Cooking Up Asian Street Food at The Viking Cooking School
Updated: Jan 31, 2024
What’s better than a destination date? A double destination date! Friends of ours invited us to attend Viking Cooking School with them in Greenwood, MS. I have long wanted to do this, so it was an easy “yes.” We decided to make an adventure of it (of course) and spend the night. This post is not sponsored and all opinions are my own.
The Alluvian across the street from the cooking school had no vacancies, so we decided to make it an even greater adventure and head up to Cleveland for the night. I have a thing for boutique hotels and Marriott just so happens to have one there: The Cotton House.
Upon arrival, our room wasn’t ready so we left our stuff in the vehicle and went to find some lunch. The main area in Cleveland is perfectly walkable, so we headed down the street to Tienda Y Taqueria Victoria as it was Cinco de Mayo. I’m not quite sure this place was legal, HA, but it was legit. One side was a Mexican grocery street, the other was the restaurant; it was packed. My street tacos were on point. Cash only here 😉.
Then, we wandered down Cotton Row to see what we could find. If you are looking for a relaxing overnight trip with the cutest shops to browse, this is it. Boutiques, gift shops, housewares, menswear, book store, antique shops. You name it, it’s there. I found a few things for the office renovation I was in the middle of as well as a beautiful set of antique glasses for a friend. As you wander, be sure to stop in at Zoe Coffee Co. The coffee was great, and their mission is even greater. If you don’t want coffee, we spotted an ice cream shop, too. The proceeds from the coffee shop are used to build water wells in Africa.
There’s a beautiful walkway right down Cotton Row and a park at one end with a train car. Here is also where you’ll find the tourist information center. There wasn’t a riverboat in port while we were there so the town was mostly quiet and super relaxing. After our walk, it was back to the hotel to check in.
I give the Cotton House three stars. While it is catalogued as a Mariott Tribute Portfolio hotel, it lacked a bit in overall atmosphere (IMO) especially in the room. The lobby, however, is appointed beautifully – an impressive display of MS delta culture. As with most things, location is key and the Cotton House definitely has that going for it. We did stop in at the restaurant downstairs (Delta Meat Market) for a quick bite late in the afternoon. It has the best vibe and really puts local MS products on display.
After a brief rest and refresh in the room, we headed to supper at Backdraft Restaurant & Bar that was just a short walk away. This firehouse themed restaurant served up spectacular fair . The food was delicious and the servers were excellent. I definitely recommend a stop here if you are making your way through Cleveland.
The next morning, we made our way back to Zoe Coffee for breakfast. My everything bagel with BEC was exactly what I needed to get moving.
Then it was back in the car for the 52 minute drive to Greenwood. If you’ve never traveled with friends, you are missing out. The best conversation happens in the car. Friendship really is about TIME. The more time you spend with people, the more developed your relationship. There is no better way to do this than to take a trip (even a short one). I digress. We found street parking outside the Viking Cooking School and made our way in. We were in one of the first classes of the morning (start time 10 am), so we hung out in the lobby area and waited for them to open the doors. There are accessible bathrooms while you wait. When the doors are open, they will get you checked in, and you can browse while you wait for your class to begin. There was another class while we were there so the shop filled up quite a bit.
We were called into our cooking room, which was viewable on two sides from the street. There are two benches at opposite ends of the room with two cooktops each. Class members were divided into groups of up to four per station. Lucky for us, we made our own group, yea! The stations are all set up and ready for you to cook.
After a short safety talk, the cooking begins. Our menu was Asian street food, YUM. The teacher is there to provide plenty of instruction and guidance, but you do the cooking on your own. There are plenty of jobs to keep everyone busy. We rotated through so that everyone got a chance to chop, cook, fry, fill, and roll. After you cook, you eat. I was SO impressed with us. The food was fantastic. This served as our lunch and there was plenty to eat.
Some things you should know: You will be provided with drinks throughout your class. There's NO cleaning up! Beyond putting dirty dishes in the sink and throwing food scrapes in the garbage, you don't have to do ANY of the washing/cleaning up after you've cooked. You’ll be gifted your aprons to take home after the class; I was sad because they were out of the branded ones when we were there, so ours are plain white. Guess I’ll have to go back.
After you’ve cooked and eaten, its back to the gift shop. I did come home with one of the amazing garlic presses they have for you to use. It's self cleaning and scraping as well as heavy duty! You can find it here.
We decided to browse Howard Street before heading back home. I really needed a coffee. Unfortunately, the coffee shop had recently had a fire and wasn’t open at that time, boo. Be sure to check out The Mississippi Gift Company, though, that was packed with MS made products. With no coffee in hand, we headed back to the cooking school. Shout out to the cooking school employees as they were kind enough to gift me a cup of coffee from the pot they had made themselves that morning. Last stop was a tour through the Alluvian lobby just to take a look see. With all the things seen and done, it was time to head home.
I 100% recommend taking a class at the Viking Cooking School. Ready to book your cooking class? Book here: The Viking Cooking School Class Schedule.
Have you been to the Viking Cooking School?
Other things to do nearby:
Cleveland:
Greenwood:
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Who knew the delta in MS could be so fun!!!