Cooking Class - Coastal Cuisine of Southern India

I had a good time in Chef Jacques' lovely space. I'm far from being vegetarian, let alone vegan but I have to give it up for Chef Jacques Jamaican Spice Jerk "Chicken." It was simple to make, savory, satisfying and full of flavor! He puts a lot of thought into making his dishes nutritious and delicious and shares his methods to make healthy and tasty vegan food.

The experience was only ok. Chef Jacques, while very knowledgeable and obviously a great chef, could definitely have used a little more planning and structure and presentation to the class and process. I felt as if he expected me to know the recipe already and be experimenting within it during the class. We were not ready for that. The first time making something I’d rather follow the recipe and take specific directions. I can’t make something “to taste” if I’ve never made it before. We enjoyed learning how to cook vegan and what those options and substitutes are even though we are not vegans ourselves. Finally, we also would have enjoyed making the experience a little more fun as we chose to do this as our rare date night without kids and everything. We would have liked drinks offered during cooking (even water) and a little better ambiance and structure to the eating part. We just sort of tasted each course for a second at the table as they were ready. I would have rather had a meal with my wife than awkwardly, hurriedly tasting our food when there was nothing else to do. Anyway, we love cooking classes and will definitely give it another try. Our expectations didn’t match with reality, so we will definitely do a little more research and perhaps even talk to the chef next time to make sure we have the kind of experience we are hoping for.