expat excursions BY MEREL NAHUYSEN
During a recent trip to Langkawi, I was invited to spend a morning at Langkawi Cooking School – not just to learn a few new recipes, but to experience a place so many people speak fondly of. If your New Year’s resolutions still involve eating less, you might want to stop reading now. A few hours at Langkawi Cooking School will undo all your good intentions – and you won’t regret a single bite.
The Joy of Learning (And Eating)
There’s something deeply satisfying about cooking – especially when you’re learning to prepare Malaysian dishes rooted in tradition, flavour and generosity. And there’s no better place to do that than under the guidance of Rose Hussein, founder of Langkawi Cooking School. This isn’t a rushed, overly structured cooking class. It’s relaxed, fun and wonderfully human. Rose teaches the way she cooks – with intuition, stories and a genuine love for food.
A Farm With a Story
The school sits on 12 acres of land that has lived many lives. Once paddy fields and rubber slopes, it was acquired some 40 years ago and slowly transformed into what it is today: an evolving organic farm shaped by patience, experimentation and deep respect for nature.
Set beside a gentle stream near Durian Perangin Waterfall and surrounded by orchards and forest reserve, the farm supplies chemical-free produce to its restaurants and kitchen. It adapts year by year to changing climate patterns, always in tune with the land.
Before cooking, we were taken on a tour of the grounds, past fruit trees and orchids, the greenhouse, a mushroom house, a herb garden, the koi pond, a chicken coop and a hydroponic plant house. There was even a rubber-tapping demonstration, a reminder of the land’s earlier days. We also watched demonstrations on making rempah and grating fresh coconut.
Then it was time to head into the kitchen. Thankfully, all the washing, cutting and prep had already been lovingly taken care of by Rose and her team (a small but rather important detail). We cooked pumpkin in coconut sauce and turmeric chicken prepared with fragrant spices, before sitting down to a generous buffet lunch, where several additional dishes appeared for our happily growing appetites.
Authentic and Unforgettable
With ingredients grown just steps from the kitchen, freshly cooked dishes redefine what “delicious” really means. And while we all enjoyed pretending it was our own culinary talent at work, we knew better – the magic lies firmly in the hands of Rose and her team.
Langkawi Cooking School is more than a place to learn how to cook. It’s an experience, one that connects you to the land, the food and the people behind it. You arrive curious, leave full (very full), with a renewed appreciation for Malaysian cuisine.
I didn’t expect my resolutions to fall apart quite so spectacularly, somewhere between the coconut milk, chilli paste and Rose’s infectious enthusiasm. I gained something far better though: a deeper understanding of food that is meant to be enjoyed without guilt. And honestly? That feels like a very good trade.
