By far the best cooking day and class every. I attended the meat and poultry class and it was…read moreamazing! I've now done classes in Paris, Barcelona and London and the one at the Cookery School is by far the best!!!!! Ill Be taking more classes when I return to London

I attended a half day course 'The ultimate meat and poultry'. Surpassed expectations on all counts…read more The cookery school is centrally located, just off Regent St.Surprisingly compact inside but everything worked well due to great organisation of the space and activities. We were welcomed with freshly baked caraway seed cakes and cheese scones, still warm from the oven with tea or coffee. Our group of ten budding cooks was split into 3 groups. We had around ten dishes to make so each group did three / four dishes. The chef leading the class was excellent. Too many dishes to describe here but highlights included guinea fowl (a favourite of mine) braised in red wine and port, spatchcock poussin, lamb stew, duck with orange and roast beef with Yorkshire pud. We all worked on fully deboning a chicken which we then stuffed with a mushroom mixture, tied up like a burrito (I think ballotine is the correct term) and took home to eat. I can report it was delicious. On the side we also made two rice dishes and creme caramels. Finally, after a 10 am start and solid demo, concentrated prep and cooking, we reached 3pm. The table was set and the group sat down to eat what became a 10 course tasting menu. Tired and weak with hunger we ate and ate sampling each dish with a nice glass or two of wine to accompany. As well as being interesting and educational, it was enjoyable and learned lots of new tips and cookery techniques. It was busy and intense but not too much and pitched to the group who all had a reasonable level of cooking knowledge. I have the recipe cards and slowly working through some of the dishes we made...not too bad so far. Would definitely return for another class.

I was shopping for a unique cooking class experience as a birthday gift to my friends. After…read morebrowsing through many cookery school offerings nothing seemed to either match my friend's tastes or was promising to be a personal enough experience. I was quite relieved and excited when I found Old Town Cooks through a recommendation. A cooking class in your own home with no hassle, no shopping (and no cleaning), just enjoying preparing and eating incredibly tasty food - that's what I was looking for! The chef, Chris, is a real pro. We worked out a 3-course menu based on produce in season. On the day of the class Chris brought everything with him down to tissues and dishwasher soap. We learned a lot about knife technique, opening scallops, making your own brioche, baking egg yolks (delicious!), making apple salsa and coconut milk sauce, and much more. And, boy, was that one of the tastiest dinners I've ever had! True unique experience. My friends are still talking about this unforgettable evening.

I wholeheartedly recommend cooking lessons with Old Town Cooks. From being an absolute novice,…read moreafter just 4 lessons I now have a whole repertoire of dishes up my sleeve. Chris from Old Town Cooks is an excellent teacher and unbelievable cook (he works in some of the best restaurants and with the best chefs in London). The lessons are fun and are very good value (especially because my wife and I ended every lesson with a 3 course michelin starred quality meal!). I had previously thought about going for group cooking lessons, but it was so much better learning with my own equipment and having Chris come to the house. Overall, an excellent experience which has given me much more confidence in my cooking.

I've been baking breads for quite a long time now, but I haven't been able to be very consistent in…read moreterms of producing equal quality loaves: sometimes my dough fails to rise; sometimes it rises too much; sometimes it's underbaked when I cut into it and sometimes the flavour is off. I was looking at my favourite foodie-website here in London (Edible Experiences) and there I cam across Maria's Baking Lab. I spent some time browsing the website and then signed up for one of the bread baking classes: The fundamentals of bread baking. The class was lead by Emmanuel Hadjiandreou, an artisan baker from heart. I really enjoyed his teaching style, which is hands-on and very informative; each step in the baking process is explained and he tells you exactly why you do this and what the processes behind it are. The course lasted from about 6pm to 9:30pm and during that time we baked a wholemeal bread, some wholemeal bread rolls and a soda bread. For me, most of the stuff that we did wasn't anything new, but what I really enjoyed was learning some good (kneading) techniques that will make sure my future loaves will be of better consistency. I can recommend this class to anyone and I'm now also eyeballing with the upcoming sourdough classes...my sourdough bread baking attempts have been even less successful and I'd really love to get a handle on this technique. (I grew up in Germany and sourdough breads are just a fundamental way of living there.)

