Whether you're a culinary genius or a kitchen calamity, we can all agree that there's always room to improve when it comes to cooking technique.
Perhaps it's always been a lifelong dream to perfect pasta, become a wine buff or master the sourdough starter? Whatever your mission, the capital is brimming with some of the best food and drink masterclasses and cookery schools.
These classes range from the basic to the advanced, the affordable to the expensive, and the vegetarian-friendly to the meat feast.
So, if you want to leave the shackles of YouTube tutorials behind you and learn from the pros, here are the best food and drink classes and cookery schools in the capital.
E5 Bakehouse
Arch 395, Mentmore Terrace, E8 3PH
As one of Hackney's most popular purveyors of sourdough (and hot cross buns), E5 Bakehouse is sharing the magic with its sourdough class. This day-long course teaches you the basics of how to make a starter and keep it alive, as well as kneading and shaping your loaves, no matter your experience level. Learn how to make a country loaf, ciabatta style buns, seeded rye and bagels, and leave with lots of freebies, including a wicker basket, recipe booklet, dough scraper, freshly milled E5 flour, dark rye flour and a sourdough starter of your own. You'll be served E5 bakehouse treats throughout the day to fuel your baking, including delicious homemade jams, breads and cakes, alongside bagging 10% off the shop to buy additional equipment.
£165; e5bakehouse.com
Bentley's Oyster Bar & Grill
1-15 Swallow Street, W1B 4DG
Learn about Oysters from the expert team at Bentley's
Shucking more than 1,000 oysters a day, the Bentley's team are well equipped to guide you through the world of its most treasured bivalve. Throughout the course enjoy a selection of different oysters shucked by yourself and taste the difference between the rich variety of oysters caught from around these shores. Over the course of 90 minutes at the London seafood institution, you'll receive a glass of champagne on arrival alongside sommelier-matched wines to pair with a selection of raw and cooked, native and rock oysters. Even better, you leave with a goodie bag to take home, including an oyster passport and recipe card. Shuck off!
£75; bentleys.org
Osteria del Macellaio
Arch 24, 229 Union Street, SE1 0LR
Anyone who has eaten a meal at Osteria del Macellaio can testify to how good the beef is, from its juicy T-bone steaks to delicate carpaccios. Now, with the aid of its head butcher, you can recreate the magic at home with the Macellaio butchery masterclass. The course walks you through selecting your meat, choosing and preparing the best cut, and cooking it to perfection. Over three hours, the head butcher will guide you behind the scenes at Metodo Costa, where the meats are dry-aged in-house, showing you the process of naturally enhancing flavour and tenderness of the meat. After the masterclass, you'll be served a three-course meal at the restaurant, so it'd be a mis-steak not to book.
£120; macellaiorc.com
The Dusty Knuckle
Abbot Street, E8 3DP
The fermentation masterclass at the Dusty Knuckle
From kimchi to kraut, fermented foods are so hot right now. And what better place to master the process of making gut-friendly ferments than the much-loved cafe and bakery The Dusty Knuckle? Throughout the course at its original Dalston bakery, you'll make sauerkraut, kimchi, and seasonal brine pickles, plus put together your own fermented hot sauce recipe. On completing the course, you get to take home a jar of each along with recipes and instructions on how to look after them and, most importantly, a Dusty Knuckle tote bag so you can become the envy of all your friends. Aside from pickles you'll leave with a depth of knowledge to the science and practicalities of lacto-fermentation and the confidence to ferment at home.
£92.80; thedustyknuckle.com
Officina 00
156 Old Street, EC1V 9BW
It's a known fact that the Officina 00 team are pasta prodigies, and you too can become one by attending one of the restaurant's artisanal pasta classes. Choose between introductory, filled pasta or the 'Our Own Touch' course hosted at the Old Street venue under the supervision of co-founders Elia Sebregondi and Enzo Mirto. Master how to make perfect pasta from scratch, from making the egg dough to rolling and even learning some of Officina's own pasta recipes. Whether you want to master garganelli, raviolo fritto, or coloured pasta dough, there's a carbo course for everyone at Officina.
£65-80; officina00.co.uk
Pied à Terre
34 Charlotte Street, W1T 2NH
Get stuck in behind the scenes at Pied à Terre
It's not often you get a truly behind-the-scenes experience at a Michelin-starred restaurant, but that's precisely what Pied à Terre's Kitchen Experience is. You'll spend half a day in the company of head chef Asimakis Chaniotis and gain a fascinating insight into the working day of a turbo-charged, Michelin-star restaurant. From helping with food deliveries to assisting chefs in preparing the mise en place, it's an opportunity to get truly stuck in. Thankfully it’s not all hard work though, as the course finishes with a 6-course lunch in the dining room, with the option of an accompanying wine flight and an extra guest.
