Cooking classes at Casa Luna & Honeymoon Bungalows

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Photo by Francoise Ohayon

Casa Luna Restaurant and Honeymoon Bungalows owner Janet De Neefe, an Aussie married to a Balinese, has chronicled decades of living and cooking in Bali in her memoir Fragrant Rice. Together with her team, she introduces visitors to local food culture in an open-air classroom and demonstration kitchen at the Second Honeymoon Guesthouse, set in a typical Balinese compound amidst the rice paddies and lush gardens of Ubud.

Some classes start with a morning market visit to learn about the culinary and medicinal uses of local herbs and spices, while others involve the sampling of tantalizing appetizers and sweets to gain a better understanding of ingredients often unfamiliar to Westerners. Tasting rujak (sweet and sour fruit salad) before and after the addition of roasted shrimp paste was a revelation.

Teachers prepare Balinese classics such as nasi goreng (fried rice), nasi campur (mixed rice), chicken satay with peanut sauce, or spiced fish in banana leaves, and participants are invited to try their hand at spice grinding in a stone mortar or wok frying. We all went home with detailed recipes and new skills to share with friends.

More hands-on cooking lessons, coffee plantation tours in the Kintamani Highlands, as well as a new large-format illustrated cookbook, are in the works.

Casa Luna website.

Written by  Francoise Ohayon.

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