Just did the 3hr fish class - far exceeded expectations. They've built a beautiful environment to…read morecook in and the team were very knowledgable and friendly. Included fish prep as well as sauces and cooking skills. If only cooking at home were so effortless and delicious! If you're interested, don't think twice

There are many things you can do with £160. At least the only thing I don't recommend is to buy any…read moreticket with Food at 52. I signed up for a cookery course in the Mid-January. The website showed 30 January as the class date. However, the e-mail confirmation of the payment showed a few weeks later - 1 March in small letter and the course subscription is non-refundable. Change of the date is payable. As it was a computer-decided class date which was not the choice of the customers, I expected a computer-generated date confirmation / reminder / notification a couple of days prior to the course date. The customers have little room of choosing the available and convenient date before and after the payment. I had expected that their booking management system would send automatically a computer-generated reminder to all subscribed students when the course date approaches in a few weeks just like many other courses of the schools. But it did not happen and I received an e-mail asking me to turn up to the venue in the middle of the class on the computer-allocated date. Of course I was not available at work during the business meetings. Food at 52's office explained to me that the subscription to their course is like a 'theatre' ticket. If the student does not show to the theatre, the class fee is non-refundable. So, obviously this is not a cooking course for education but a unilateral performing art like a 'theatre' performance. Although their actual cost incurred due to no-show of one of dozens of students is only variable material costs (fish and other ingredients procured for one person) and a fraction of remuneration to the performing artist or 'tutor' (in total it could be less than one tenth of the course fee), Food at 52 charges £160. In London there are many other professionally-organised cooking schools in terms of course substance as well as course management and organisation like Underground Cooking School, at which I very much enjoyed their professionalism and enthusiasm about teaching.

I love dimsum and wanted to find out where I could learn to make it. Internet research revealed a…read moreschool called Eat Drink Talk. The course was for 3 hours over a Sunday lunch at a cost of £85 There were 10 of us around a swish kitchen table and owner/teacher, Jennifer proceeded to enlighten us with 3 different dimsum styles. To my horror I realised I had forgotten to tell her I don't eat pork. And Chinese food is full of it. So while everyone was chomping away and laughing and enjoying themselves, I was miserably devouring my cocktail stick. The next dimum was made with pork too. The third one was chicken - hooray. I don't eat chicken either. And that's really my experience of the day. I felt like a naughty school girl. I guess it was my own fault though. Jennifer is certainly knowledgeable but I found her mechanical in approach and I wouldn't rush back in a hurry.

My boyfriend and I, looking for something different to do, took a cooking class with Eat Drink…read moreTalk. The class took place in the home of Jennifer, our teacher, around a large counter/table. I liked that the class began with a cocktail and everyone got an apron and cookbook. During our 2 1/2 hour interactive class we learned how to make authentic Thai dishes. We began with a Tom Kha Khai which is a chicken soup in coconut milk. From there we moved to a minced chicken salad in wild betel leaf wraps. The main course was green curry with prawns and snake beans. From course to course, the class cut, chopped, and mixed. During the class we worked in pairs and Jennifer gave tips on knives and where to find various ingredients. At times Jennifer was a bit stiff, but she knew a lot about cooking and had spent time in various parts of the world learning to cook from locals, which I find is always the best way to learn authentic dishes. The best part of class is that we were able to taste what we cooked after each course. The only thing we didn't actively cook was the coconut rice, but she went through each step on how to make it home to perfection. We both really enjoyed the class and have decided to take others so we can learn to make additional dishes, now we just have to recreate the dishes at home to wow our family and friends.

I just attended my first day class at Leiths, who offers courses for professional accreditation as…read morewell as "enthusiasts." The building and location were convenient and work space well laid out. The instructors, Adriana and Andrea, were phenomenal. I really appreciate how they took the time to explain technique and variations that can be applied at home. Also, the staff on hand to help with set-up and clean-up were amazing. They were always available to assist and contributed a great deal to the good experience. -I wish I had someone to prepare all my ingredients and wash dishes at home! My only complaint is related to the temperamental ovens. An oven can make or break all the hard work that goes into preparing a dish. Technique and materials went out the door with uneven, inaccurate ovens. Leiths offers such a wide variety of classes so I'll likely sign-up again...for a class that doesn't require an oven.

