Chef Joni

Chef Joni was a pleasure to cook with. She was inviting and warm. I surprised my husband with the Italian cooking class for his birthday and we had such a wonderful time. Cooking the ragu, making homemade pasta and tiramisu was so special to us. We are looking forward to another class with her and definitely recommend her to everyone.

I found Chef Joni Sare on Cozymeal and booked her for my team offsite as my 3 other team members found her Master Italian Classics Cooking Class to be a fun learning experience. Boy were we right. If you don't read my full review, all I can say is that Chef Joni was an EXCELLENT instructor and my team members and I had such a good time. We were smiling ear-to-ear the entire time we were there. Highly recommended from this reviewer. Detailed review below: Communication (5/5): We used the Cozymeal platform for everything and found their interface amazing. Chef Joni was very pro-active and communicated with me several times before the event date on January 17, 2020. What stood out about this communication was that she really wanted to know us. She asked good questions like "Why did you choose this class?", "What do you hope to learn from it?", "What are your goals?" etc. Really appreciate this since she can cater the class to exactly your needs. She was also very accommodating when I told her that one of our team members was a vegetarian so she made sure she had a vegetarian option on hand during our class. Finally, before the event, she gave us extremely detailed directions to the location of the event (including a picture) and what to expect. Really outstanding communication here. Location (5/5): Her location is in her house located in Sunnyvale near major highways. Lots of street parking once you arrive so no issues on parking. The inside is well decorated and everything seems to be remodeled including her kitchen which was very modern. See pics to get an idea. Food (5/5): The Master Italian Classics Cooking Class contains the following menu: 1.) Antipasti - Cheese, crackers, almonds, pepper jelly to snack on throughout the whole meal while you are there 2.) Handmade Fettuccine Alfredo 3.) Ragu (Mushrooms, many vegetables) - Our protein was lamb for the meat-eaters and tofu for our vegetarian team member. 4.) Tiramisu - for dessert. I don't want to spoil too much of the class but I'll share some of the highlights for me at least. Preparing the Fettuccine Dough from scratch including folding it, kneading it, was a really fun experience. Also running through the dough through the pasta machine to stretch it and finally cut it into actually the noodles was such a cathartic experience. I'm really happy I got to experience that. The Ragu was so delicious and so healthy at the same time as we barely used any vegetable oil and we put in so many vegetables. Finally, the tiramisu making was actually pretty easy but delicious at the same time. Now that I have been through how to make Tiramisu, I am confident I can make it for a party without issue. Also, if you can't finish all the food you make, Chef Joni gives you take-out boxes to bring home so you can enjoy the food again! Our group also had leftover uncooked fettuccine and we got to take that home. Chef Joni (5/5): Last but not least Chef Joni was an excellent instructor. She was so bubbly and easy to talk to and really put the group at ease very quickly. She was masterful on dividing up certain tasks in the kitchen so we can all participate in the cooking journey and made sure we were doing the steps properly. We asked her so many questions during our time in the class and she happily answered every single one of them without being annoyed. It was nice to finish the class with all of us including Chef Joni eating at the table. Chef Joni's passion for cooking really shines through her class and we had a great time! Our team can't wait to come back. Thank you Chef Joni for a great class.

Chef Joni was an amazing teacher for our Paella for two class. She had everything laid out beautifully and even had a little snack area so we could munch while cooking. The first thing we made was Sangria, which was lovely to sip on throughout the class. She taught us new techniques for cutting veggies and also introduced us to new ingreidents we hadn't used before. She also made sure to capture all the moments for us, taking pictures, and really laying out her areas to be "instagram ready." We made paella but also a valencia orange cake which was so easy to make and tastey! The decorating of the desserts portion of the class was so fun! Our time with her flew by even though the class actually ran a little longer than scheduled! The result was amazing food and an amazing time. She even took us out to her garden to see the veggies she was growing. She was very kind and obviously passionate about her work. We had plenty of left over food and Sangria to take home. I highly recommend a class with Chef Joni!

Our team had a fabulous time with Chef Joni! She ensured everyone was involved in some aspect of the meal prep. She mixed the science and fun of cooking all together. Highly recommended.