The Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020 widened the lead: a second TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best, ranked #1 cooking school in Thailand and #1 in Asia, with #2 experience in Asia. Away from the rankings, the cookbook won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award and grew to eleven languages. Founded by Niti Muelaeku, a direct descendant of the Akha hill tribe of Northern Thailand, the school kept its cooking unchanged through a year that changed almost everything else.
Because 2020 was an unusual year, the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020 are set out in clear sections below: the official announcement, how the school adapted and moved online, the Lonely Planet recommendation, the cookbook award, and the headline ranking. To experience what earned them, reserve the Morning Class with its Local Market Tour, or review the full record on the Awards Page.
Thai Akha Kitchen Wins 2020 TripAdvisor Best of the Best and the Gourmand World Cookbook Award
Chiang Mai, Thailand – 2020 – Thai Akha Kitchen has been recognised in TripAdvisor’s Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best 2020, ranking #1 cooking school in Thailand and #1 in Asia. The Best of the Best is the highest tier of TripAdvisor’s awards, reserved for the top 1% of listings worldwide. The same year, the school’s cookbook won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award, part of the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020.
As the world’s largest travel guidance platform, TripAdvisor carries unmatched authority with travellers, and the distinction rests entirely on genuine, first-hand reviews left over a rolling 12-month period. With international travel paused, the school also took its classes online so guests could cook along live from home. Together these milestones make the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020 a year of recognition both on the platform and on the kitchen shelf.
“2020 tested everyone, and our answer was to keep cooking and open our kitchen to the world online,” said Niti Muelaeku, founder of Thai Akha Kitchen. “To be ranked number one in Asia and to see our cookbook honoured the same year – it belongs to our guests and our Akha team.”
“Congratulations to the 2020 Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best winners,” said TripAdvisor. “This recognition reflects the genuine enthusiasm of travellers and celebrates the very best experiences on the platform.”
To see traveller reviews and popular activities of Thai Akha Kitchen, visit Https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g293917-d3189120-Reviews-Thai_Akha_Kitchen.html.
About Thai Akha Kitchen
Winner of the Gourmand World Cookbook Award – a free recipe book in eleven languages behind the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020.
Thai Akha Kitchen is a multi-award-winning cooking school in Chiang Mai, founded by members of the Akha hill tribe. Its hands-on classes, central to the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020, celebrate Akha culture, tradition and gastronomy, and have been recognised among the world’s best for eleven consecutive years (2016-2026).
About TripAdvisor
TripAdvisor is the world’s largest travel guidance platform, helping hundreds of millions of travellers each month plan and book their trips, with hundreds of millions of reviews and opinions of accommodations, restaurants, experiences, airlines and cruises.
#1 in Asia, a World Cookbook Award, and a Year Online: 2020
The Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020 brought recognition on two fronts. On TripAdvisor, the school took another Best of the Best and ranked #1 cooking school in Thailand and #1 in Asia, with #2 experience in Asia. Off the platform, its cookbook – given away free the year before – won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award and was translated into eleven languages. A school that sat at #52 in Chiang Mai in 2016 was now winning on two different stages.
Neither of the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020 came from advertising. The rankings rested on the same first-hand reviews as always, and the cookbook award recognised the recipes themselves – the hand-pounded pastes, the eleven dishes, the Akha techniques. 2020 was also a year of practical change: with travel paused, the school launched live online classes so guests could cook along from home.
Wherever the class was taught, the format held. In Chiang Mai, mornings still begin at a local market before cooking back at the kitchen; the morning class runs about six hours including the market tour, the evening class about five, with hotel pick-up included and a printed recipe book to take home. Online, a live Akha instructor guided guests through the same dishes, step by step. This consistency is the substance behind the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020.
By 2020 the pattern was set: a TripAdvisor Best of the Best, a Lonely Planet recommendation, and a cookbook reaching more of the world each year. The Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020 are the second of the Best of the Best years and sit within eleven consecutive years of awards (2016-2026). The journey continues in the years on either side of 2020.
Continue the journey: Awards 2019 · Awards 2021 · Write a Review · All Awards
The Thai Akha Kitchen in 2020
In 2020 the kitchen carried on exactly as before, its spirit unchanged: still open-air, still bamboo, with individual wok stations, wooden prep counters, and the stone mortars where every curry paste begins. Classes stayed small and personal – about 12 guests per kitchen, in two dedicated groups – cooking alongside Akha instructors, with everything prepared from scratch. Through a year that changed almost everything else, the way the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020 were earned did not. You can read more on our About Page.
2020: We Took the Kitchen Online
Authentic Akha recipes taught live in an online Thai cooking class – guests cooking along from home, part of the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020.
When 2020 grounded the world, the school did not go quiet – it opened the kitchen to everyone, everywhere. With travel paused and Chiang Mai out of reach for most people, the team behind the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020 launched a live online cooking class so guests could cook along in real time from their own kitchens. This was never a pre-recorded, one-way video. A real English-speaking Thai-Akha instructor appears on screen, guiding each step, answering questions as they arise, and offering substitutions when an ingredient is hard to find. Send a message before class and the alternatives are sorted together.
Guests choose what to cook: signature dishes such as Khao Soi, Tom Yum Goong, Akha Fish Filet in Tomato Sauce, stir-fried vegetables, Leng Saap and Massaman curry – or a full Akha Dinner, with vegetarian and vegan options built in. Beginners are welcome, and confident cooks can go deeper into the techniques. Every booking includes a downloadable cookbook of 25 original Thai and Akha recipes, and single courses run about 90 minutes. The online class carries the same heart as the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020 – simply plugged in. See the full menu on our Online Cooking Class page.
