For me, Asian food is, without a doubt, the best cuisine in the World. I love the freshness of the ingredients, the combination of spicy and sweet that works so deliciously and the ability to create a dish so tasty from just the simplest of ingredients. Therefore, my first few days in Vietnam were spent wandering the streets in search of the street food I had heard so much about.

The one thing that I have established from my holidays to Vietnam, as well as the fact that if you want to cross the road you have to risk life and limb, is that street food is the only way to dine. It is the tastiest, not to mention the cheapest thing on offer and I gladly learnt to schedule my day around where my next bowl of steaming hot Pho would come from.

It was with this love and mild obsession for street food fast spiraling out of control that I found myself wandering the charming, old fashioned streets of Hoi An. As I took in the sights of the pretty town I chanced upon a sign that read ‘Morning Glory Street Food Restaurant and Cooking School’. That’s right – I had found a place where I could learn to cook street food myself! Without even thinking, I had signed myself up

First stop on our course was a guided tour of the local market with our teacher for the day, Ms. Vy. As traders greeted her warmly she pointed out the ingredients, fresh produce and herbs and spices that we would be cooking with later that day. She made us smell and sample the produce so that we would know what we were using, how to select it and how much we would need.

A word of warning - the sights and smells of a Vietnamese market are overwhelming. I found myself distracted by one stall stacked high with pig heads and as soon as I tore my eyes away from that slightly grotesque scene, I was greeted by a man plucking a live eel from a bucket of around 100 others with a flourish and relieving it of its head with the biggest knife I had ever seen. Not for the feint hearted or those suffering from hangovers!

Upon returning to the cooking school we began preparing the food ourselves and over the next couple of hours learnt to make green papaya salad, grilled chicken with turmeric, Bahn Xeo (spicy pancake), barbequed chicken and lime leaves, pho and spring rolls. I eagerly wrote down every wise tip that Ms Vy imparted on us in the vain hope that my efforts at home would taste as good.

I cannot recommend this experience enough, the sights and sounds of the market were a wonder to behold, Ms Vy knew her stuff and patiently passed on her knowledge and the feast at the end was the kind of meal that dreams are made of. If you like cooking and wish to take home some insider knowledge with which to wow your dinner party guests you should try it yourself.