T&T March Japanese Hands-On Workshops [Events]

2016 Feb 25
I was trying to book an egg tart hands on workshop at T&T earlier for this Sunday Feb 28 but the class was full. The coordinator promise to send me the new March schedule when it is available and she did it Wednesday afternoon.

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There are some free or net zero (10 for 10 which means you pay $10 and get $10 back in T&T store gift card similar to Loblaws whats for Dinner classes) 1 hour demo classes for stir fried udon noodles, ramen, and vegetarian cuisine Friday evenings at 6:30-7:30 pm except holidays.

What really caught my eye were the 1.5 hours hands on Chef's Private Kitchen workshops for $10. I have not done one yet so do not know the format or quality. March is apparently Japanese month.

Mar 06 1:00-2:30pm Tempura
Mar 13 1:00-2:30pm Okonomiyaki (Japanese savoury pancake)
Mar 20 1:00-2:30pm Wagashi (Japanese confections)
Mar 22 6:30-8:30pm Sushi (California roll & teriyaki roll)

Very interested in the Sushi one since I have been eyeing the one at Cordon Bleu for July 16th afternoon and to a lessor extent the sushi one by a Japanese Sushi Chef at Superstore in Westboro Mar 9 10-12noon which is a bad day schedule wise. So it might be good to get my feet wet on something simple but hands on before dishing out the cash for a bigger class since I was considering the hands on one at Cordon bleu rather than just the demo.

The Wagashi class is interesting too..

Anyone else interested?

2016 Feb 26
Okay found out from T&T coordinator that the hands-on class is for maximum of 10 people only. Hands-on class has a part that students will participate to cook and will have a full-size sample after class, likely eat what you cook lol.

1.5 days after the program went out, only 2-3 spots are left for each class and I holding all remaining for a few hours. My sister wanted all 4 and I wanted Sushi and Wagashi for sure for myself and she is checking with her kids my adult niece and nephew but there may be 1-2 spots for Tempura and Okonomiyaki. But if you want to do either Tempura or the savoury pancake class please say so now since I promised to get back to T&T by this afternoon and free up any spots not needed.

I asked them for a quote on a bit more sophisticated sushi, maybe hand roll, or some real sushi with salmon, tuna or ??? Need to make sure they have sushi grade fish too. The cost would be higher than $10 but likely less than the others sushi classes I listed so say so here if you are interested in a customized sushi class at T&T...


2016 Mar 7
Went to the T&T class for Tempura since my sister had asked me to reserve a bunch of spots for her and her family without checking her own schedule let along the others'. She then backed out of 4 spots on 3 Sundays and I felt a little bad about that so decided to take this one for Tempura which I was on the fence about in addition to the ones I booked for sushi and wagashi which I was very interested in.

The community room is on the far left of the T&T Mall past the bathrooms and through the doorway/hallway for the bank or credit union?

The set up in front is similar to other cooking schools with a long instruction table and mirror on top and cupboards behind.

For the hands on class they set up 2 long table running the length of the classroom with inner for the instructional / demo part and the outer set of tables for the hands on...

2016 Mar 7
The hands on part was moving a bit slowly since varied degree of experience between the participants.

One issue was that the knife that were handed out was so dull that it was difficult to cut the vegetables so the person across from me kindly offered to share his knife with me but even that one was not that sharp but much better than the one I had. I asked for and used the sharpening steel for a little bit but that only helped a little. Suggested that it might be good to get it professionally sharpened and that Chef's Paradise does it for free for 6 knifes.


2016 Mar 7
A nice little tip was given about how to straighten the shrimp by making 4-5 crosswise cuts in the belly of the shrimp and squeezing them with the back up till they popped.

The instructor showed about how to make the batter but she made 4 bowls of batters to share and about 3 people per station with the batter and heated oil.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product before I dug in but looked pretty decent for a tempura and a nice full sized serving.

Looking forward to the wagashi class. I think the sushi one would be a bit basic since they would not do fish or anything exciting.

But for $10 for 90 mins hands on class, definitely value for money cooking class and kind of fun.

2016 Mar 7
Thanks for posting these:))) Cool tip for shrimp tempura. Looking forward to the okonomyaki class:)))

2016 Mar 13
Okonomyaki class - ie japanese savouru pancake was fantastic. Very reasonable price to discover new ingredients, dishes and chef Julia is fantastic! Great hands in classes and instructions.

2016 Mar 13
Chef Julia preparing the slices of pork belly (optional, vegetarian version of dish was also available)

2016 Mar 13
The kitchen

2016 Mar 13
Everyone got to make their own batter, cook the dish and serve it with toppings. All dishes turned out well and tasty thanks to the wonderful teaching and recioe from Chef Julua. I snap a photo (with permission;) of the results from a talented student in the class who made this stylish looking plate.

2016 Mar 13
All in all I would highly recommend the classes, fun atmosphere, good price, great instructor, nice facility and recipe sheet include. The small group of 10 was perfect and great fun vibe.

2016 Mar 20
Wagashi Japanese pastry class at T&T. Fun class.

2016 Mar 20
Fun class but my chick must have been drunk since it keep falling over.

2016 Mar 22
The $10 hands on sushi class for March 22 has been rescheduled to April 26 due to illness of the instructor..

I am already committed to the Divino Wine Studio dinner so my niece eagerly took the spot I have reserved since her exams be finished by then...