Fancy yourself as the next Jamie, Nigella, or Gordon?
We all love to eat, so sitting down with your nearest and dearest, sharing a meal you’ve created yourself (hopefully with minimal blood, sweat, and tears) has got to be up there with life’s best moments. Right? Right.
If your speciality is currently Mi Goreng or Cup-a-Soup, it might be time to brush up and learn a few tricks. Luckily for you, we live in an area with some fantastic classes and hosts just busting to pass on their coveted knowledge. So, pop on that apron, get your notebooks (and stomachs) ready, and prepare your application for the next series of Masterchef, as we talk you through some of the best cooking classes on the Gold Coast.
Salt Meats Cheese
Sure, this fab spot may be located in The 4217 in Surfers Paradise but, guaranteed, as soon as you step through those doors, you could be forgiven for thinking you’ve been magically teleported to Italy. From the Italian owners to the Italian staff (hell, even the rest of the students in our class were Italian!), Salt Meats Cheese is about as authentic as you can get. Under careful tutelage from one of their fantastic pizza chefs, you’ll learn how to mix, roll, throw and stretch your dough; exactly how to spread the tomato sauce; the perfect mix of ingredients to top your pizza with; and the careful science of pizza placement in the wood-fired oven. Finish off sitting down with your fellow learners with a glass of vino (included in the price) as you devour your creation and feel very smug indeed about what you just produced. Also on offer is a pasta-making class, equally fun and delicious, and a skill very much worth having, in our humble opinion!
Where: The 4217, 10 Beach Road, Surfers Paradise
Tamborine Mountain Cooking School
We love any excuse to head up the beautiful, misty, rainforest surroundings of Mount Tamborine (hashtag eyeporn) but the Tamborine Cooking School might be our favourite excuse yet. Chef and owner, Terri Taylor, is professionally French trained and is all too happy to pass on her tips and tricks of the trade, as you master some drool-worthy dishes using locally-sourced produce wherever possible. There’s a class for everyone here such as French Classics, Asian Favourites, Northern Italian, Greek, Moroccan, Spanish, and Spice Class. You’ll be turning up your nose at your usual meat and three-veg in no time! Classes generally run for four hours, plenty of time for prepping and cooking followed by relaxing, eating, drinking, and enjoying the superb views. Sign us up!
Where: 609 Main Western Road, Tamborine Mountain
Tenteram Fine Foods
You’re going to want to get yourself to Currumbin Valley to learn a few things from this gem of a cooking school, that boasts some of the best cooking classes on the Gold Coast. With wholesome eating in mind, Tenteram Fine Foods hosts both a Healthy Asian Cooking class and a Vegan/Vegetarian class giving you all the tools you need to knock up some guilt-free, delicious eats. Tenteram is known for their incredible range of healthy curry pastes and sauces, such as rendang paste, kecap manis and one damn good satay sauce, all available for purchase from their online store. You’ll be using these bad boys to whip up some tasty treats followed by plenty of time relaxing in their gorgeous rainforest surroundings, gorging on the masterpieces you’ve just created.
Where: 62 Kyte Street, Currumbin Valley
Double Zero
Not the only spot on the Goldy to learn some Italian tricks of the trade, Double Zero in Broadbeach also does a fantastic pizza-making course. You’ll be guided by head pizza chef, Nicola (who hails direct from Italy, so you know he knows his stuff), to learn the fine art of pizza-making, Naples-style. From the fine art of dough-making to the shaping, topping, baking, and then (most importantly) eating, you’ll learn all you need to know to recreate that perfect slice at home. Cool fact: Double Zero has even been accepted into the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, meaning the pizzas coming out of this particular oven are certified as exactly as the way pizzas are made in Naples, the birthplace of pizza. Grazie, Napoli! These classes are held only once a month (and very popular), so book in your date with Nicola and a damn fine pizza—stat!
Where: 2/2715 Gold Coast Highway, Broadbeach
Oz Harvest
For a cooking class with a difference and a (volunteering) twist, look no further than Oz Harvest’s Cooking for a Cause program. This Australian charity is all about rescuing perishable food items to donate to charities in need. Talk about hearts of gold! For your next corporate or social team-building event, book in and get yourself and your colleagues outta that office and into the kitchen. You’ll be learning to transform donated ingredients into some seriously impressive meals that will be shipped out to the needy that very evening. This might not be the sort of class where you sit down at the end to leisurely enjoy the fruits of your labour, but you it will give you those feel-good vibes when you go home with some new cooking skills and the satisfaction of knowing you’ve contributed to helping those less fortunate. For this reason alone, we reckon Oz Harvest should definitely be counted among the best cooking classes on the Gold Coast.
Where: Locations vary depending on group size
Did we miss your fave among our round up of the best cooking schools on the Gold Coast? Let us know!
Photo Credit: The Alimental Sage