chef Paolo Monti's cucina italiana cooking school — Local services in Lucca

We paid to participate in a cooking class of chef Paulo’s favourite dishes. This included approx 7 different dishes that we would be cooking. I didn’t not enjoy the experience as we did not cook anything. On arrival we were taken to our table and offered some water. When chef was ready we met him in the kitchen to start cooking. During the experience we “cooked”: cut 6 cherry tomatoes, chopped half a carrot and half celery stalk, chopped 1 red onion, squeezed a lemon, whisked some egg and cream, stirred a pot a few times, poured semifreddo mousse into patties. Following these activities we did no further cooking and majority of the time involved watching the chef cook all the dishes. Conversation was not following and we did not get many tips or tricks. Chef seemed uninterested in us and also cooked his own dinner while taking the class. The amount of food that we made was quite a lot and I felt that some of the dishes were actually being prepared for the dinner service (as this activity is based at a restaurant). I left confused as the reviews are rated highly, on a further look of the reviews I see that some people have experienced the same type of issues we experienced. I feel like I paid to work for free in the kitchen. I would not recommend this activity. If there is room for improvement I would suggest cutting down the amount of dishes and allowing participants to cook the food by providing their own work station with...

Chef Paolo conducts a fantastic cooking school outside of Lucca Italy. During March 2019 my wife and I participated in his one week cooking school. His teaching area is well stocked with up to date kitchen equipment. During the daily four hour class one of his restaurant staff was present and cleaned up after us. As Chef Paolo told us since we were on vacation we should not have to clean up in the kitchen. This is typical of the care and concern Chef gives to his clients.

The apartment accommodation was terrific with daily housekeeping cleanup. Breakfast was included and the warm croissants delivered by the Chef were a nice welcome to the day. And his restaurant serves wonderful food to the local population for lunch and dinner. Some of the dishes on the restaurant menu we prepared as part of the course.

Chef Paolo speaks fluent English and is very entertaining during the cooking classes. We had a wonderful time learning to cook in the Tuscan way. After our return home we invited friends for Cooking Italian Nights at our home and cooked the delicious food and discussed our amazing experience with Chef Paolo.

I highly recommend Chef Paolo and would...

I did the Fish and Seafood Cooking Class at Chef Paolo Monti Cooking School. I learnt so much and enjoyed every minute of it. It has given me the confidence to cook with some ingredients that I have never really cook with before.

My husband does most of the Italian cooking at home. While I cook Indian (and other) foods. But when I saw the details of the course, I found it hard to resist. And having done it, I cannot recommend it enough.

Chef Paolo was absolutely fantastic, with a wealth of experience and knowledge.

He took me through some of the basics; then we cooked some of the best fish dishes I have ever had. We smelled, we tasted, checked for textures as we cooked and enjoyed a feast afterwards.

And of course we chatted. He is well travelled and even remembered a few Hindi words. We compared notes on some of our favourite food markets and shared food adventures. I left with a full...