Cooking with Class

If eating in one of Beijing’s thousands of restaurants isn’t enough and you’re aching to get into the kitchen yourself, don’t despair. The capital city has a cornucopia of options available for you to become the iron chef you always knew you could be. Here are a few schools where you can wok and roll.

Black Sesame Kitchen

Opened by Jen Lin-Liu, the author of Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China, Black Sesame Kitchen offers cooking classes in a courtyard residence where one can “cook, socialize, dine and wine.” With Thursday cooking classes featuring a different theme each week, you can go several times and amass a variety of skills. Friday evenings are “Wine ‘n’ Dine” evenings (RMB 250), where a six-course meal will be prepared in front of you and paired with two imported wines. This is a demonstration-only course, so you can sit back and sip wine then dine. Saturday Gourmet afternoons offer hands-on sessions where you prepare three different dishes (RMB 300).
3 Heizhima Hutong, Dongcheng District. (blacksesamekitchen@gmail.com) www.blacksesamekitchen.com
东城区东城区黑芝麻胡同3号

Blu Lobster

Chef de Cuisine Jordi Villegas Serra hopes to take your palate around the world with flavors from the Middle East, Asia, and Europe. With a background in numerous Michelin-starred restaurants, Chef Jordi is now hosting interactive cooking classes every six weeks. Guests will be invited to attempt recreating recipes such as three-star Michelin chef Martin Berasategui’s foie gras millefeuille and his own Onion and Olive Oil Soup. Each class will feature four different entrees, which will vary depending on the fresh seasonal ingredients available at the market. Priced at RMB 288 with a 15% service charge, classes will run for two to three hours and guests leave with a Blu Lobster recipe book and box of chocolates. Valley Wing, 1/F, Shangri-La Hotel, 29 Zizhuyuan Lu, Haidian District. (6841 2211 ext 6727 / 6728)
海淀区紫竹院路29号北京香格里拉饭店新阁一层

China Culture Center

There’s enough variety of dumplings, noodles, pastries and soups available in China to fill your entire time in Beijing just eating. However, if you want to make these in your own time, the China Culture Center (CCC) offers a variety of classes where you can learn and practice these cooking skills. The cookery classes offered at the CCC range in dates and prices; check out their informative website for more.
Kent Center, 29 Anjialou, Liangmaqiao Lu, Chaoyang District. (6432 9341/1041, info@chinaculturecenter.org) www.chinaculturecenter.org
朝阳区亮马桥路29号安家楼肯特中心院内

Haru

Interested in cooking lessons but don’t want to leave the comforts of your own home? Haru provides private cooking lessons at home with your own personal sushi chef. Lessons last for 1.5 hours, and the chef will come to your home with his assistant and help you cook a customized menu that you design prior to the class. Learn how to make Maki hand rolls, sushi and sashimi with a group of up to ten of your closest friends and family. The necessary ingredients will be provided at cost.
902 Pinnacle Plaza, Jingshun Lu, Shunyi District. (8046 5112, call three days in advance to customize your menu)
尚水长廊铁板烧餐厅, 顺义区天竺镇开发区荣祥广场902

Hias Gourmet

An upscale culinary learning experience. Cooking Studio 1 gives you the chance to learn regional Chinese cuisines by either participating in a wine pairing cooking demo or hands-on cooking lessons. Cooking Studio 2 features homestyle Chinese cooking, with lessons held in a hutong kitchen. If you’re interested in fancier kitchens, Hias also offers a “Behind the Scenes” tour of a professional kitchen where you can watch Chinese master chefs prepare exceptional dishes in their own kitchens. Hias might be just what you’re looking for in a culinary tour of Chinese cuisine.
201 West, 46 Xishuncheng Jie, Deshengmennei, Xicheng District. (6400 9199, info@hiasgourmet.com) www.hiasgourmet.com
西城区德胜门内西顺城街46号西201

Hutong Cuisine

Imagine yourself in the middle of a charming courtyard with the blue skies above you, a little three-month-old labradoodle puppy bouncing about and green ferns and a genuine pomegranate tree adorning the corner, and you’ll see yourself in the kitchen of Hutong Cuisine. Run by a formally trained chef fluent in English, classes are small in size, so you’ll receive the personal attention that you so crave. Each class (RMB 180) features four different dishes and skills, and there are optional market tours, seasoning lessons, and wok and knife lessons you can partake in. See Spotlight, p16, for more information.
3 Shajing Hutong, off Nanluogu Xiang, Dongcheng District. (8401 4788, 134 2631 7097, chef@hutongcuisine.com) hutongcuisine.com
东城区南锣鼓巷沙井胡同

New Veranda

In the mood for something sweet and kid-friendly? You might find your match at New Veranda’s Dutch pancake-making classes. Held in the afternoon, you can bring your kids to this chic European eatery where pancake workshops are RMB 40 for kids and RMB 60 for adults. If the sugar from the fluffy pannenkoeks isn’t enough, the price includes all-you-can-drink soda.
8 Laiguangying Donglu (50m west of WAB international school), Chaoyang District. (8470 3821, grace@newveranda.com)
长廊西餐厅, 朝阳区来广营东路8号（京西国际学校往西50米）

SALT

A winner in the Beijinger’s Reader Restaurant Awards, SALT combines contemporary cuisine with minimalist decor that features a wide-open kitchen. Capitalizing on its success and the skills of its young head chef, Ana Esteves, SALT now offers Chef’s Master Classes to the public. Chef Ana teaches you the techniques she uses for preparation, cooking, flavor matching and plate presentation. RMB 588 per person includes a recipe pack, wine pairings, a SALT apron and a t-shirt.
2/F, 9 Jiangtai Xilu, Chaoyang District. (6437 8457, info@saltrestaurantbeijing.com)
朝阳区将台西路珀丽酒店西边

Tour Beijing

For visitors looking to be chauffeured to private cooking lessons, Tour Beijing is one of the few schools offering transportation directly to their school. Two tours are currently offered: “Beijing Cooking Learning Day A” (USD 90 per person) whisks participants from the hotel lobby to the school, where they learn to cook three different Chinese dishes. A visit to the Jiale Vegetable Market, home to an astonishing array of Chinese produce, follows. After that, the next stop is the Daoxiangcun Foodstuffs store where you can buy enough dry ingredients to recreate your own Chinese kitchen. “Learning Day B” (USD 105) offers the same itinerary with an additional tour stop in a little village. (6716 0201 ext 1006, info@tour-beijing.com)