Excellent cookery school in central Dublin…read more Tim and Vanessa have set up the benchmark for cookery schools in Dublin. All levels catered for, super equipment, and good practical teaching. Looking forward to Jacks meat smoking course in Feb. Just finished the Meat curing and smoking course with my son, William Jr, we both had a great day, the enthusiasm from everyone we met in Cooks Academy was so apparent it was thoroughly infectious. We produced salami, smoked duck magret, smoked mackerel, trout grav lax, pancetta. The amount we covered was amazing, and really engaging, thank you Jack, a great day.

To be fair, I've only had one experience of Cooks Academy but it was such an overwhelmingly…read morepositive one, I had to add it and review it. I had received a voucher for a Chinese Cookery class (methinks there may have ben an ulterior motive involved:D ) so last night, I headed into town to get my cook on. The class ran from 6.30 - 9.00 and over the course of the evening, 5 dishes were demonstrated and we cooked 2. They started off by showing us how to make spare ribws. Well, it wasn't so much the ribs that they demonstrated but the sauce to coat them in. Having tasted the ribs (and wanting to go back for the last few), it boded well for the rest of the evening. Next up was sweet and sour duck with mango. "Uh oh", thought I as it sounded like something I probably wouldn't be able to make. The tutor (Dave Rice) made it look so easy to make but the proof of the pudding would come when we attempted to make it ourselves. So off we went with our recipe sheet and pulled together the ingredients we'd need for this wonderful form of alchemy. So the ginger, saki, soy sauce etc was measured out, the duck breast crisped up and marinated and so on....until 20 mins later we started to tuck into our creations. "Holy f**k....I made that? Really?" Dave, the tutor, and his two assistants/co-chefs were on hand as we had set about our cooking and were always available to help out or advise or even just to find ingredients that had gone walkabout. They were so friendly and helpful that it all seemed to easy to be true. Anyway, after that it was back to the demo table for some beef with oyster sauce. So we were shown how to put this together, how to make the marinate and so on. He also showed us how to cook rice, which sounds trivial but I've tasted too many DIY rice jobs that tasted like they'd come out of an Ambrosia tin to know it's not an easy thing to do (and I won't even delve into my own efforts). So off we went again, to create dishes that, to me, tasted good. Same again, they were always on hand to help out, put us at ease, relax and not be afraid to cook as can often be the case. After that, he showed us how to use leftover rice to make a really tasty egg-fried rice and offered a couple of tips on food hygiene in relation to rice. The final dish to be demonstrated was pak choi with onion and red cabbage topped with roasted cashew nuts. Another top, top dish. It wasn't something we'd time to try there but I definitely will. Confidence boosted and feeling like I went from beginner to 9th Dan Black Belt over the two and a half hours, I'll be off to the Asian Market on Drury Street at the weekend to buy a load of stuff. I will be back to Cooks Academy. And I'lll be recommending it to anyone I know that likes to cook or would like to. There was a good cross section last night with some being reasonably confident cooks and others not even confident that they could make toast. Yet everyone came away feeling like they could cook better than they had at 6pm yesterday! A1 Sharon!

We recently tried Alix Gardners cooking class and here's how it went -…read more As a group of 11, we arrive at a beautiful old Georgian house on Wateeloo road,apon arrival we where welcomed by the amazing smell of food coming from the old, vintage style kitchen. As we took our seats around the massive wooden table Alix introduced herself and gave us our Menus for the meal we would be cooking. The menus included full cooking guide lines and ingredients. Alix made the cookery lesson feel very relaxed. Whilst listening to her explain and demonstrate how we would be making our main course we where treated to mini pancake with salmon and cream cheese and a glass of wine! We spent 2 hours making Moroccan chicken and chocolate brownies from start to finish, the evening was so much fun. We finished off by having a lovely meal and drinks (BYO) and chatting around the table!!

I attended the cooking class as part of a work event. In advance of the lesson, we were able to…read moreselect 2 recipes to practice as part of our class..... I thought this was a great idea, there is nothing worse than going to a class to learn something you would never cook at home upon arrival we were greeted with a glass of wine, for the remainder of the event we consumed our BYO drinks. The recipes were surprisingly easy to make which meant the atmosphere was very casual and relaxed.... We were put into pairs and worked on our masterpieces, at the end, we were all able to enjoy what we had created as part of a sit down meal. Would definitely recommend this to others as a group activity, we were a group of 11, I wouldn't recommend a group much bigger than that.

That's the perfect night out for your team or if you are looking for something different with a…read moregroup of friends: an Italian cooking course We booked here for 18 people and had so much fun learning to make homemade tagliatelle, a chocolate cake and kinda pizza dough roll stuffed with veggies, meat and mozzarella at The Italian School of Cooking. Thank you Giuseppe & team for a great interactive class!

I booked a homemade pizza class today for my friend and Myself and we both enjoyed it. The class…read morewas fun, we learned so much and the chief was hilarious. Every thing was great but one thing, the fact that my friend and I are vegetarians and even though we were provided with plates of meat and vegetables, each station has 5 working together so every one will try working on the same dough. And i couldn't stand the meat or taste what we made at the end because every one was making meatballs for pizza bianca with their hands then they will work on the dough. Of course we didnt just get one dough but we made 4 pizza and each were different and we all had to work together on each pizza to learn the techniques. Anyway, It would be great if they had a station only for vegetarians so we don't have to worry about the meat.