Anything that has food involved in it makes Shrim a very happy girl, although I am not too sure…read moreabout the lab bit (hated chemistry in school :p). The Baking Lab hosted a team building workshop for us where we had to bake our own bagels and pizza (woohoo). Located in a very mysterious building where you literally need to walk through an alley way and then walk up some old stairways, it almost made me feel like I am on the sets of a James Bond film! We went in and were greeted very warmly by the chef there who was teaching us how to BAKE! :) We were taught how to knead pizza dough and bagel dough which was something very new to me, there are so many things that we think we know but in reality we don't! For example I had no idea that if the dough starts sticking all you need to do is leave it for 15 minutes and then get back to it instead of adding extra flour to it. There are so many techniques of folding the dough as well which were very interesting. I also had absolutely no idea that Bagels need to be boiled in water before baking and that is what gives it the texture and guess what boiling the bagels was so therapeutic, could do that for hours! I am not giving out anymore secrets because you should try it out yourself -- go get down and dirty and covered in flour! Verdict : Absolutely loved it and can't wait to go back again to learn some new trade secrets!

A friend of mine treated me to a macaroon lesson with Fabulicious Baking School…read more Everything is provided, so all you need to bring with you is an apron and box to take your goodies home (if you don't have them you can buy/hire for a small fee). Latifa is a lovely, patient teacher. My group was 3 including myself so we got lots of attention. We first made our fillings as these need to set. I made an indulgent white chocolate and vanilla ganache. Then we were given a demonstration on how to make the macaroon mix and how to pipe. Then it was our turn. The making was much easier than the piping, I need to practice! Once all the baking and cooling was done, it was time of piping in the filling. I really enjoyed the class and I now feel more confident to give macaroons a go on my own. The kitchen is very well equipped and Latifa makes the class very relaxed and is a font of knowledge and skills. There is a great selection of classes on offer, I am very keen to book another!

If you need a copper preserving pan, a bean slicer, a macaroon mat or a dried chilli grinder, this…read moreis the place for you. It is literally kitchen porn. It's not huge, but it is packed with everything you could ever want in a kitchen, and a few implements that even I was unsure of what to do with! The staff are extremely friendly and helpful and it's almost impossible to escape without having bought anything. I wandered in with a (guy) friend who pooh-poohed all kitchenware, and yet even he walked out with a Japanese carving knife at £60... They even get stock in for you if you ask them to. I feel a bit bad, as I asked them to get in a bean slicer, only to immediately find one elsewhere. The 10 bean slicers sitting forlornly on their hook stare at me every time I go in...I don't feel too bad though, I have since bought a jam funnel, some olive wood spoons and a special cleaning brush for sweetcorn.

From the owner: Borough Kitchen provides everything the at-home chef needs from the kitchen to the table. We…read moreprovide what we believe are the Best of the Best and, where there is a high-quality value alternative, the Best of Value. Our selection includes cookware, bakeware, tableware and barware, as well as a selection of electricals. Brands we carry include: Mauviel, All-Clad, Staub, DeBuyer, Paderno, Lodge, Kai, Wusthof, Zwiesel, Peugeot, Serax, Leonardo, and Rosle. Looking around the world with a focus on quality, functionality and durability, we seek to find not just the best brands, but the products they are best at. From these, we rigorously test and select the best products in each category. In store and online, we then share with you the reasons why we love the products we've chosen. Our services include: gift cards, wedding & gift registry, personal shopping, click & collect from our website, and tax-free shopping.

Tasty, tasty cake. This place offers some of the best cake around look out for the brownies, these…read moreare the best! I am sure this place is going to turn me into a diabetic but at least I will die happy! They also have great coffee and breakfast pots containing yogurt, fruit and granola and an odd fruit juice and fruit compote. With 2 for 3 pounds, its a breakfast bargain!