We found Pearly's home cooking school via a Malaysian colleague who sent a link to her site - and aren't we glad we did! Being avid home cooks we have however always found Asian cooking a challenge , so a possibility to learn from a professional sounded just what we needed.
Huge plus here was also the possibility to choose ourselves what to cook; among > 20 dishes we had difficulties choosing only the recommended 2-3, so ended up with 4...
The day started with a tour in a wet market, tasting and buying some interesting things. This was however completely up to us, nothing was 'forced upon' us. Then we were taken to Pearly's and Chandra's lovely big house in a suburb, where the first thing we did was to pick up some fresh herbs and leaves from her garden. The the cooking started; peeling, chopping, dicing, pureeing, frying, wrapping, sauteeing... All the ingredients were fresh and 'from the scratch', even water chestnuts were fresh chestnuts we had to first wash, peel and dice, rather than a tinned variety! Our four dishes were duck stew with potatoes in an aromatic spice mix, otak-otak wrapped in banana leaves, five-spice pork wrapped in bean curd and deep-fried and assam laksa. The last was one we were slightly worried about first, as we had had it only few days before in Kuala Lumpur and found it a bit too pungent and sour to our taste. But no worries, once we told that to Pearly, she happily adviced us to tone down the amount of shrimp paste, to introduce us to the taste gradually. And it worked, it was sooo much better than the one in the restaurant!
After cooking all dishes, we had a sumptuous lunch - and because there was so much leftovers, she kindly packed it in tubs for us to take away with us. As we stayed in a holiday house with full cooking facilities, we enjoyed the food over that evening and the next day and certainly extended our experience further...
I can't recommend this cooking experience highly enough for anyone who loves to cook and cherishes the opportunity to experience a truly personal lesson with an excellent teacher in lovely environment.

Chandra and pearly picked us up from our heritage hotel to take us back to their lovely house just out of the centre of George town.
What a lovely couple . The six of us... Four young Adults ( 18, 19, 22, 26) my daughters and their boyfriends and my husband and I.
Chandra regaled us with stories of his luck at meeting pearly and being able to marry her all those years ago. Pearly made friends with the kids in the other car.. With her direct and humorous observations of life.. Bringing the kids amazingly to ease.
The house has two outside cooking areas in the loggia.
Here we started preparing the food earlier negotiated for our children's more western palettes.
None of the kids really cooks at home... Butter chicken, varieties of roti, a prawn dish, curried eggs, curry puffs , potato Marsala... All chopped and prepared by us .. With an ever present Pearly darting here and there... Saving our egos ...teasing the food to perfection. She told us good stories of how failure makes for better success... She also told us stories of penangs history, parenting, and her own family with delightful candour and humour. , Chandra was there all the time backing up his beloved Pearly.
We love the both of them
This was such an amazing end to our stay in Penang... Very highly recommended for fun and real fushion food... Away from the heat and dirt of hawkers stands....

From the first inquires on the internet, Pearly was friendly and obliging. We were not sure what to expect, but from our market tour and shopping for cooking ingredients to preparing our Nyonya banquet we had a FANTASTIC time with Pearly and Chandra.

As well as enjoying a great meal we learned several techniques and cooking tips. We would be so bold as to say a trip to Penang would not be complete without a cooking class with Pearly!

More than just visiting the city as tourists we experienced some of the essence and depth of culture Penang has to offer. Pearly and Chandra were more than willing and capable to help and guide us with where we should go and what we should see and do.
At all times Pearly and Chandra created a memorable experience that will stay with us always. We have recommended them to other friends back home and they have also had similar experiences.