What a treat to be learning how to barbecue at the Webber Academy…read more From the moment you walk in you can smell the excitement from the Burntwood and the Flames going in all the barbecues. As part of the chorus we were greeted by the Chef & The Chef's Team and they were a cool bunch of people. After washing up we were told what we were making for the day and we got into it. From baking a cake to prepping our meat everything was shown in full detail. So for an average amateur this was great. Even someone who is experienced will enjoy the knowledge. The best part was to get the hands-on experience actually barbecuing the meat and dishes alike. After a few hours of preparing and cooking the fun begins when we all got to plate our dinners and enjoy them over some drinks. As a wrap up to the event and course you're all pleasantly presented a certificate of completion to get us off into becoming future Pitmasters. This was a tremendous amounts of fun. I hope that everyone can experience it at least once. I know I'm looking forward to coming back to Future training courses.

Don't miss this place! Outstanding trainers, lots of fun, lots of grilling tricks and amazing meal…read moreat the end! This guys know tons about grilling and helped me to bring my skills to the next level. Great experience!

A friend invited me to a bread baking class with Natalina; a Southern Italian cook who runs…read more"Natalina's Kitchen" school from her home. The basement is set up as a commercial type kitchen with plenty of room for a class of 10 people. Natalina is a very welcoming, friendly lady with lots of great tips (even for seasoned cooks!) and stories stories of her travels etc. She shared 3 recipes for focaccia, no knead ciabatta and a sweet no knead ciabatta with dried figs and cinnamon. The whole class got involved and we also had a lovely salad and we made pannini's with grilled chicken, basil pesto and provolone...lovely!!! We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and each other's company. Make sure you bring an LCBO paper bag to take home the hot bread! Classes sell out very quickly so you'd best get on her email list. Www.italiancookingschoolguelph.com Enjoy!!!!

From the owner: We are a small,private, Italian Cooking School that specializes in Italian Classics and Southern…read moreItalian Specialties. We are located on a beautiful rural property with fruit trees,vegetable,flower and herb gardens. Some of our services include 4 week, 1x per week classes,1 day workshops,kid's classes and camps, corporate team building and interactive dinner parties.

We used Chef Revolution (Chef Gabe) for a team building event for our company. He came into one of…read moreour homes, and taught us several courses. It was incredibly hands-on, fun, informative and delicious! We worked in pairs, creating several recipes - step by step, with his help. We would highly recommend him for any in-home cooking class, or just having him come and in and cook for you! He was patient, funny and very knowledgeable, but the most important thing was his recipes, they were delicious. We all said there are several we will make at home. Thanks Chef Gabe, you created a memorable experience for all of us.

What a great evening we had with Adamo and Vita!! We had a team building work event here and the…read moreexperience was so fun and very conducive to building greater connection amongst our group. Fabulous food, too, and we made it ourselves! Amazing! Thank you guys so much!!

I'd gone to a Chef Upstairs event a few years ago, and always kept them in mind as it was a great…read moreexperience. They offer various services and events, and I recalled as well that they also do kids camps. Over the past couple years, my daughter has taken a big interest in cooking. And not just a fleeting interest, but consistently enjoys watching cooking shows and wanting to participate in cooking at home. As we were planning summer camps this year, I thought we should try to finally give her a chance to live her dream a bit and attend a week here. She's gone to a city-run one before. Though she quite enjoyed it, it was fairly simple. At The Chef Upstairs, they are in a full commercial kitchen with gas stoves, deep fryers and a whole bunch of other things you'd expect from a real kitchen. They have a firm belief that kids can learn safely - in fact, the safest thing is to expose them and provide proper technique. And they're not just making things like a deli meat roll up wrap, but full-on multi-course meals (they make breakfast and lunch) and from recipes from all around the world. You should look at the menus they post on their site for the kids camps. It was a bit of a sacrifice for us as we do not live nearby. That said, they have two locations, so a number of people are well-situated if near Vaughan and midtown Toronto. It's also a bit more money than many other kids camps - though its apparent with the food costs and the high staffing ratio that it's still good value. Ultimately, it was well worth it. My daughter loved it and truly lived out a dream and learned a lot. The highlight for her was the week long prep leading up to the Iron Chef-esque competition where they planned their own full menu. I'm thrilled that The Chef Upstairs lived up and even exceeded our already high expectations and truly made a lifetime memory for our daughter.

