Five stars for a first class experience!…read more I was in town with a girlfriend for the Rock-n-Roll Dublin Half Marathon and we wanted to take a cooking class to become more intimately acquainted with the local cuisine. We found this cooking school on-line, and felt that the availability/variety of classes, price point, and location would be worth the investment. We hopped onto the Green Line and traveled to the last stop (Howth) and walked 5 minutes from the train station to the Deerpark Golf & Spa, where the cookery classes were held. The cooking school is located in a beautiful rustic castle in Howth. The class is ~2 hours long, followed by a sit down dinner with your classmates. There were 9 total participants and we made four fish courses (mackerel, cod, haddock, skate wing) and sides. We made several preparations which was a great way to learn different methods for preparing fish: pan fried, en papillote (steamed in own juices), and baked. Chef Eleanor was very knowledgeable, and patient; answering all of our questions while keeping the cooking service moving along. Everyone got a chance to participate in every component of cooking: from skinning the fish, cutting fresh herbs and peeling cucumbers for the relish, to dicing peppers, pounding herbs in the pestle/mortar for the spice rub and putting the potatoes thru the ricer for the olive oil mash; it was all great fun!!! When the cooking ended at 9, we sat down and feasted on the food we prepared; we killed several bottles of white and red wine, and our food was served with fresh bread and salad. The only downside was that Chef Eleanor wasn't able to dine with us, but all in all, this was a wonderful experience and I would gladly come to another class; the olive oil mash recipe alone made it well worth the time :-) Definitely worth a trip if you're ever in the city!

Went here last night for a work team building cookery class. I would highly recommend anyone coming…read morehere to learn the basic skills of cooking or I believe they have courses specialising in cuisines aswell. On arrival we were welcomed with wine and some DELICIOUS finger food. We ate the beautiful food we prepared out in the courtyard and even got a tour of the lush herb garden in the beautiful surroundings! With the sun shining, I felt like I was in France.

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.

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!

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.

Oonagh's Kitchen is one of those hidden gems you wish you had known about before. Whenever I go…read moreaway, I try to take some local cooking classes ... and here is this incredible den of flavour, on my doorstep! Oonaghs cooking classes are delivered in a very accessible way - no fuss or tom foolery - she is the real deal. I heard someone locally refer to her food as "Like a high class Avoca, only better...." ... and I can only but agree! The kitchen itself is custom built with the biggest island I have ever seen! I learned a huge amount from her in a very short space of time and am looking forward to going back again to learn new tricks and stretch my foodie skills a bit more! Highly recommended as a treat to yourself, or a place to go with a group of mates (Hen parties anyone? ... oh dear....)

Another shining beacon of all that is right about Dublin at the moment. Situated next to two closed…read moreand boarded up old shop fronts, but across from such funksters as the Bernard Shaw and Hang Tough, is Picado. Thoroughly modern, designed with clean lines, bright colours, and a distinct lack of the traditional Mexican decor we've come to expect, yet still just as inviting. Lily and her gang import everything sold in the shop directly from Mexico. Handpicked, thought through and tested for quality, this is the real deal. I got myself some Luchito honey and salsa with rare smoked Mexican chillies. My Lord. It's good. The honey also has chillies in it. It's ridiculous, I've gone through half a jar in two days. They also do small cooking classes in here which I've yet to try, but they could be anything from salsas to tomales to tortillas etc. If you're in the neighbourhood, make sure to call in. Lilly is only bleedin lovely to chat with, and if you're having a dinner party and want to be a bit smug about it, she'll sort you out with some serious ingredients and instructions for them too.

There's nothing better than being half Mexican, living across the world from Mexico, and living a…read morestone's throw from a Mexican culinary shop! There are salsas, tortillas, hot sauces, chicharones, masa harina, and lots more of this and that that one would want for cooking it up Mexican style. Also, there are classes! All this in a lovely, quaint, and super clean neighborhood shop. The owner is from Mexico and she knows her stuff. And, she's super friendly too. Go on in and chat it up with her. She'll answer any of your questions about the sweet eats she has on her shelves. Now, my compadres, if you've got your geography down, we're -not- a stone's throw from Mexico so the importing prices will reflect that. But, if you love cooking Mexican food, these gems are worth the sticker price and they come straight from their Madre Land. My Rick Bayless cookbook thanks Picado for shelving the goods!

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.

Pure awesomeness! I ordered a birthday cake for my girlfriend. I asked for a pizza shaped cake as…read moreshe likes pizza a lot. Delivered on time on Saturday, the result was simply fantastic! We loved the taste and the choice of ingredients that make the cake tasty but, at the same time, surprisingly light. Everybody at the party got double the portion. Simply a success! Definitely recommended for customized cakes for any occasions.