Early this year I gifted Mick a cooking class with special guest chef, Dan Hong, for his birthday. It was $180 per person.
I wanted to keep it anonymous but we found out our experience was not the only bad one so we’ve decided to identify the truth. Dan Hong was a rude and arrogant prick. Read til the end.
I wanted to keep it anonymous but we found out our experience was not the only bad one so we’ve decided to identify the truth. Dan Hong was a rude and arrogant prick. Read til the end.
EXPERIENCE
The cooking class was held at the Sydney Fish Market on the second level. The entrance is next to the car ticket pay machine, on the left.
Once everyone had arrived, we were seated in a small theatre-like room where Dan Hong introduced himself, talked about his career and demonstrated his three dishes for the day. During this time, he passed around ingredients to smell, touch, and take photos of. This process took an hour.
People kept asking Dan where to purchase the ingredients and he kept repeating “just walk into any Asian store”. We found this too broad (and almost borderline ignorant) because, for example, Vietnamese ingredients aren’t going to be found in a Thai store, or Korean products are not going to be found in every single store in Cabramatta 🙄.
For a “cooking class”, there was a lot of presumptions coming from Dan Hong. The majority of the audience was Caucasian and his flimsy information added to their cultural ignorance. We could hear them whispering among themselves asking which Asian would be best 🤦🏻♀️.
Also, most of us in the room were beginner to intermediate cooks so talking as if we should know the answer is plain arrogance.
Anyways, after the demonstrations, we were directed to the cooking room where we were split into groups of 6-8 and worked together to cook the dishes.
Once everyone had arrived, we were seated in a small theatre-like room where Dan Hong introduced himself, talked about his career and demonstrated his three dishes for the day. During this time, he passed around ingredients to smell, touch, and take photos of. This process took an hour.
People kept asking Dan where to purchase the ingredients and he kept repeating “just walk into any Asian store”. We found this too broad (and almost borderline ignorant) because, for example, Vietnamese ingredients aren’t going to be found in a Thai store, or Korean products are not going to be found in every single store in Cabramatta 🙄.
For a “cooking class”, there was a lot of presumptions coming from Dan Hong. The majority of the audience was Caucasian and his flimsy information added to their cultural ignorance. We could hear them whispering among themselves asking which Asian would be best 🤦🏻♀️.
Also, most of us in the room were beginner to intermediate cooks so talking as if we should know the answer is plain arrogance.
Anyways, after the demonstrations, we were directed to the cooking room where we were split into groups of 6-8 and worked together to cook the dishes.
FIRST COURSE
This was raw prawns in fish sauce with garnish. It took 15 minutes to peel all the prawns and create a nice plating. The prawns were very fresh and creamy, making this our favourite dish out of the three despite its simplicity.
SECOND COURSE
This was calamari in a lemon-flavoured dip. This was a very easy dish made to look fancy. Skipping the dish choice, the squid itself was delicious. Very firm, slight bounce, fresh asf. We’re not gonna deny the quality of the food.
There was a funny moment while cooking this when one of the other members of our cooking group decided to show off her “culinary skills” by dipping her wet spoon into the oil to get some of the squid pieces out.
FYI for anyone with no cooking experience, never mix boiling oil with water. It will splash and it will burn and it will hurt. Everyone tried to reason with her but her stubbornness ignored us so we backed away and watched as she burned her fingers 🤦🏻♀️.
There was a funny moment while cooking this when one of the other members of our cooking group decided to show off her “culinary skills” by dipping her wet spoon into the oil to get some of the squid pieces out.
FYI for anyone with no cooking experience, never mix boiling oil with water. It will splash and it will burn and it will hurt. Everyone tried to reason with her but her stubbornness ignored us so we backed away and watched as she burned her fingers 🤦🏻♀️.
THIRD COURSE
The final dish was a Barramundi, stir-fried with buck Choi. Our group did well to cook this; the skin was crispy and gave the right crunch, inside was soft.
After an hour of hard work, we went into the dining room and enjoyed our meal.
After an hour of hard work, we went into the dining room and enjoyed our meal.
DINING
During the lunch, Mick approached Dan Hong to purchase his cookbook and get his signature. While Dan was signing, Mick asked how much his cooking classes were and if they were designed for intermediate-level cooks (as Mick was interested to learn more).
Dan Hong replied, “you couldn’t even afford my class if you tried. It’s $10,000 and that’s just for me to show up”.
Ok. Cool. We paid $360 to meet an arrogant prick.
We understand you worked hard and you earned your way to the top but you didn’t need to throw it in our faces, considering we paid for your time to be here now. A simple “oh, it’s a few thousand dollars, if you’re interested, check my website” ya know what I mean? 🤨
Dan Hong replied, “you couldn’t even afford my class if you tried. It’s $10,000 and that’s just for me to show up”.
Ok. Cool. We paid $360 to meet an arrogant prick.
We understand you worked hard and you earned your way to the top but you didn’t need to throw it in our faces, considering we paid for your time to be here now. A simple “oh, it’s a few thousand dollars, if you’re interested, check my website” ya know what I mean? 🤨
We loved the Seafood School itself, and the quality of the ingredients. It was just unfortunate we picked the wrong class to join. We found out a lot of people think he’s a prick too 🤷🏻♀️. I knew I should have bought the Singaporean crab with noodle class instead, but you live and you learn.
Thank you for reading.
Thank you for reading.
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