Cook with Wasantha: Discover Local Sri Lankan Cuisine and Traditional Market Tour

With Wasantha guiding you, uncover the distinctive tastes of local cuisine while gaining insight into cultural customs. This class includes a trip to a community market, selection of unusual components, and instruction on how to prepare 5 traditional meals.

Duration: 4 hours
Cancellation: 24 hours
Highlights
  • Wasantha’s Sri Lanka Cuisine - Hello! I’m wasantha,
    you will meet me at my restaurant where you will be greeted with a hot cup of ginger tea, and from there we will take a tuk tuk ride to explore the Dutch market and learn the history of the market, there you will be explained about the vegetables, the health benefits and how to choose them fresh,…
What's Included
  • Private transportation
  • Lunch included
Meal Options
  • Rice and curry - rice with four different vegetables of your choice and fish or chicken curry
Location
Wasantha's Sri Lanka Cuisine
Yaddehimulla Road
we are located on the way to the jungle beach, just below villa thawthisa, if any confusions finding our place please contact the given number (Whatsapp) Sam's place unawatuna 0094772886761
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
5.0
(162 Ratings)
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Claire
Sep 1, 2024
Cook an anthentical curry to learn about Sri lankan culture - First, you go to the market for choosing yourself the vegetables you want to cook. It's also the occasion to improve your knowledge about ayurvedic benefits of all the vegetables. Then, you come back at the house to cook. Wasantha is a really good teacher. She takes time to explain how to cut the vegetables, why this spice has to be put in the meal now and not before/after. It's not a show, you cook with her. For us it was more than a cooking course. We shared time, we shared food and we shared her story. I recommend ! 😃😃😃
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Nomad529286
Aug 31, 2024
One of the highlights of our trip - My time in Wasantha's kitchen far exceeded my expectations of a cooking class. It was a full-scale cultural experience with some of the kindest, most knowledgeable people we met on our trip. Within 4 hours we visited fruit and vegetable market, a fish market, and cooked 5 vegetable curries and 1 fish curry. Wasantha even threw in her signature coconut sambol for good measure. We were taken to the market by her husband, Sam, who is a tour guide, so aside from information on the different types of fruit and veg, he shared useful tips on pretty much everything related to Sri Lankan travel. After each of us chose 1 vegetable we wanted to cook - this was particularly appreciated, as we got a chance to try foods not available in our home countries - we returned to the kitchen. Wasantha's patience, clarity of instruction and years of experience led to a pleasant and educational final stretch during which we prepared the meals. We ate the curries together, listening to Wasanta's stories. When my husband returned to pick me up with our daughter, they were both invited to join us for lunch. All recipes - and many others - were later shared with us with an invitation to send in any questions we may have when recreating the meals at home. Overall, this was a stellar experience, which I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about Sri Lankan cuisine.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Zuzana_g
Aug 29, 2024
One of the highlights of our trip - My time in Wasantha's kitchen far exceeded my expectations of a cooking class. It was a full-scale cultural experience with some of the kindest, most knowledgeable people we met on our trip. Within 4 hours we visited fruit and vegetable market, a fish market, and cooked 5 vegetable curries and 1 fish curry. Wasantha even threw in her signature coconut sambol for good measure. We were taken to the market by her husband, Sam, who is a tour guide, so aside from information on the different types of fruit and veg, he shared useful tips on pretty much everything related to Sri Lankan travel. After each of us chose 1 vegetable we wanted to cook - this was particularly appreciated, as we got a chance to try foods not available in our home countries - we returned to the kitchen. Wasantha's patience, clarity of instruction and years of experience led to a pleasant and educational final stretch during which we prepared the meals. We ate the curries together, listening to Wasanta's stories. When my husband returned to pick me up with our daughter, they were both invited to join us for lunch. All recipes - and many others - were later shared with us with an invitation to send in any questions we may have when recreating the meals at home. Overall, this was a stellar experience, which I would highly recommend to anyone wanting to learn more about Sri Lankan cuisine.
Review provided by Viator
Brianlq4613xa
Aug 22, 2024
Authentic Local cooking - Just an amazing experience. While there is usually a group, I was alone on this day but treated with full time and energy. First a trip to the old Dutch market to select and buy vegetables. (Wasantha prepares the spices herself). Each, and the rice and papadums are prepared separately and done with precise method and spices. Student participates (gladly). In the end, I get to sit down and enjoy an exceptional meal. Full written recipes are included. At every stage the host family are friendly and helpful. This activity is highly recommended if you want to know the culture of this friendly island nation.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Helen_k
Aug 20, 2024
Real authentic home cooking session - Wasantha is such a joy to spend time learning from- a very amazing cook. Husband Sam was fantastic on the market tour - all the family contribute and you feel like have had a real home stay by the time you sit down with new friends and enjoy sharing what we have prepared together.
Review provided by Viator
Deer2008
Aug 11, 2024
I can only recommend! ❤️ - We loved cooking with Wasantha! We were at the market and then cooked curries. We loved that she took care that the food was glutenfree (she left out the mustard sauce cause there’s wheat flour in it) and we felt good and very safe! I learned so much from her ❤️
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Pitty2223
Aug 6, 2024
Super nice family - Super nice family who have their business in Unawatana. All are very friendly, helpful and also children's love. Outside you have the opportunity to enjoy the freshly cooked food!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
974stefaniek
Jul 16, 2024
Becoming a better cook - After I had passed by for food, I decided to take the cooking class. It was great to learn so much from Wasantha. She shared useful tips & and tricks, and they let us choose on the market which vegetables and fruits we would use to prepare the 5 curries. Moreover, at the end, she shared the recipes. During the class, she also kept in mind that we were all foreigners and do not always have the same access to the vegetables and fruits available in Sri Lanka. Here, she also proposed which ingredients to use to replace. Shortly spoken, I got to learn a lot about the Sri Lankan cuisine and was a great addition for my cooking and further travel. Thank you Wasantha.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Trinity16845
Jul 15, 2024
Fantastic traditional cooking class! - Wasantha was incredible. We absolutely loved the cooking class and learned so much about making curry as well as helpful cooking tips based on the fruits or vegetables you chose to use for your curry. For example, I never knew how to tell if you have enough salt in a dish without tasting it. Now, I know! It was wonderful learning so much from Wasantha, as well as meeting her family and learning the cooking traditions she has learned through so many generations before her. I highly recommend this course. The food was incredible. We got to make four different types of curries from a woman with strong Sri Lankan roots. They are also animal lovers. ♡
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Christopher
Jul 15, 2024
Cooking with Wasantha in Monsoon Season - Absolutely loved this. Put that it's a couples experience but that's because I could only select one. This would be good for the family or solo, as the person that joined us was. Wasantha and her family have a strong history of cooking traditional Sri Lankan cuisine which gave a good backstory to the experience. The entire class was informative, interesting, and enjoyable. Going to the market to start was fun and it was nice to be able to learn about the fruits and vegetables from Wasantha's daughter before getting to pick which ones we wanted to make curries from. We all helped with the prep work and learned about the spices for each recipe, which kept everyone engaged. Wasantha provided tips and tricks throughout. Overall, a great experience that ended with getting to eat five different curry dishes! Left very full with several recipes and new knowledge. Hard to beat.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
From $39
up to 10 guests
1 Adult
Cancellation: Free cancellation up to 24 hours before the start of your experience (local time).