Monday 16 November 2015

Waitrose Cookery School, Kings Cross

Saturday was a wet, cold and miserable Autumn day so the hubby and I decided to check ourselves into the Waitrose Cookery School. There are three schools, the latest Kings Cross, the flagship Finchley Road and a Salisbury branch. We visited Kings Cross, which was less than a ten minute walk from the tube station. Take the Regents Canal exit and walk towards Granary Square, you will see the large Waitrose store and this is where the cookery school is located.

The Kings Cross Waitrose is a really lovely store and well worth a little wander before or after your class. The cookery school opens thirty minutes before your session begins and can be found by entering from the main entrance and turning right. There are toilets next to the school too. After signing in at reception you can hang coats and lock possessions in a free locker before taking a seat with a glass of Prosecco to fill in a health questionnaire. Nibbles are provided on the tables too.





There are several work stations across the super clean and well spaced out kitchen. You will work in pairs and be partnered up if you have come alone or in an uneven group. Each pair will be assigned a station, oven, hob and tools depending on what is needed for the chosen class. All of the equipment is state of the art and brand new including induction hobs, which I had never used before!

After slipping on an apron and checking out your work space you will watch a thirty minute demonstration by one of the specially trained chefs. You can sit and watch this on a TV screen or stand by the station for a first hand look. Once the dish has been prepared the class can grab a fork and tuck into the food on offer.

Then, it's time to return to your station and cook up a storm by yourself! There are three chefs wandering the class to help you out as well as front of house staff providing water and anything else you may need. All of your ingredients are included in the price. Some will be weighed out and ready, others you will prepare yourself as part of the session.






Our class of choice was a prawn and mango curry from Laos. We had to make the curry paste, which we doubled and therefore took half home in a tub to use at a later date. We then fried this off, added some coconut milk as well as prawns and mango! We also received a print out of the full recipe to take home.






Once we had finished preparing the meal we plated up and sat at the perfectly laid table to eat our concoction. Wine, beer and soft drinks as well as tea and coffee are also served during the meal.








Waitrose offer a variety of courses from short post work sessions through to full day lessons. There will always be someone on hand to help so nothing will be too difficult. The courses range in price depending on the length of the session. Make sure you book in advance via the website as courses do fill up. The sessions only have a limited number of spaces available to ensure plenty of one on one help is at hand.







As you can see the kitchen is large and spotlessly clean. It also overlooks the bustling Waitrose store. Everything about the session was fun and engaging. We were guests of Waitrose but a two hour course including ingredients, tuition, wine, beer and soft drinks with the meal as well as a welcome glass of Prosecco and nibbles costs £50 per person. I would thoroughly recommend this experience as something completely different to do in London as well as providing you with a new skill! This would be great with friends or as a date. We really enjoyed cooking as a couple!


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