Culinary Adventures in London: Tokyo Cooking Class

Sunday, 23 March 2014

Tokyo Cooking Class

When I went to Tokyo with the bf last year he had to work for a couple of days so on one of the mornings I had to myself I had pre-booked a cooking class with a local instructor named Mari Nameshida. I honestly can’t remember how I had first found about Mari but what attracted me to her class was that it would be carried out in her home: so not only would I be learning to cook some traditional dishes in Japan but I would also have the chance to immerse myself, albeit briefly, in local culture.

The classes are also small and intimate (in mine there were 2 Australian ladies and an English, living in Netherlands couple, as well as myself and Mari) and fairly hands on with a lunch of what you have cooked to follow. Mari contacted me in advance to let me know what we would be cooking: Chicken Teriyaki, Gyoza, Sunomono (Japanese pickled salad), Dashi and Miso Soup. In fact two of the dishes - the chicken and gyoza - I had already attempted at home but I was looking forward to learning both, and in particular gyoza technique, properly.

It was lovely and relaxed: really nice to get the opportunity to chat with my fellow instructees and to get a real feel of local culture from Mari. I learnt some fascinating things that day and also got some excellent knife shopping tips and a little lesson in kanji.

I’ll have some further posts at some point with a) recipes for some of the dishes from when I cooked them at home for the bf and b) a postcard from Tokyo. Here though are some photos from the class itself - if you ever get the chance to visit Tokyo, take it and make sure you book in on a cooking class with Mari!