I am very impressed I took a baking course at Lieth one…read moremorning and expected to be handful of housewives attending to pass time. To my surprise the class had over 40 people of all ages and professions And the day was so organised, starting with the theory part of baking, the tea, coffee and tasty lunch breaks To the kitchen itself All ingredients were ready on stations, instructors were helpful and washing up was so prompt I remember nothing but perfection of that day and the lovely bread, cheese and jam I was given to take with me home. If I can get myself on another cooking workshop (seems to be very hard to sign in these days all fully booked) I will be the happiest

So having been so inspired by my butchery course, I felt I just had to take my mum who loves…read morecooking and is a brilliant chef to experience this place. We were both blown away. Luke is a natural teacher who is so dedicated to his profession, it really shows. It was my mum's birthday so I signed us up for the sausage making course as a treat. So my mum was running an HOUR late for the course. She doesn't live in London, got all confused and swept up in Arsenal fans. As we were the only ones on the course this time, they waited patiently. And I mean SO patiently I was really touched. They offered me strawberry mousse, a drink, chatted and generally were so so nice about it all. My mum finally arrived and they had a beer out ready to calm her down and told her to take her time. We finally got started 1h30 mins late for a 2hr course and they wouldn't even hear of us doing a shorter lesson. The course itself was sooooo interesting. I learnt loads and loads of tips about how to cook sausages, make sausages, what equipment to get, why it's so much cheaper etc. I came away with a new found respect for the sausage and about 4kilos of suasages between us. I now have a year's supply in my freezer. They sent us the recipes to make them afterwards and lots of tips on how to cook all the stuff we'd made. My mum is now buying a sausage maker and talking about all the sausages she's going to make. My BF is now taking his friends on it. In the end they stayed 2hrs after our course was supposed to end just because they're so dedicated to making it a good experience: THAT'S customer service!! Jen who runs the company and Luke who taught this course were total darlings and I would recommend their lessons to anyone with a slight inclination to cooking.

Terrible customer service; I feel robbed!…read more I booked a knife confidence class for me and my fiancee, but the day before the class, a family emergency arose. We thought this emergency would prevent us from attending the class the following day, so I thoughtfully emailed the Jenius company. They promptly replied and let me know that a last minute cancellation cannot be refunded, and the 180 quid we paid online would be forfeit. So, I decided not to cancel just in case we'd make it. I should have told them explicitly not to cancel anything. By the next day, the family emergency had resolved, so I told Jenius we would, in fact, end up attending the class. Jenius told me that our booking was forfeit and we would not be getting back our money. According to their customer service representative, they already purchased the food and booked the chefs time, which is why they can't do a last minute cancellation. Ok, if that's the case, why couldn't we attend the class that was already paid for? Yes, if you read the fine print on their policy, last minute cancellations do not get refunded. However, in my mind, this was incredibly cheap of Jenius. By my definition, this is thievery. They offered 50% off of a future booking, but that's unacceptable given we already paid them nearly 200 pounds for nothing!!! I'll never give them any more of my money and I recommend avoiding this company at all costs.

