Great cookery classes at L'atelier des Chefs

Love cooking and eating? Then you'll love the cooking classes at L'atelier des Chefs. There are a variety of classes, and they cater for individuals, groups, corporate events. So whether you're there to hone your own skills, or there to do 'team building', there's a class for you.

I recently went to two classes - pasta making ('fresh pasta') and steak cookery ('cook the perfect steak') - and both were great fun! Good times were had and the food tasted great.

The Chef was a great teacher. It's not easy to look after a class of (around 10) strangers, but he struck the balance well - friendly, helpful, patient and informative.

The Chef giving us a demo of the pasta machine.

The pasta class involved making the pasta dough from scratch, rolling it out, turning it into tortellini and ravioli, making the filling and the sauce.  The class took about two hours but the time went by real quick. We then finished the night by eating our own food - tasty! This was the result...

My second class involved cooking the perfect steak...and making a cheesecake. As with the pasta class, everything was cooked from scratch, including the potatoes, garlic butter, caramel and piping the cheese. While it was not the most technically demanding course, it was still great fun and the results were excellent - both dishes tasted excellent. Best steak in London that night? Maybe!

Hopefully it won't be long before I get to go to another class. They have a 'knife skills' class and I've recently acquired a rather sharp Japanese knife from Kataba, and I'd like to be able to get the most out of it. Watch this space...

The Gate Islington - vegetarian restaurant in London

Inside The Gate.  Source: The Gate

The Gate Islington is a restaurant in Angel, London, which serves exclusively vegetarian food.  

While I'm not a vegetarian, I was quite interested in trying out what The Gate had to offer.  After all, I had never been to a vegetarian restaurant before, so it was new territory for me.

I had a +Groupon deal at The Gate: £17.50 for a two-course meal and a drink.  I had the choice of the full menu - no messing around with limited set menus.  

I started with the beetroot 'ravioli'.  Rather than filled pasta, this was beetroot filled with goat cheese.  It was definitely different and I thought it tasted pretty good; the salty cheese contrasting well with the sweet beetroot and apple.

Beetroot ravioli - starter: Roasted and shaved beetroot filled with goat cheese, caramelised apple and walnuts, served with heritage beetroots, watercress and basil & celery granita.

Courgette flower - starter: Filled with sweet potato, pine nuts, basil coated in crisp batter, served with puy lentil salsa.

I chose the chipotle corn cake for my main.  Aubergine is always a winner for me, so I was attracted to this dish.  There's a lot going on here, with lots of different ingredients fusing together both in terms of flavour and presentation.  The end result was good and there was certainly an empty dish at the end.  The corn cake added a bit of stodge too, which made the meal a bit more filling.

Chipotle corn cake - main: Corn & polenta cake , pan-fried & seasoned with chipotle chilli and coriander , served with aubergine, oven-dried tomatoes, sweet potato & served with a red pepper & black bean salsa lime and coriander dressing and crispy fennel.

I went with the girlfriend and a couple of friends, one of which is a vegetarian - so I was in good company for this veggie adventure.  We were impressed with the modern, yet cosy atmosphere, as well as the generally good portion sizes.  We felt the menu and quality was good overall too.

At the end of the day, The Gate won't be for everyone.  And dare I say, I would even have liked a bit of meat with my meal.  But if you're looking for something a bit different and you're open to the idea of trying a vegetarian restaurant, this could be a good place to visit.  

Nearest Tube: Angel