School of Wok — Local services in London

I’ve followed Chef Pang and the School of Wok on YouTube for over a year, enjoying the videos and cooking instructions very much. When we found ourselves with a trip to London scheduled, I knew that I had to take one of their classes. We scheduled a 3 hour Dim Sum class for the Friday night that we were there. The class started at 6:30 and we received emailed instructions ahead of time telling us when to arrive and what to wear, etc. For the class, we made several items including BBQ chicken wings, sui mai steamed dumplings, crispy beancurd rolls, and baozi steamed buns with pickled veg. There were about eight of us taking the class, plus the instructor and an assistant. I had hoped that Chef Pang would be teaching the class or even be there to say hello, but alas he wasn’t. Our instructor Paddy was very friendly and attentive, so no complaints about him at all. Here are my impressions both good and otherwise on the experience. Pros: -The staff was very attentive and answered all questions. -Each attendee was offered a drink before class started, either soft drinks or wine. Very nice. -I liked the array of items that we made, it was a good cross section of dim sum (though certain items were more successful than others, more on that later). -The learning area was laid out nicely and I think everyone had a good view of the instructor. We were positioned around a large table for the most part, but we did go back to the kitchen for a quick bit of wok stir frying. -Once the class was finished and the food was cooked, we were seated at the same table we learned from and presented the dishes as a nice meal, it was a great way to end the evening (and everyone was very hungry by that point after working with all that food for the past 2 ½ hours). Our favorite dishes were the wings, sui mai and the baozi. -Items for sale came with a 10% discount, I picked up a nice cleaver for a fair price that I’ve since used at home and like very much.

Cons: -Couples/partners were often given one item between them during the class to share work on. The individuals who came solo had their own items. The couples were then required to determine who would do what with a shared resource while the solos got to do everything. Considering that we paid full price for each person, I feel that everyone should have gotten their own set of items to work on. It was a more complete experience for the people that came solo. -For the baozi, we actually cooked out of the Baozi kits that School of Wok sells. I have to admit this seemed very self serving and I would have much rather cooked from common ingredients that we find at the market. I understand that the kits are faster acting for dough than waiting for yeast to rise, but in other bread making classes I’ve attended we would work with the base ingredients to make the dough, then the instructor would have some other risen dough available to complete the preparation. I just think that’s a better learning experience than opening plastic bags from a kit. For the pickled veg, we literally mixed a powder with water to create the pickling solution rather than the simple act of mixing vinegar, sugar and other spices (I had to ask for the real recipe).

My minor complaints aside however, we had a very good time during our class. Even as an experienced cook, I learned some new techniques that I will apply going forward. There are some areas that can be addressed but for anyone looking for a good evening learning to cook and enjoying some good food, I would recommend School of Wok and would visit again if I had the...

We had an absolutely fantastic team event at School of Wok! From start to finish, the entire event was very well-organized by Hannah and we had so much fun on the night.

We had the opportunity to cook a variety of delicious dishes, including Drunken Chicken & Prawn Wontons, Five Spice Chicken Stir-Fry, and Bacon & Cranberry Fried Rice. For dessert, we made an indulgent Matcha & White Chocolate Cheesecake, which was a hit with everyone.

Our chef created a relaxed, fun atmosphere that made the whole event to so much more enjoyable. (Unlike some other cooking classes where everything feels rigid and "military-style," the chef here allowed us to (& encouraged us to) enjoy the whole process rather than just follow strict instructions. We got to be creative, ask questions, and really have fun with the cooking. The dumpling "pinching" was very entertaining!

What made the experience even more special was that we cooked additional food to be donated to The Gospel Church of Jesus Christ charity. It felt great to contribute to such a worthy cause while enjoying the cooking process together as a team.

The team at School of Wok was incredible - knowledgeable, friendly, and supportive throughout. They guided us through each step with ease, making sure we all had fun while learning some amazing culinary skills. I would highly recommend the School of Wok for anyone looking to host a memorable event or simply learn how to cook fantastic Asian-inspired dishes. We will definitely be back to cook up another storm! Thank you...

Venue: Convenient, within 3-5 minutes walking from Charing Cross.

Host: Shannon was fab - super fun, lively, patient and explained things really easily. Some great top tips from them too. We also didn't feel rushed - the course was due to run from 11am-2pm, but we didn't leave until after 2:30 due to chatting with other students and finishing our food/drinks.

Food: We made Sweet & Sour Squid, Spicy Steamed Seabass, Garlic & Egg fried rice and Prawn Wontons. Even though some of these dishes seem 'simple' on the surface, Shannon showed us how to cook them PERFECTLY. Like Chinese food you'd really eat in China. They also catered for all food allergies and even just 'likes'.

Drink: Was really (pleasantly) surprised that we were offered some alcohol with our food: beer, wine, soft drinks also. Wasn't mentioned in the course blurb, so was great to have a few drinks with our food.

Learning: We went as a pair, but lots of people go solo and the school make an effort to get you mixing and talking, without it feeling forced. You prep your dishes as a pair. I've been at schools before where you do ALL the prep - and it often gets tiring or repetitive. Here they'd done some of the really irksome stuff for us - like scaling/gutting the seabass, de-veining the prawns etc. They also had a great blend or the kitchen support team cooking some of our food for us to snack on while we prepped the rest.

We'll definitely be back as there are a couple of other courses we'd like to do. Thanks again Shannon...