Food culture is huge in Singapore, with people lining up for hours just to get their favourite dish. From lively neighbourhood hawker centres to Michelin-star celebrity restaurants, we’re lucky to be on an island where there’s a place for every cuisine and budget. If you want to save time, money and be in control of your food however, join one of Singapore’s many cooking classes!
Joining a cooking class is good for upgrading your culinary skills but also great as a couple activity and for bonding with your friends and colleagues. Put on your apron and chef’s hat at these cooking classes to try your luck at 6 different cuisines.
Nothing like a fresh loaf of handmade bread
Topping our list of culinary schools is a new kid on the block that opened just this April in Bukit Timah. At Brettschneider’s Baking & Cooking School, you’ll be spoilt for choice with courses ranging from half-day sessions to two-day masterclasses catered to people of various experience levels. Led entirely by professional chefs and guest chefs from popular local restaurants, every cooking and baking class here is informative, fun and even includes an exquisite meal with beverage pairings to complete your foodie experience.
The highlight of this school is the 6-hour Basic Bread Baking course led by the school’s founder Dean Brettschneider himself. An acclaimed pȃtissier and award-winning author of 12 cookbooks, Dean’s foundation course is based on his book BREAD, teaching you all the tips and tricks of mixing, kneading and shaping dough into a variety of rustic, savoury and sweet breads. After you’ve got the basics down, challenge yourself with Dean’s other bakery lessons to make pizzas, croissants, pies, cakes and tarts. This is a fun, engaging and hyper-interesting session where you even get a loaf to take home!
Open Daily 10am – 9pm From $180 per class
Pretty on a plate
As a huge fan of Japanese food, I was super thrilled when Japan’s largest culinary school chain, ABC Cooking Studio, launched in Singapore last year, adding to their list of more than 150 studios across Asia. You’ll learn how to cook all your Japanese restaurant menu favourites, such as udon noodles, katsudon (pork chop rice bowl) and complete tempura sets, as well as seasonal specials like Japanese new year food. If you’ve got nimble fingers and a knack for making things pretty, then satisfy your sweet tooth with ABC’s specialty wagashi (traditional Japanese dessert) course, where you’ll be overwhelmed by the cuteness of your colorful bite-sized creations.
To host a proper Japanese-themed dinner party, join their lessons on Japanese table manners, the art of Japanese table setting and the traditional way of serving tea. The only catch about joining this great school is that you have to pre-pay for a series of classes, rather than choosing one or two courses to your liking. If you aren’t too sure whether you want to commit yet, you can join a trial class for $35-$50.
Open daily 10am – 10pm From $450 for 6 classes
Once you’re full and satisfied, why not visit these golf clubs for some exercise?
Never a bad time for cake
Feeling up for hosting a full-on dinner party or impressing your partner with a romantic meal? At Buonissimo, you will learn how to cook 3-course meals featuring all the sumptuous items found in gourmet European restaurants, like duck confit, veal osso bucco and tiramisu. Don’t be intimidated by all the fancy-sounding names though, as resident Chef Jes, who completed her training in Italy under the direction of Michelin starred chefs, keeps her classes small to a maximum of 15 people so that everyone gets her personal attention.
Most of the classes at Buonissimo require you to work in groups of 4-5 so this is also a great team building activity with friends and colleagues, or meeting fellow foodies. You can even request for special workshops, such as the MasterChef Challenge and Mystery Box Challenge to test your culinary creativity with surprise ingredients.
Open weekends 10am-1:30pm and 3pm-6:30pm $85 per class
Bring Vietnam home with delicious bowls of Pho
You may already be familiar with this award-winning restaurant in Chijmes serving Southeast Asian, South Asian and Middle Eastern delights. Now you can try making some of their signature dishes at home by joining their cooking studio, where you’ll be taught by restaurant founder and culinary director Samia Ahad herself! Samia graduated from the prestigious Institute of Culinary Education in New York with a Blue Ribbon and has worked with Michelin-starred Chef Wayne Nish, and is enthusiastic about sharing her expertise and recipes with everyone around her.
At Coriander Leaf you will learn the best of Asian cuisines – from Vietnamese, Singaporean, Thai and Indian food to the more exotic Lebanese and Eastern Mediterranean fare. The list of recipes you will learn in each course is extensive, featuring 6 to 10 dishes per menu. So even if you aren’t the world’s best person at steaming mussels or roasting a leg of lamb, you can still leave the class having mastered at least one delicious item to show off to your friends.
Open Thurs to Sat 10am-1:30pm and 3pm-6:30pm From $150 per class
Prepare a feast for your friends
Opened by French houseware brand Brandt, Palate Sensations has plenty of kitchen space (2000 sq ft to be exact) and equipment to cater to all your cooking needs, which is why they offer the most diverse range of cuisines out of any culinary school in Singapore. From sushi and naan bread masterclasses to taco feasts and dinner parties inspired entirely by the movie Grease, the list of baking and cooking classes here is endless.
Helmed by resident Executive Chef Charlotte D’Isidoro, a graduate of Italy’s most prestigious culinary institute ALMA, Palate Sensations’ 2-to-4 hour classes are all taught by popular restaurant chefs, including Chef Francois Mermilliod from French restaurant Bar-A-Thym and Chef Stephane Istel from Bar-Roque Grill. With all these culinary gurus at your service, you can also book consulting sessions to get their expert advice on how to launch a successful restaurant, write a better recipe book or improve your F&B concept.
By appointment only From $75 per class
If you’re looking for something more exciting, check out this list of activities that will get your heart pumping!
Love the smell of home cooked dinners
There is never a bad time to learn how to cook local Singaporean classics like chicken rice and laksa noodles. They also say that nothing beats mom’s cooking, and that you’ll never get a recipe like grandma used to make. Well at Food Playground, all classes are led by stay-at-home moms and active seniors who will teach you a thing or two about barbecuing satay and homemade nasi lemak.
You will be paired up to complete the course, which includes 3 to 4 dishes, taking you from a starter to a meal to a dessert, and sometimes with the added bonus recipe for an authentic sambal hot sauce or peanut dip. After you’ve mastered their classes on local food, you can book team-building cooking classes to learn about a cuisine of your preference (from $100 per pax). If you’re in a bigger group, you can even split into teams and book two simultaneous classes for a friendly food competition (e.g. Team Singapore vs. Team Italy).
Open Mon to Sat 9:30am-12:30pm From $99 per class
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