Blue Lotus

Our focus this month moves to the wonderful Blue Lotus Learning Centre for Plant-Based Cuisine to see what effect switching to a plant-based diet might have on our body and spirit.

Feast Thailand’s General Manager, Leigh Higgins, recently spent some time with Christophe Berg and the team at Blue Lotus. Here is what she wrote:-

I must say that being a lover of all things protein and having some pretty average experiences so far eating vegetarian food, I was both thrilled and apprehensive when asked to join a Raw Asia Workshop @ Blue Lotus Hua Hin. A little skeptical as to whether this would be my thing, I accepted the invitation and headed to the Evason Hua Hin. Having done many cooking schools and watched countless cooking demonstrations in my travels, how would this experience differ?

There is a movement right now across the world around clean food and using plant-based ingredients. Blue Lotus Hua Hin is a learning centre doing workshops and classes around this premise. I went into it with a clear and open mind, ready to experience this.

The first thing you notice after you are warmly greeted by the Blue Lotus team members is that you are walking into a fully fitted out commercial kitchen, set up into work stations. There is every modern appliance you could ask for, from a huge bank of dehydrators, to commercial blenders and juicers.

Christophe Berg, Director of Blue Lotus, showed me through the facility’s kitchens, explaining how they work in with the resort kitchens. Christophe started his work journey in project management and teaching, however it was when he was in Singapore, as an Executive Chef, where his interest in, and passion for plant-based cuisine started.

After the tour of the kitchen, your taste buds are immediately awakened as we are offered Miang Kham. This is a traditional Northern Thai snack normally consisting of a small dice of shallots, ginger, garlic, chilli and lime with whole peanuts and small dried shrimps – on this occasion the dried shrimps were omitted. This is all wrapped in a Chaplu leaf – Wild Piper, which is very similar to a Betel leaf. The name loosely translates as “One Bite Wrap”. This was a great icebreaker, as it relaxed everyone as we get to know each other over food.

The strength of the workshops is about showing you how the chefs prepare the food and then you go to your own station to do your own preparation. This is somewhat different to some cooking schools where you are prepping and working at the same time as the chef. I liked this style, as it allowed me to watch and ask questions.

Christophe explained to me that this way of teaching allows you to learn the tricks that the professional chefs use. Sometimes recipes show all the ingredients but it is how professional chefs mix, blend and emulsify to get the best flavour out of the ingredients that you learn here.

The menus all contain produce that you can buy in your home country & substitutes are given for the more local ingredients. We prepared 3 dishes, Som Tam, Pad Thai and Nori Maki. I walked away with detailed recipes with my learning notes scribbled on them.

Throughout the preparation of my dishes, I had a chef next to me, coaching and supporting, plus being very positive about my knife skills, which did improve over the 3 hours. I got tips and encouragement about my dishes, the flavours and skills.

The biggest thrill was when Christophe wanted to take a photo of my Som Tam. It wasn’t my favourite tasting dish but it was my best looking plate of food.

The other thing that is a strong focus here is the plating of the food. To the novice cook, it seems daunting, but you are encouraged to practice and play. I was told it’s about confidence and believing that you can make your plate look good. If you make a mistake, you simply start again. Yep! Simple yet obvious instructions but you need someone to tell you that. Once you believe in yourself, plating does come easier. It also wasn’t plating for ‘art’s sake’ but to showcase the food.

I asked Christophe the following questions:- What types of people take these workshops? Who gets the most out of it? His answer was not stock standard.

“The workshop is set up so that everyone can enjoy the experience. The key is to focus on what you want to get out of it,” he said “and the Blue Lotus team are happy to support that. It’s for people wanting to learn techniques, wanting to develop more intense flavours in their cooking or people wanting to explore & develop an alternative food lifestyle. They have had experienced cooks and chefs wanting to develop their styling and plating. This is supported as it’s about learning and developing.”

The main thing I took from this experience, as a foodie with a big focus on Thai Food, is that I tasted plant-based Thai cuisine that packed a flavour punch. I walked away with tips about emulsifying and blending; simple tips that you don’t get by reading cookbooks. Plus I loved working in the professional kitchen, Masterchef style!

If you want an experience of working in a commercial kitchen, practicing the techniques used by fully qualified chefs, plus understand how to develop flavour profiles with plant based ingredients, this is the workshop for you.

Would I go back and do another session? Yes! There are eight 3 to 4 hour workshops available from Gluten Free Pizzas to making Power Bowls or you can dive into a 4 day experience to fully immerse yourself in the movement.

The Blue Lotus Hua Hin website is very informative and easy to navigate to get all the information you may need. Class and accommodation packages are on offer so you can either touch base with me at Feast Thailand Food Tours in Hua Hin to secure your booking or make contact directly.

Whilst I was invited by Blue Lotus Hua Hin to take part in the workshop, the opinions and comments are truly mine.

Could a protein lover like me have a great plant based food experience? The answer is Yes!

Blue Lotus @ Evason
9/5 Thanon Pak Nam Pran
Tambon Pak Nam Pran, Amphoe Pran Buri, Chang Wat Prachuap Khiri Khan 77220
Phone: 032 632 111