I have been always interested in taking a cooking class at La Cucina Caldesi…read more A- as it is very close to where I live B- the school offer a great selection of cooking classes and cuisines C- the classes are very 'very' reasonably priced compared to other cookery schools D- there is always a chance to book a place unlike other 'extremely popular' cookery schools where you have to book months in advance! So for all of the above reasons and because I had some free evenings in December, I attended the festive course of pizzette & cocktails @£55 And I enjoyed it It was very relaxed, organized and the chef was so engaging Th cocktails were another story- very friendly mixologist and everyone was in festive spirit The food was served in large serving plates - and the polenta cake was extra delicious (I baked it) I also enjoyed the Italian banter between the guys at the cookery school although I understood nothing - it was fun time

At Le Cordon Bleu in Bloomsbury, there is a café/bistro inside this French catering academy and I…read moremust say, Le Cordon Bleu's coffees, teas and other hot beverages including sandwiches and cakes are always worth purchasing and I know the prices are expensive and wallet denting but anything that is branded and made by Le Cordon Bleu is always worth the purchase. Le Cordon Bleu also has a shop inside that stocks the company's branded corporate merchandise.

Obviously to anyone in the food industry, the name itself evokes immediate reactions…read more I have a few friends who have studied for the Pattiserie or the Cuisine diplomas and some ambitious and hard working ones among them have even attempted the Grand Diploma which is a combination of both. I even considered a diploma course for myself, but I realised that with the way we relocate every other year, I'm never going to open a restaurant or cafe of my own and I wouldn't really be able to "leverage" a diploma from here. The diploma courses are expensive and what you are paying for is the brand name and the alumni network. From what I have heard, the teaching is very good, but the advice I received was that: if you aren't looking for a hard core career in the food industry and don't need the advantage of a "brand name" you are better off doing cheaper courses at some of the other institutes around London. It's pretty easy to get into the short term courses or single semester course. If they have a space and you have the money and time and a good command over English and a valid visa, you can get in quite easily. The other options are of course their short term courses which could last anywhere between half a day to a month. The great thing about them, is that if you are not sure about whether you want to join or commit to a diploma, they have open days once a month alternating between Pattiserie and Cuisine when you can sign up and attend. They give you - a tour of the facility. - An introduction to Le Cordon Bleu and their courses. - an interactive demo instruction - a question answer session This is really helpful if you just need a little bit more information before taking the plunge

Went along to this class via purchasing through Funzing. Normally the class costs £35 but I got at…read morea cheaper rate via Funzing of £10 (with a further £5 discount) as there was an offer on. I learnt how to make three different types of dumplings. One that contained prawns and two that contained minced pork. We made one type of pastry on the night and the other pastry was prebrought but we had to seal all of our dumplings in different ways. The prawn one was sealed by making s shapes with the dumpling mix and the other was much easier as just pressing together no pattern required and the final one was just like making a cup so again much easier than the first one that involved doing s shapes. The dumplings took approx. 15 mins in steamer to cook. They were all delicious and according to the teacher the hottest ones we will ever taste as when you go to the restaurant time waiter gets to your table they wont be anywhere near as hot as what they should be. So if you want to experience a really fresh hot dumpling then this is the class for you and then you can make them fresh and hot at home. It was also very interesting listening to the teachers stories about Chinese culture and how the Chinese eat dumplings in the morning and for lunchtime in their country but never in the evening. I highly recommend anyone to go as was a very interesting night and a tasty one. You can also buy the dried ingredients such as flour, mushrooms etc after the class to make them at home for a reasonable price. The class lasts 3.5 hours and you will end up eating around 9pm. My only tip though if you do book is try to get it as a lower price of £35 as I feel that price is a bit steep.

Kitchen Queen is a great way to take cooking classes. The classes are both a lot of fun and very…read moreconvenient! I absolutely loved the class itself with a great teacher and believe there are currently no other cookery schools that not only come to your house to deliver the class but also let you specify any dishes you have always wanted to know how to cook. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and would always highly recommend the service to anyone!

Kitchen Queen is such a wonderful idea. Booked a lesson really easily via the website…read more(http://www.kitchenqueen.co.uk) . The lesson was completely tailored to our needs (we have a fussy family so this was great!) & very quickly we given a lovely list of recipe ideas to choose from for our lesson. The lesson itself was great fun & very informative.....have already booked our second lesson & also considering buying gift vouchers for certain friends who could use a little help in the kitchen. Wonderful stuff!