class, owner Ana would pop in and provide colour commentary. She is a travel-loving, laid-back, and chatty lady who provided an interesting contrast to her lifelong friend Latty – a much more reserved and proper host in comparison. Friendly banter between the two really made it feel like you were cooking with friends which made our Lazat Cooking School experience that much more special.

Tasty Takeaways

Along with the friendly Malaysian cooking leason and tour of the market, Lazat Cooking School offered plenty of takeaways. Literally in the form that we took a ton of food to go, and figuratively with tips on local attractions and where to eat while in the city. The best thing I took away from my Lazat Cooking School experience was the fact that I have been cooking curries wrong. I love making Indian and Thai curries because they are cheap, easy, delicious, and quick meals. What I had neglected is the time I should take to cook the actual curry paste. “The longer the better” Ana said while cooking up a green curry. The sambal paste that we made from scratch attested to this as we took a good 30 minutes of cooking before moving on. The taste was incredible and made me a believer.

A Relaxed day in KL

My day with Lazat Cooking School was relaxed, informative, fun, and most importantly– tasty. I picked up some new tips while discovering a love for Malaysian cuisine, something I knew very little about. Now I can’t wait to get home and mashup some sambal curry paste of my own.

Cooking it slowly of course.

 Lazat Cooking School Good to Know

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For more reviews from Asia and beyond see HERE.

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