HILUXURY – Hawaii Luxury Magazine

Up your game at these destination cooking schools

THE TRAVEL EXPERIENCE is greatly heightened when you take a skill away from an excursion. Not only do you open your repertoire of impressive attributes – the memories will last a lifetime. Since we’re a collective group of international foodies here in Hawaii, why not add “amateur chef ” to your personal resume?

Many top-tier hotels, inns and villas in exotic destinations are opening their kitchen doors and inviting their guests inside. From locations throughout Europe and Asia, you can learn among the best culinary masters how to make the perfect Singapore Sling – while in Singapore.

Just think how much happier your friends will be when you return home with an arsenal of flavor-packed dishes in lieu of the never-ending slideshow.

THAI FOR ALL SEASONS

Skip chaotic Bangkok and head straight to the mountain village of Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. Surrounded by lush forests and some of the oldest Buddhist temples in the country, this rising village-turned-cultural epicenter is a hotbed for experiencing the flavors of classic (and modern) Thai cuisine.

Here, the newest Four Seasons Resort in Asia boasts a specially constructed cooking school, which was designed to blend in with the resort’s trickling waterfalls and expansive gardens. Up to 16 people at a time can dice, sauté and hone their chops in the kitchen pavilion alongside celebrated Thai chef Pitak Srichan, who has crafted a six-day program (all focused on Northern Thai cuisine).

Begin your stay with a guided tour (from Srichan) through the resort’s herb and spice garden, which is followed by a celebratory feast meant to whet your palate on the menu you’ll eventually craft. In between optional daily tours to local fruit markets, Srichan will help you perfect your vegetable-carving techniques, teach you how to use traditional Thai cooking utensils and the best way to execute the region’s top dishes.

Cost is $85 daily. www.fourseasons.com/chiangmai +66 (53) 298-181

POACHED IN POSITANO

If you haven’t settled into a cliff-side dwelling on the Amalfi Coast, then you haven’t truly lived. If you have, then one-up your last visit by learning how to master the art of rolling out pasta or perfectly poaching a fresh sardine.

At the storied Il San Pietro hotel in picturesque Positano (one of the most photographed hillsides in all of Europe) you can learn all of the above (and more) from the hotel’s executive chef.

Having been passed down from generation to generation, the hotel has miraculously maintained that family-run vibe – despite its worldwide reputation as one of Europe’s most classy hotels. And while the hotel hasn’t changed much over the last century, it’s that much more special to learn that a custom-built kitchen – built into the cliffs and a stone’s throw from the Mediterranean – was recently opened for budding chefs.

Sign up for a two-day extravaganza that includes a cookbook, apron, bottle of regional olive oil and two days of cooking instruction, demonstrations, dish sampling and imbibing. You’ll be hand-rolling the perfect orecchiette in no time.

Cost is 280 Euros per person; classes are limited to eight people.

www.ilSanPietro.it +39 (089) 875.455

ITALY CONNOISSEURS
An exclusive VIP experience

Simone Moscone and Fulvio Fares are the sort of gentlemen who can turn your travel fantasy into reality. Their Rome-based tour company, Italy Connoisseurs, is in the business of crafting up-close and personal jaunts to Italy’s most beloved locations. Many of their exclusive experiences involve food and wine. Some involve couture fashion. All involve some form of Italian history.

According to Moscone and Fares, there is no shortage of private wine tastings at vineyards – from Prosecco to Palermo – that are otherwise closed to the public. If you can think it, they can make it happen.

For the ultimate foodie, these gents have the dream trip for you. Like truffles? Probably not as much as you would if you hunted, procured and prepared your own in a secret locale known to only a handful of truffle experts worldwide.

Moscone recently took two A-list couples via helicopter from Rome to a small village near Alba, where they met up with a team of expert truffle foragers, most of whom are burdened with the task of locating the prized (and highly delectable) fungi for a number of Italy’s top restaurateurs. Following a morning of hunting with the aid of a specialized truffle-hunting dog, you’ll cap the afternoon with a private tasting in Piedmont paired with a culinary sampling of the region’s finest fare.

The Connoisseurs don’t stop at food, however. Those who require a custom wardrobe can book a behind-the-scenes tour and fitting at Valentino, which ends with designing your own handbag, shoes and belts to match the new wardrobe that is custom-tailored for you. (The 20,000 Euro price tag does come with a second fitting back in the U.S.)

More into the serenity of a garden tour? Julia Roberts certainly was while shooting Ocean’s Twelve. Moscone and Fares escorted her on a private tour of a secret garden that dates back to 800 A.D.

Art your thing? Cars? How about combining both with a visit to Lingotto, a historical villa in Northern Italy’s up-and-coming art mecca of Turin. It is here that the owner of Fiat cars set up his famous headquarters at the turn of last century, complete with his own personal racetrack on the roof. Today, successive family members have turned the building into a private gallery that showcases their collection of masterworks by the likes of Degas, Monet and yes, da Vinci.