I got a voucher for a day course ( petite patisserie) from 9 am to 4 pm and it was the best gift…read moreever. I enjoyed the experience so much and I definitely learned a lot. Starting from basic stuff and difficult on how to make desserts. We made different one like ; sticky cinnamon and peacan minis) , lemon drizzle cake with poppy seeds, Chocolate hazelnut cake, Ganache, Mini Tartlets with lemon curd and italian Maringue, Coconut tuiles , passionfruit mousse and Vanilla Crème brulee. We also had a delicious lunch on a big table and had a nice chat with the other participants. It is so much fun and the chef is a real expert. #DublinShopsLocal

HIghly highly recommend the Dublin Cookery School in Blackrock. I recently took the intensive 1…read moremonth course and was more than impressed with the course and the instructors. Expect many guest appearances by top michelin starred chefs (My class included Oliver Dunne of Bon Apetite in Malahide, Matthew Albert of Nahm in London, and Sunil Gai of Ananda in Dundrum)---there are only 6 or so Michelin star restaurants in all of Ireland so to get this caliber of guests is quite impressive. Head instructor and owner Lynda Booth is extremely passionate about food and it shows in her teaching. The curriculum for the 4 week course was varied and covered everything from french bread-making to mastering butter sauces to filleting a John Dory to making the perfect hot lemon soufflé. Every day you make 3 or 4 courses and get to eat the results during lunch. It's an intensive course and by day 2, we were all making bearnaise sauce with confidence---I know now how to bring back butter sauces once they split! yes it's very pricey, but considering the quality of the instructors and the types of food you're making it's well worth the cost.

Went right before my flight home to the US and I greatly enjoyed this little cafe! I found it as a…read morerecommendation on tiktok and was a short walk from where I was staying at Trinity College. The menu was the perfect size, the seating was comfortable outside on a cool July day, and the food was delicious. My matcha was so foamy and earthy and while I had to add some sugar to make it sweet to my liking, I really enjoyed it! Then I got their version of beans on toast and it was very good- fresh, yummy bread, perfectly pickled onions and a runny poached egg. My big complaint was the chorizo. It was impossible to cut and even too gummy to bite into. I ended up not eating it which was so frustrating and disappointing! The bite I was able to get was delicious, but so chewy and way too big because I couldnt cut/bite it properly! My other complaint My other complaint was our water. In their defense, we were there for a packed saturday morning breakfast hour and our table was a bit tucked away, but even the tables right next to us got personable and timely treatment. We waited over 10 minutes to be asked if we even needed water. After we ordered our food and drinks and the drinks came, I asked for sugar. He asked if I wanted brown or white and I said white. 5 minutes later, after witnessing him visit a couple other tables multiple times, I still had no sugar. I ended up getting up and going to the bakery/pay section and when he saw me coming he grabbed the sugar and met me at the door and said "I was just coming to bring this to you." And it was brown sugar! Even though I had asked for white. A simple mistake anyone can make in a stressful time, but contextualized by what I felt to be at the neglected table, I was a bit peeved. Despite this, I actually would recommend this restaurant. My food was delicious, the staff actually seemed great and I think we just caught the brunt of it, and they have some classically Irish breakfasts for tourists and we were among the few tourists so if you're Irish, you likely won't find this annoying and filled with too many tourists. Bummed I didn't try their pastries, so I'm excited to go back to do so!

this place was a vibe. we absolutely downed this food. everything was so freshly made and the set…read moreup was beautiful. i can't wait to come back here

This is a cute little pub off the beaten path of the Liberties section of Dublin. I sat at the bar…read moreand it didn't disappoint. Service was friendly and efficient. I got the bone marrow and fish of sea bream. I washed down both with a pint of Guinness. I thought it was a bit pricey, but would recommend a try.

First, reservations a must! We lucked out and got same day at the 5:15 sitting…read more Very cozy, home like setting. Two levels. Noise level was pretty low considering the restaurant was full. You are required to order three items from the menu, which is no problem with all the delicious options. One of our dining guests got the scallop starter and kind enough to share a bite. It was fantastic. I had the deviled egg. Nice but not over the top. In hindsight, I'd would do double scallops. Round two was marinated tomatoes with ricotta cheese and peaches. A very good options for two of our guests. I had the Beef cheeks and ox tail in a Parker House roll with bone marrow gravy. Wow! Delicious! And another guest had the bone marrow with chimichurri and toasted brown bread. Fantastic! For mains, one couple shared the beef specialty, a sirloin roast cooked a perfect medium rare. My wife had the White Pork which is a thick cut pork chop. Very good, well seasoned as well as moist and tender. I had the pork schnitzel. While good, it was pretty basic. In hindsight, should have gone for the halibut. Wine list gave you ample opportunities to select from French wines and a few Italian. With one American. Would like to see this area of the restaurant expanded a bit. All in all a wonderful dining experience.

In the beginning there was a mixed feeling about all the Polish shops that were opening up around…read moreDublin. Maybe people felt threatened by these changes. Now it seems as though most people, locals and foreigners alike, have adopted Polski Sklep. This chain of shops that specializes in Polish food gets a lot of business from all kinds of people. In my opinion, it's one of the best places to buy bread, sausage, herbal tea and fruit juice. It's also fun to root around and discover foods that you might not be accustomed to. For example, the Polski Sklep on Talbot Street offers a great variety of biscuits and cakes. The sweets are very sugary and go nice with a cup of Barry's tea. Variety is the spice of life!

At this stage you can get Polish food even in Tesco, but there is no place you'll get more variety…read morethan in Polski Sklep. What I like most about these shops is that you can get a lot of continental food there, not just Polish specialities. You can usually find some German delicatessen as well and if you're really lucky they'll have Milka chocolate in stock! And best of all, most of their foods are a lot cheaper than anywhere else. The labels might look a bit funny, but most of the food in here is actually pretty normal staples such as bread, juice and soups. And surprisingly, they also have Sauerkraut...