One of the best things about being an adult is being able to eat whatever you want. You can come home after work, throw an entire bag of chicken chippies in the oven and wash them down with booze. Which is exactly why it’s also one of the worst things about being an adult. Mad cooking schools are actually essential to your health and relationship status, so it’s a good thing Brisbane has an abundance of great cooking schools. Here’s a guide to some of Brisbane's best cooking classes.
Vanilla Zulu
Teneriffe
When it comes to getting you passionate about cooking, Vanilla Zulu mean business. Offering all the essential cooking classes, like rustic Italian, Middle Eastern, Spanish and Thai, they also offer longer courses for learning serious chef skills. These courses will teach you how to be master of your marble-topped domain and include things like chocolate and sugar work, pastry, life skills and more. But if you’re just in it for a bit of fun, you can also book private lessons and recreate your own personal version of Masterchef.
Salt Meat Cheese
Newstead
Learn the secrets behind everyone’s favourite carb-loaded, cheesy cuisine whilst sipping some vino in Salt Meat Cheese’s Italian Cooking Classes. Whether your poison is pizza, arancini balls, gnocchi or cannoli, Salt Meat Cheese’s masterclasses will help you perfect these authentic Italian skills and dishes before inviting you to enjoy the ultimate Italian feast, featuring your own delicacies and other signature dishes cooked up by the restaurant’s renowned chefs—so all you need to bring is your appetite.
The Golden Pig
Newstead
The guys at The Golden Pig in Newstead host a range of awesome cooking classes and the venue is pretty damn cool too—think an airy industrial warehouse with plenty of space to eat the results of your lesson. They offer classes in everything from basic knife and butchery skills through to decadent desserts, modern Greek, French bistro, Moroccan and Vietnamese cuisine. If you go with the desserts option, which you really should, you’ll be making goodies like hazelnut meringue, honeycomb chocolate nougat and white chocolate mousse.
Lumiere Culinary Studio
Newstead
Dubbed one of Brisbane’s best cooking classes, Lumiere Culinary Studio will have you feeling like a Michelin Star-worthy chef as you perfect your pastry or savoury cooking skills under the instructions of industry leaders. The brain-child of internationally-renowned, multi-award winning Chef Shannon Kellam, this studio is kitted out with top-of-the-line Miele appliances to bring home cooks and masterchef enthusiasts alike an authentic, masterclass experience like no other. Opt for one of their savoury cooking classes and you’ll be perfecting your meat cooking skills and festive season menu. Or if pastries are more your jam, book into one of their Sourdough Series classes and finesse the steps to achieve the same delicious pastries as Mica downstairs. Classes start at $140 and can only accommodate up to 16 people, so make sure to book in ahead of time to secure your spot. They also do private classes for groups of 10-36 people.
Mecca Bah
Newstead
Pizza tastes even better when you’ve made it with your pals, and that’s exactly what Mecca Bah believes.Their pizza-making class is guaranteed to be filled with fun and loads of laughter, as you witness your friends switch on their Masterchef alter egos. Before you get to performing your own pizza acrobatics, you’ll kick off the night with a glass of champagne. What could be better?
La Macelleria
Teneriffe
As temperatures rise by the day, why not try your hand at making some gelato to cool down? La Macelleria regularly gives you the chance to be a real artisan gelato maker for a day. Learn how to make some oh, so sweet gelato and what goes into it, before whipping up a delicious batch and then of course, tasting your amazing creations.
New Farm Confectionery
Newstead
Nothing says love more than hand-made chocolate. Host your next dinner party and impress your guests with your confectionery creations from New Farm Confectionery. Here, you’ll learn how to magically turn a few simple ingredients into delectable sweets—honeycomb and caramel brittle and rocky road to name a few. You’ll become an amateur chocolatier right before everyone’s eyes. Watch your back, Max Brenner.
Angelo’s Pasta Classes
Fortitude Valley
Experience pasta making the authentic Italian way with Angelo’s daughter herself, Donna, aka, the pasta princess. With small classes of 10 people and a “nothing is rushed” mantra, Angelo’s Pasta Classes are the best way to have fun, learn some new skills and taste your delicious creations which we’re sure will inspire you to turn your kitchen into a little Italy. Or should we say, eat-aly?
Totally accepting of your inability to do more than cook toast? Just head for Brisbane’s best restaurants then.
Image credit: Toshiyuki