My favourite events are the ones where I have no responsibility or role in planning, and I just…read morehave to show up. This particular event was my 39th birthday (yes, this is the first 39th birthday) and it was held at the aptly named Richmond Hill Culinary Arts Centre. My girlfriend and brother handled all of the planning, and the staff at RCAC were not only very helpful, but also very accommodating with any of the requests that were made. When I arrived, I was greeted by 26 of my friends and a fine selection of cocktails and hors d'ouvres. I believe (in an effort to keep costs down) that our group provided these items. The vodka was delicious, and I had no problem doing my part to make sure there was none left to take home. Anyhow, let's talk about the event...it was an Iron Chef competition. 30 minutes to devise a menu, choose ingredients, prep, cook, plate/present your meal. The rules of the competition and the judging criteria were explained in great detail by Program Director Frederick Oh. Frederick patiently endured my jokes and our collective A.D.D., and we were almost ready to get down to business. Sixteen (of 26) of us participated, and there were four judges (3 friends + Frederick himself). Four team leaders were named (I was one), and three of them chose their members while I fumbled around asking who was participating and who wasn't. The upside to not knowing who was participating (the event was a surprise to me), I simply had 3 people left to choose from. I chose them all. From the dining area where we were all gathered, Frederick opened a set of double doors to reveal a huge, bright clean Kitchen with four large stainless steel work areas in the middle. On one end there was a market table with all of the fresh ingredients, spices/herbs and oils, and on the other end there were ovens, two burners/team, a grill and a bunch of other things that you can't possible get around to using because, well, 30 minutes is next to no time, and being unfamiliar with the kitchen is the equivalent to being a nervous, sweaty handed 15 year old trying to undo a bra for the first time. Our mandate was for each team to prepare a (single) appetizer (using a vinegrette) and an entree using the secret ingredients and a starch. These dishes would be judged on criteria established in international cooking competitions, and I just don't have the space or memory to list them here. In order to find out what our secret ingredients were, each group had to nominate a delegate to shuck three oysters as quickly as possible. As it turned out, our ingredients were a quail, two quail eggs and a large dehydrated mushroom (it wasn't one of the usual varieties). Anyhow, everybody had a fantastic time. The 30 minutes absolutely flew by, and necessitated great team work and communication. There was simply no way to have dead weight. Everybody needed to have a task assigned and execute it in a timely fashion while keeping the work areas clean and orderly. There was staff in place to take care of cleaning all of the utensils used, but outside of that you were on your own as a team to find and decide what and how to do your plates. After the judging and my group being awarded the Certificates of Culinary Supremacy (my name for it at least), we went back to the dining area where we were treated to an absolutely fantastic meal prepared by people who are far better in the kitchen than many of us could strive to be. The food was excellent, and prepared and presented beautifully. Everybody truly had an excellent time, and I would highly recommend this for a unique gathering of friends, or a corporate team building event. I for one am glad it was friends, because the likelihood of enjoying the company of that many people you work with could just lead to a stabbing or involuntary bobbing for french fries incident. Frederick and his staff were very professional and we all truly appreciated the seemless execution of ever aspect of our evening. The only downside to having an event that runs from 6pm - 12am is having a person like myself making decisions like inviting everybody back to my house for more drinks afterwards...because that's what we all needed...I don't think I got out of bed until 3pm the next day...but that my friend's is my own, personal problem. ;)

The team at the Richmond Hill Culinary Arts were a pleasure. I was enthralled and entertained by…read moreChef Fred. He effertlessly lead a group of 18 in a three course that included two protiens. His helpful tips extended beyond food preparation to buying, storing and the composition of the ingredients. Looking for something different to do for a team event or a birthday, I would highly recommend this place.