Mons Ban Sabai Thai Garden Restaurant and Cooking School

Recently I was lucky to attend a Thai Cooking Class at the Mons Ban Sabai Thai Garden Restaurant and Cooking School. This was my first cooking class and I really loved it.

Everything was beautifully presented and ready to go on our arrival, with baskets of gorgeous fresh ingredients. The instructor, Raymund, took us through four popular Thai recipes, making each one from scratch. The dishes were:

Green curry with chicken
Tom Kha Gai (prawns in coconut milk soup)
Yum Nua (Beef Salad) and
Money Bags


It was quite a big class, so there was plenty of hands available to help with all the chopping and preparation.

First up, we made a green curry paste for our green curry. We had two mortar and pestles on the go with half the ingredients being ground in each, and they were combined at the end to make a gloriously green fresh tasting spicy paste. If it wasn't so spicy hot it would be an amazing dip.

green curry paste

It was set aside as we prepared the vegetables for the curry.

vegetable basket

Then we moved on to prepping for the Prawns in Coconut Milk Soup and Yum Nua. Raymund told us that the Tom Kha Gai can be prepared two ways, one with coconut milk and one with just plain chicken stock. We made it with chicken stock in the class, but the recipe we took home was with coconut milk. We also used prawns instead of chicken, because there was chicken in the green curry.

Vegetables for the soup

The head chef is a beautiful artist, her paintings hang on the wall in the restaurant. She also carves lovely things out of vegetables (see the carrot flower above).

Vegetables for the salad

Lastly, we chopped the ingredients for the money bags.

Then carefully assembled them, ready for frying.


Then it was time to cook and eat!

Moneybags frying

Yummy moneybags

Interior shot

Woks for the green curry and Tom Kha Gai and chicken stock

All the aromatics in the Tom Kha Gai

Tom Kha Gai simmering

Green curry

Mixing the Yum Nua

We ate the money bags straight away (with a glass of wine!) as everything else was being prepared, but then we sat down to an elegantly set table to eat the rest.

Beautifully set table

Clockwise from top: green curry, Tom Kha Gai, Yum Nua

Green Curry close up

Tom Kha Gai

Yum Nua

I really enjoyed seeing how the Thai flavours were put together and I got some hints and tips as well. I've made a few things from the class since then and they've turned out really well. I've also been back to the restaurant for takeaway, it's absolutely fantastic.

Mons Ban Sabai
Thai Garden Restaurant and Cooking School
12 Martha St
Camp Hill
Ph: 3843 5366
www.monsbansabai.com