Feb 10, 2025
Very good - Staff helpful, food delicious. Hotel located in a strategic point to reach the ski slope. Experience to be redone.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Feb 1, 2025
Our Experience with Asia! - I had the wonderful opportunity to have Chef Asia cook for our group of twelve travelers who had donated funds to Sprouts Chef Training, in exchange for the chance to explore the Brunello region with our past San Francisco food critic and a local Italian chef. Asia not only prepared an extraordinary dinner and truffle-focused lunch, but she also quickly became a dear friend to all of us.
A month and a half after our experience with her, Asia even visited us in San Francisco and joined us for a dinner at A16, further showcasing the lasting connection she builds with those she serves.
Asia’s cooking is a perfect balance of skill and restraint—she expertly utilizes local ingredients to highlight the very best of each dish. Her passion for food is evident, and she offers a wide array of services, from cooking classes for those eager to learn, to providing invaluable recommendations for things to do, see, and taste in the area.
I plan to bring more tours to this region, and I will undoubtedly continue to work with Asia for future dinners and planning. She’s an outstanding chef, a knowledgeable guide, and a true delight to work with.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jan 8, 2025
Hands on and have fun - Asia is just amazing, both as a chef and as a person. We had a wonderful pasta class with her and the food was delicious. I highly recommend her everyone interested in learning and experiencing an authentic Italian meal from scratch.
Carlos Sampaio
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 26, 2024
Outstanding Italian Cooking Class … We Love You, Asia! - On the last evening of a fabulous month long visit to Italy, my travel mate and I chatted about all the delightful places we’d visited and experiences we’d shared. We agreed unanimously that Asia’s cooking class at Chiarentana was a true highlight and one of our VERY favorite experiences of the entire trip.
Asia transformed our little Tiglio apartment kitchen into a cooking school, setting up her “macchina per la pasta” and “chitarra” and all the other equipment & ingredients we would use to create from scratch three very different pastas: Spinach & Ricotta Ravioli w/Butter Sage Sauce, Tagliatelle Ragú & Spaghetti Chitarra Pesto.
Asia is a truly amazing teacher and incorporates a lot of very interesting Italian history, culture and traditions into her class. She’s also very patient with her students! When we fumbled a bit inserting our sheets of dough into her snazzy stainless steel pastry machine, she exclaimed, “Don’t worry! Pasta is the ONE thing in life that can always be fixed!”
Our 3-course pasta dinner (to which Asia also contributed Prosecco & a delicious aperitivo … very tasty tiramisu … and her own delicious red wine, “Tuttomio”) was absolutely perfect. And, we had enough leftovers for two more dinners!
At Asia’s cooking class, we learned a lot, prepared some delicious food and, perhaps most importantly, had the pleasure of spending an entire evening with a truly kind, amazing & delightful Italian woman!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Sep 9, 2024
Fab Food and Experience amid Tuscan Beauty! - We enjoyed Asia’s artful culinary skills when she prepared a private dinner for us in our Montepulciano AirBnB.
The food was exceptional! We were overwhelmed by the deliciousness of each course. Her wine selections were perfetto.
Her kindness and conversation were the best features of all! Grazie, Grazie, Grazie, Asia!!!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
May 20, 2024
An amazing Pasta Making Class in the Val d'Orcia with Asia Chirdo! - While recently staying in the beautiful Val d'Orcia region, I had the very fortunate opportunity to take a pasta making class with Asia Chirdo. What an absolutely delightful experience!! Asia is an immensely talented chef - in previous visits to the area I dined several times at an outstanding local restaurant that she used to run - and she is also a wonderful teacher!
I have taken many a cooking class, but this was absolutely one of the best! Asia was extremely patient and helpful with her hands-on instructions, and delightful to chat with during the class and after while I enjoyed eating all the pastas "we" had prepared.
Asia brought everything needed for the class to my tiny apartment kitchen, and quickly and efficiently set everything up. After the pastas were prepared she suggested that I relax in the living room while she cleaned up and prepared my dinner, and then presented me with a glass of Prosecco and some delicious snacks! :)
I cannot recommend a class with Asia highly enough! Spending the afternoon with her and learning how to make three different pastas was an absolute highlight of my time in Tuscany!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jan 11, 2024
Best Cooking Class ever - This class was a treat!! I was so lucky to have Asia for a private cooking lesson, and I immediately felt this was the best class ever 💕 She's a professional chef, she's very encouraging and patient, which makes it easy to learn new skills. Thank you so much!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Jan 7, 2024
The best in the area! - We have known Asia as the manager of one of best restaurants in Val d'Orcia for many years and were delighted to hear she was offering her services for private dinners now as we were getting married in the area and wanted to give our guests a special experience for the welcome dinner. Coordinating the evening with her was super easy. Her proposal offered so many delicious options that the hardest part was making a choice. However, we already knew we could not go wrong with whatever we picked and we were absolutely right: Asia served us and our guests an exquisite 4 course menu that everyone enjoyed and will probably talk about for a long time to come. You can taste that her ingredients are handpicked from the best producers in the area and you can tell how much experience goes into creating these special dinners. Heartfelt recommendation!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dec 19, 2023
Delicious fun 🤩 - We were a group of colleagues in a team retreat and wanted to experience what making pasta is actually about. Asia and her colleague Helena came to our villa with all the necessary ingredients and equipment. They guided us through making 3 types of pasta and it was so much fun! Even our male colleagues got into the technicalities of the right thickness of the ravioli dough 🤩 while thr process was fun, Asia made sure the results were delicious! And she shared a lot of local’s insights into the history of the Val d’Orcia, how to best discover it… but especially about the authentic Italian cuisine. I can only recommend this experience!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dec 12, 2023
Fantastic experience! - We had an amazing experience at our cooking class with Asia this summer. She taught us how to make three different pastas and sauces. We learned so much - not just about the cuisine - but also about the culture of the area and how it informed what we were cooking. Not only is Asia incredibly knowledgable, she's also incredibly patient. We were a large group and Asia made sure everyone had a turn to try all the techniques. Highly recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