£235; pied-a-terre.co.uk
Meringue Girls
1 Broadway Market Mews, E8 4TS
Meringues are stubborn bastards to master, so thank god Meringue Girls is imparting some wisdom at its award-winning Meringue masterclass. Over two hours, learn how to make its signature meringue mix from scratch and how to flavour, colour and pipe it into beautiful kisses, all with a side serving of girl power. At the end of the class, you'll be sent home with a bounty of delicious meringues to enjoy.
£90; meringuegirls.co.uk
Underground Cookery School
201-203 City Road, EC1V 1JN
Get ready to cook with your colleagues at the Underground Cookery School
Get ready to assemble your corporate comrades because the Underground Cookery School specialises in cooking with your colleagues. Located just a few minutes from Old Street Tube, you can choose between four different menus (fine dining, brasserie, Christmas or fixed two-course menus) for either a private party or team building event. Get ready for some organised fun with a capital F because these classes cater for all abilities, and come accompanied by plenty of wine.
Price dependent on group size and menu; undergroundcookeryschool.com
Opium
15-16 Gerrard Street, W1D 6JE
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There are many bang-average cocktail classes out there, but the masterclass at Opium is not one of these. Held in the 1920s Shanghai-themed cocktail bar in Chinatown, you'll learn from the pros, using unusual ingredients, shrubs, spirits, garnishes, smoke and dry ice to recreate Opium's best cocktails. Shake, stir and serve your way through the 90-minute class as you learn about the fascinating world of mixology. Choose between the masterclass served with or without a dim sum sharing platter at the end.
£50-75; opiumchinatown.com
Bread Ahead
Various Locations
Aspiring viennoiserie virtuoso? Look no further than Bread Ahead to learn the art of croissant making at its Borough or Wembley sites. Over three hours, you'll learn how to enrich and laminate croissant dough, shape them into the perfect horn and delve into the science of french pastry. Suitable for all experience levels, you'll learn from the Bread Ahead team of baking geniuses with decades of experience under their belts. A definite highlight is leaving the class with a huge bag of homemade croissants, so be prepared to receive some envious looks on your tube ride home.
£95; breadahead.com
Enrica Rocca Cookery School
227 Ladbroke Grove, W10 6HG
Founded by a Venetian countess, Enrica Rocca is an Italian cooking school based in Notting Hill. Under the trusted guidance of the lovable Rocca sisters Charlotte and Claire, you'll learn how to master Italian home cooking using many beautiful ingredients sourced from Portobello Market. From fresh pasta to Italian feasts and even a singles cooking club, there are plenty of classes to master the dolce vita. Still hungry for more? Head to Venice to the sister cooking school run by mama Rocca for an even bigger pasta party.
£80-190; enricarocca.com
WSET Courses
39-45 Bermondsey Street, SE1 3XF
WSET courses teach from beginner level up to a fully-fledged diploma in wine and spirits
Exams don't have the best reputation, but ones on wines and spirits aren't so bad. The Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET for short) is anchored in Bermondsey and teaches courses from beginner level up to a fully-fledged diploma in wine and spirits, with an exam and a proper, industry-recognised qualification at the end of each one. While they might not be one for the lazy, nothing will teach you the wine and spirits game more comprehensively in such a short space of time. And if you want to dip a toe in, it also offers laid-back tasting evenings.
Price varies depending on course; wsetglobal.com
School of Wok
61 Chandos Place, WC2N 4HG
Get ready to bao down to the master of Asian-style culinary classes in London, Jeremy Pang. Established in 2009, the School of Wok was once a mobile cookery school before setting up permanently in Covent Garden. There are 20 classes to choose from that delve into everything from Korean bibimbap to Chinese takeaway classics. From introductory courses on understanding the wok to intricate dim sum mastery, there's a course for all abilities at the School of Wok.
£110-185; schoolofwok.co.uk
Borough Kitchen Cook School
Various locations
With the Borough Kitchen seal of approval, you know you're in safe hands at its cooking school. Whether you take a class at the Chiswick, Hampstead, or Islington stores, rest assured you'll work with top-quality knives and cookware stocked on the Borough Kitchen shelves and get proper attention from a trained chef. Get ready to sharpen up your knife skills, master Mexican cooking, or swing your hand at gluten-free baking because there's a selection of 23 immersive classes to choose from. All of the savoury courses end with a sit-down meal to enjoy the fruits of your labour, and for the fermentation, preserves, and pudding classes, you'll get to take home everything you've made.
£115; boroughkitchen.com
