Four of us chose the Spanish Tapas course, which ran from 4pm to 7pm. The School is sparklingly clean and attractive, and felt very relaxed, with twinkly lights decorating the ceiling, and laid-back music playing throughout. Richard, our tutor, launched straight in to an evening packed with tips, advice and sound cookery practice. The menu was one we all agreed we would choose to cook again, comprising a starter, main and dessert, each with little twists we wouldn’t have thought of and extra details to make things easier – turning out our tortillas was a great moment! We were offered orange juice on arrival and after that, bottomless wine was available – though we didn’t want to drink too much as knife-skills were included!
Having produced all our dishes we were given places at a laid table, more wine and left to ourselves to enjoy the fruits of our labours while Richard got ready to teach an evening Sushi course. His assistant Milo kindly wrapped up our spare food, but I would suggest taking a few plastic containers if you do this course – there was plenty to finish off at home! As one of our party was allergic to chillies, we informed the school beforehand and they gave us alternative suggestions. The course felt just the right length, time management by Richard was excellent and we felt it was good value for money. We stayed at the Rafayel Hotel which was a twenty minute walk along the Thames Path, just right to walk it off!
