Hackettstown Chef Teaches Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese Cooking

HACKETTSTOWN, NJ — Locals who’d like to learn to whip up some favorite Asian dishes, can take cooking classes from a Hackettstown chef and restaurateur.

Chef Jay Chai, who owns Pandan Room and TOPO Restaurant, plans to teach private and specialized classes.

Each class is about three hours and $85 each, with small groups of about 12 per class.

Chef Jay Chai’s first class is “Thai 101” on Sunday, June 27, teaching student chefs to make several Thai dishes, including Pork Dumplings, Tom Yum Kong Shrimp Soup, Yellow Curry Chicken, Pad Kie Mau Beef Noodle and Sticky Rice Mango.

At the second class on Thursday, July 29, the focus will be on Dim Sum, with attendees preparing Crab Rangoon, Duck Spring Rolls, seasoned sticky rice, pork and shrimp Shumai and Butterscotch Pudding.

The Asian Taste course offers a culinary tour of different areas of Asia with Summer Rolls tofu avocado, Singaporean Mei Fun Noodle Chicken, Nasi Goreng Beef Indonesian Fried Rice, Masaman Curry Beef and Fried Banana.

In the fall, there are two different times on Sunday, Oct. 24, at either 11:30 a.m. or 3 p.m, where students will make autumn-inspired Asian foods like spinach artichoke pot stickers, coconut cream mushroom soup, pumpkin kale curry chicken, Bakmie Goreng Beef and peanut butter roll.

Chef Chai also has private cooking classes with up to 18 people at the Pandan Room or a person’s home, for $850. He’ll coordinate with the class host to set up date, time and menu.

Click here to book any of his classes.

Questions or comments about this story? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.