After visiting the fruit farm, we hopped on the bus and headed to the Hard Rock Cafe beach for a bit of swimming. The view was absolutely beautiful, and it was such a fun way to cool off and relax before the next part of our day. Not long after, we dried off and made our way to one of the highlights of the trip: our cooking class at Opulent at Lava Dining.

When we arrived, we were warmly welcomed with drinks, which immediately set a good mood for the experience. The class was held outside on the front lawn, and the setup was stunning. With the ocean right in front of us and the open-air atmosphere, it felt special and thoughtfully planned. Before we started, we were given our own chef hats, aprons, and gloves, which made everything feel official and honestly pretty fun.

We were taught by Chef Raj, who was incredible. He moved here about a year and a half ago and was a 2013 Global MasterChef, which made it even cooler to learn directly from him. Once we got started, we turned on the heating tables, added water, and placed all the ingredients inside, including the seasoning for the Nasi Lemak. Following Chef Raj’s directions, we also made coconut rice, carefully paying attention to each step as he explained what we were doing and why.

Of course, things didn’t go perfectly the whole time. While we were cooking, the power went out for about half of us. Instead of stressing, we went up to talk with Chef Raj, and he started walking us through the steps one-on-one. Everyone involved was so accommodating and helpful, which honestly made the experience even better. It felt very personal, and it turned what could have been a problem into a memorable part of the class.

Once all the food was finished, it was time to plate and present it. There was a full table set up with different seasonings and vegetables for garnish, and each team took their time carefully presenting their dish before judging began. It was fun to be creative and have some friendly competition. The entire time Chef Raj walked around and worked with each group. When we all finished, to everyone’s surprise, the judges ate the food, which somehow caught all of us off guard.

While they judged, we went inside to enjoy a buffet, and it was amazing. We tried Nasi Bryani, spaghetti pomodoro with an Asian mango sauce, crab meat sweet corn soup, glass noodle kerabu, Italian lamb stew, BBQ chicken, and unique desserts like Penang cendol and nyonya kuih. It was such a great opportunity to try a wide variety of flavors.

At the end, the winners were announced. Christian, Tamara, and the two Luis’s were the runners-up, while Claire, Andrew, and Ella won. The runners up each received their own personal coconut to drink from while the winners were gifted a bottle of wine. After everything wrapped up, we went back outside by the water, enjoyed the view, and took photos which ended the day on a perfect note.

Blog by Ella Spera