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This experience was really unique! Chhaya and Varsha welcomed us into their home as if we were part of the family and showed us how to cook traditional Indian food. They made it look simple and quick and the food was absolutely delicious. The fact that they gave us the spices to take home was great! We replicated the dishes at home and everyone loved it. We really recommend this experience to anyone who enjoys Indian food and would like to get to know more about it and taste the real thing. We hope to be back soon to try the other menus. Thank you both for your incredible hospitality!
Ivan & Elena
16 August 2020 (Rome)
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This experience was the best valentine's experience we have ever had. Such a unique, insightful and stimulating activity. It was great to learn more about the history of the dishes, the source of seasonings and their various uses within their culture; simply observing how other cultures prepare dishes similar to those within my own culture, was so interesting. They were the best hosts, made us feel so welcome. I can't wait to book again!
Jamelia & Jonathan
15 February 2020 (London)
Fabulous experience, learning about spices and how to use them. Really enjoyed watching how the foods are prepared and tasting the finished flavorful foods. A glass of prosecco with the meal was a lovely touch! Can't wait to try the recipes at home!
Jeanette & Patricia
29 September 2019 (USA)
A fabulous afternoon celebrating my husbands birthday. Amazing, fresh, tasty food cooked before us and great company. We loved it all thank you very much to Chhaya and Varsha for being great hosts and sharing family recipes and top tips, we are looking forward to recreating the dishes at home. We will defiantly be back. Thank you.
Sallie & Fin
31 August 2019 (London)
This was such a fun night. We had a group of four and we all enjoyed ourselves so much. We learned a lot and the food was amazing!!
Laura & Family
26 July 2019 (Minnesota, USA)
I booked this experience for my boyfriend's birthday and wow, we had the most wonderful evening with Chhaya and her sister Varsha. They are both such amazing cooks and so friendly and happy to answer any questions and to share little tips and tricks with us. We learnt so much! The food was just awesome! I eat a lot of Indian food and I can honestly say that this was the best I have ever had! It was so lovely to be given the little bags with spices and the recipes at the end too, so we could make the dishes for ourselves at home. Thank you both for such a wonderful evening and a great cooking experience, we both really loved it.
Stephanie
24 June 2019 (UK/Germany)
It was truly an amazing experience, I would call it the "highlight of my trip" in London. Chhaya's home-cooking is totally different from what I would normally get in restaurants. She is also very structured and clear in presenting so that I can easily duplicate it at home. Chhaya is also very helpful and responsive during our communications. I can't wait to come back to try her other dishes. The only problem now is I cannot just go to a regular Indian restaurant without comparing to Chhaya's cooking and I know the food there just won't measure up.
Stella
24 May 2019 (Hong Kong)
All the information about traditional Indian food from the Surat region, of course the delicious food, this was a five star experience, I would recommend to anyone. The bonus at the end was our 'goody' bag. All the spices to recreate the dishes at home. Thank you ladies it was a memorable day.
Gaynor Baldwin & Family
31 March 2019 (London)
What a fantastic day, even better when you get little spice kits so you can recreate the dishes you made at home! Thank you @thecardamompods for welcoming my family into your home and making us feel part of yours!! Check out their page and if you fancy a way to spend a Friday evening or Saturday afternoon watching home cooked, authentic Indian food being made in front of you that you get to enjoy and eat! I can't recommend you try here enough!
Emma
29 March 2019 (London)
Wow what an experience! Cardamom Pods really took us back to the meals our families enjoyed when we were kids. We both like to think of ourselves as semi proficient in the kitchen, so we’ve actively put off attending courses and experiences like these thinking we don’t need them, when in actual fact we learnt a lot.
In our 2½ hour session we discovered all about the ‘best-case’ food prep, the cooking times and the tricks experienced cooks use to make that perfect home cooked meal.
The biggest take away we got was how to balance all the complex flavors that makes an authentic and tasty Indian meal. We learnt about the aromatic spices, that are being used, the flavors that have been added by each of the ingredients and what we should be tasting in each bite.
We are both quite thankful to Chhaya and Varsha for their willingness to share their family recipes and the passion that they have for wanting to pass these skills/tricks/recipes on to the next generation. It also helps that they are lovely warm and welcoming people.