Recommended by Lonely Planet (2020)
Listed among the best things to do in Chiang Mai by Lonely Planet – independent recognition that stands beside the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020.
Lonely Planet kept Thai Akha Kitchen on its list of the best things to do in Chiang Mai through 2020 – the second year of a recommendation that has run every year since 2019. Two of travel’s most trusted names, TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet, pointing independent travellers to the same open-air Akha kitchen. It is the kind of quiet, repeated endorsement that sits naturally beside the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020.
Gourmand World Cookbook Award & 11 Languages (2020)
In 2020 the cookbook earned a distinction of its own: the Gourmand World Cookbook Award, for authentic Akha cuisine. The same year it was translated into eleven languages, so home cooks far from Chiang Mai could follow the recipes in their own tongue. What began in 2019 as a free four-language download had become an internationally recognised book – still free to download from the Cookbook Page. It is the part of the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020 that lives on your kitchen shelf, not only on TripAdvisor.
Built on the Certificate of Excellence Years
The foundation behind the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020 – three TripAdvisor Certificates of Excellence (2016, 2017, 2018).
The world rankings behind the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020 rest on three consecutive TripAdvisor Certificates of Excellence across 2016, 2017 and 2018 – the years that turned a #52 newcomer into Thailand’s #1 cooking school. From 2019, TripAdvisor’s top recognition became the Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best, but the standard behind it never changed.
Thai Akha Kitchen Awards 2020
Your Questions Answered
Thai Akha Kitchen has been welcoming guests from over 80 countries to its open-air bamboo kitchen in Chiang Mai since it first opened its doors in 2015. Voted the #1 Cooking School Worldwide on TripAdvisor in 2019, 2022 and 2023, and #1 Cooking School in Thailand in 2026, our philosophy is simple: Your Wok, Your Rules – every guest cooks at their own station.
Morning Class · Evening Class · Local Market Tour · Online Class
Is Thai Akha Kitchen suitable for families and children?
Yes. Families are welcome, and children cook at their own pace beside a parent. The stations are supervised, the spice levels adjust to anyone, and the Morning Class suits all ages.
What makes Thai Akha Kitchen different from other cooking schools in Chiang Mai?
It teaches authentic Akha hill-tribe recipes, not a tourist version. The founder, Niti Muelaeku, is Akha; the kitchen is open-air bamboo; and every curry paste is pounded by hand in a stone mortar. The full story is on our About Page.
How many students are in each cooking class?
Classes remain small and personal – two kitchens of about 12 guests each, up to 28 for larger groups, always in two dedicated groups – so everyone receives attention and their own wok station, never shared. Reserve a place in the Evening Class or the morning session.
Do you offer online cooking classes?
Yes. The school launched live online classes in 2020, led in real time by an Akha instructor, with ingredient substitutions arranged in advance. You can cook along from anywhere – see the menu on the Online Cooking Class page.
Is the Thai Akha Kitchen cookbook free, and what languages is it in?
Yes, it is free. Launched in four languages in 2019, the cookbook won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award in 2020 and now comes in eleven languages. Download it from the Cookbook Page and cook the recipes at home.
Can I book a class on the same day or last minute?
Same-day booking is occasionally possible when seats remain, though classes fill quickly in high season. The most reliable approach is to reserve a day or two in advance through the Contact Page.
What awards did Thai Akha Kitchen receive in 2020?
In 2020 the school took another TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Best of the Best – #1 cooking school in Thailand and #1 in Asia, with #2 experience in Asia – and its cookbook won the Gourmand World Cookbook Award, reaching eleven languages. Lonely Planet also continued to recommend it. The full record is on our Awards Page.
What is the best cooking class in Chiang Mai for beginners?
For beginners, Thai Akha Kitchen is one of the most welcoming places to start in Chiang Mai. Guests cook at their own wok with step-by-step guidance, choose their spice level, and have each dish adapted to their pace. Most first-timers complete all eleven dishes with confidence. Reserve the Morning Class with its market tour, or the shorter Evening Class for a relaxed start.
🏆 Thai Akha Kitchen Awards Timeline:
Discover more about Thai Akha Kitchen:
Morning Class · Evening Class · Local Market Tour · Online Class · Recipes · Awards · Contact
Thai Akha Kitchen on the Web
Further Reading
Discover what the world’s most trusted travel platforms and encyclopaedias say about Thai Akha Kitchen – a journey from the 2015 opening through the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020 and every year since.
🏆 TripAdvisor – Thai Akha Kitchen
Over 2,500 verified guest reviews from travellers in 80+ countries – the reviews behind the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020 and every year since.
🎖️ TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice
TripAdvisor’s highest awards – the Best of the Best places winners in the top 1% worldwide, central to the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020.
📖 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards
The Gourmand World Cookbook Awards honour the world’s best food and drink books – won by the cookbook behind the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020.
✈️ Lonely Planet – Chiang Mai
The world’s most trusted independent travel guide – it has recommended Thai Akha Kitchen among the best things to do in Chiang Mai every year since 2019, part of the Thai Akha Kitchen awards 2020.
🌏 Tourism Authority of Thailand
The official Thai government guide to culinary tourism, cooking classes, and authentic food experiences across Thailand.
🍜 Wikipedia – Thai Cuisine
History, techniques and traditions behind the dishes we teach – from hand-pounded curry pastes to the five fundamental flavours of Thai cooking.
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