Food at 52 Cookery School — Local services in London

The Complete Cookery Skills series absolutely exceeded my expectations. I wasn't sure about the Kitchen Basics course as I was expecting everything will be too elementary, but I have to say that all classes were so well balanced, that even if you are confident in the kitchen there is still something new and something to learn and what most, you will get a great hours of cooking and fun with excellent teachers.

UPDATE: After attending 14 different courses in this brilliant cookery school I've decided to update my previous review. As I was excited after the Complete Cookery Skills series, I am even more now. I can honestly say you cannot go wrong with any of the offered courses. But if I should pick one then it is probably Fish and Sea Food class. Firstly, if you are not familiar with filleting and cleaning fishes and seafood, this course give you a great introduction into it and you will leave the course with very handy skill. Secondly, you will be working with nice, fresh and sometimes not so very common ingredients which is great as one could try something new. Like always, atmosphere during the course is very relaxed and friendly and with a glass of wine you can spend a great day full of amazing food and fun. And one last general note worth to mention. The classes are improving all the time and Food at 52 team vividly reacts on all the reviews and comments from participants. When I was writing my first review, I said that I would appreciate more about stocks, sauces and food presentation. I cannot say it now as everything is there! Simply, however hard I would try to find some cons, there are none whatsoever!

Thank you Emily, John, Jean Marc and the rest of a great Food at 52 team,...

The positives - really welcoming hosts, a great space for waiting upstairs before heading down to the kitchen in the basement. The food we helped (more on that shortly...) to cook was delicious and I have since made one of the recipes several times. Recipes are emailed several days afterwards. There was free flowing wine all night - which helped overcome some of the negatives and made me consider 4 stars. I have to focus on the cooking lesson aspect though, hence a 3 star review.

The negatives - this was not what I expected, and I’d consider it more of a culinary tour and demonstration than what you might expect of a cooking class. I went with my partner but all preparation or cooking elements were done in groups of 4. So it was a little awkward trying not to take over but equally have a fair share of getting involved when it’s with people you don’t know. They were genuinely lovely and fun though. At the start we were told about knife safety but then never got to chop anything, which makes me think they changed the format a little as we were out of time. After carefully tasting one element to our groups preference, it was then thrown into a bowl with everyone else’s to be cooked by the assisting chef, we didn’t get to cook all dishes. Really disappointing that we didn’t get to taste what we had prepped and quite a few things already prepared or cooked by the assisting hosts. It was also a little chaotic, with not enough equipment to go around, so often we’d be standing around waiting (so required more consumption of wine) and it took you to be quite bolshy to get the ingredients or equipment you needed - didn’t seem relaxed...

We had our daughter’s birthday party at the cookery school and it was amazing! The children (age 5 to 9) all had a fabulous time learning about the ingredients, making the food and enjoying what they made! We are super impressed with how the team have kept every single child engaged and contented for 3 hours, even the 5-year olds. Well done chef Tom and everyone helped in the kitchen! The food looked and tasted great too!

What we love about what Emily, John and the team offered is the full-on experience - children learn about the food (e.g Tom shared with the children his experience of trying new food as he grew up), the menu (ravioli, malteser semifreddo, cantucci caraway and orange biscotti) is interesting and different from the usual children’s baking of pizza and cupcakes, and the parents get to enjoy a drink or two upstairs in the lounge and can get the 3 hours off if we want! It was definitely one of the most “hassle free” and relaxing parties we’ve had! Emily was super understanding, helpful and flexible throughout the entire process. She’s very personal and offered us lots of great and practical ideas to decide on the menu and how the party should be taking place. She’s offered great alternatives for my daughter’s numerous food allergies too!

The children said they loved everything at the party! Thank you so much Emily, John, chef Tom and everyone at the cookery school on the day and days leading towards the party! We are extremely happy and pleased about the experience and looking forward to coming back for more children’s...