We can’t wait for the master classes that they’re soon to launch.
Raakhee & Rakesh.
12 February 2019 (London)
I booked this experience as a Christmas gift for my partner as we are both very passionate about food and love to cook; I'm delighted to say it did not disappoint. The menu can be tailored to your preferences/dietary requirements, allowing you to select vegetarian, meat or fish so every need or taste is catered for. It also means that you'll learn how to cook something you will want to make again as it's something you have chosen yourself. Upon arrival, you are offered a bottle of Processo (soft drinks are available) and water along with delicious snacks and homemade chutneys. The chutneys are fantastic by the way - so much so, we bought a couple of jars to enjoy at home after the experience. Keen to pass on the traditional home-cooked food from Surat, their ancestral hometown, Chhaya and Varsha talk you through the preparation of each dish, offering tips and tricks along the way - we learned so much and have recreated the dishes on a number of occasions since. It was wonderful to hear anecdotes from Chhaya and Varsha about their memories of learning to cook and family life. My boyfriend and I were made to feel extremely welcome during the session. Chhaya and Varsha were warm and inviting hosts, allowing plenty of room for questions and genuinely took the time to get to know us. As part of the experience, you are given a pack of spices and instruction cards so that you can recreate the dishes at home with ease which we felt was a really nice touch. They also very kindly boxed up the leftovers which was very much welcomed by my boyfriend as we got to enjoy the food all over again the next day! I'd highly recommend this experience especially if you are looking to try traditional Indian food that is truly authentic and as it would be eaten at home. It certainly beats your standard takeaway!
Jodie
30 January 2019 (London)
I booked in a class to go and learn how to cook some of my favourite Indian dishes with the Cardamom Pods and admittedly was a little hesitant but went with an open mind ready to learn and eat. In summary, I am so glad I went because the experience was fantastic and I cannot recommend it highly enough. We were welcomed into the their and after some introductions were offered prosecco (soft drinks also available) and some snacks to get us started on our cooking adventure. Without giving too much away, we learnt how to make a paneer dish and also a daal dish along with rice and chapatis. Chhaya and Varsha shared with us little tips and tricks that they had learnt over the years which I imagine will come in handy when cooking at home. What I loved was the fact that the whole experience was done at a leisurely pace without feeling rushed with plenty of time for questions and the whole atmosphere was so relaxed. Once the dishes are cooked, we got to dig in and eat some truly tasty food. Being Indian myself, I am always so critical of cooking and compare to what I eat at home. The food here was spot on, no spices were overpowering and everything was perfectly balanced and my palette was treated to a wonderful array of flavours. I really recommend this to anyone who is looking to learn a thing or two about Indian cooking. You'll be pleasantly surprised at what you learn even if you are a seasoned pro in the kitchen. The array of dishes on offer is vast and caters to both vegetarian and non-vegetarian alike.
http://broswhodine.co.uk/london-food-reviews/indian/the-cardamom-pods-merton/
Sachin Kotecha
Broswhodine
10 December 2018 (London)
I recently took at trip with my best friend for an evening at The Cardamom Pods and had the greatest time! We were one of the first to experience and I honestly couldn't recommend this place more. It was so good! From the get go, you know you're in for a personalised experience as you get to choose your menu for the evening. Getting to select what I learnt to make was seriously incredible as I knew that I would actually want to go home and put what I had learnt into practice. Starting with a glass of prosecco and some spiced nibbles and straight into the learning how to create the starter of fried fish. Chhaya explained everything so well (so well in fact I have made this dish on a number of occasions since - it was so delicious!) and I adored this dish. If you are a lover of fish, you must go for this one too! We also opted for an Aubergine and Pea Curry - again super delicious, and unlike any Indian curry I had ever had before. It was so much more authentic than the curries you get from a takeaway. With personalised anecdotes and so much space for asking questions, we had such a great evening and I have since recommended it to all of my friends and family. We also loved the little takeaway packs of spices to create your dishes at home after - such a lovely touch. I want to go back and learn something else - I am eyeing up the Paneer!! Thank you so much The Cardamom Pods - we had the best evening!
Lorna
4 December 2018 (London)