The Gourmandise School

What a fun class with cool people and a cooler instructor! I took Jams, Preserves and Pickles with Robyn. Great instructions and attention. Very personable. I got to take home some serious goodies. I can’t wait til my next class!

Gourmandise School is a wonderful place to learn cooking and baking skills. The teachers are expert and completely approachable, knowledgeable, warm and friendly. The individual classes are terrific and I've now taken 3 series classes, each of which has given me a solid basis and knowledge to cook and bake confidently. GREAT value for the money.

I recently took my second culinary class with Chef Dave. This one was a knife skills class, and I can't recommend him enough! He's incredibly knowledgeable, patient, and informative, making even the trickiest techniques easy to understand. Chef Dave is the perfect teacher. I'm already looking forward to my third class!

The Gourmandise School is hands down the best cooking class I ever attended. My wife and I took the Izakaya class where we learned how to make classic dishes served in Japanese pubs. Our instructor, May, was incredible in sharing the history of the food and how certain dishes have distinct flavors based on the ingredients and the way they are prepared. We made five dishes at our cooking stations. The sixth was a Matcha Ginger Shortbread which was the dessert. May talked us through the preparation for the cookies in class and had the kitchen staff baked the cookies while we focused on our five dishes. The overall setup of the class and preparation were well thought out and very thorough, making it easy for us to focus on cooking the dishes during the class. The staff and support team were phenomenal in making sure we had everything we needed to make the dishes. They even gave us tofu for our Shrimp and Garlic Chive Gyoza recipe to make them vegetarian friendly. We ended the class with a feast. All of the dishes were so flavorful and authentic. One thing to note is you can bring your own wine if you wish. The Curious Palate is a restaurant/bar next door that sells bottles of wine for 50% off to students. Kudos to the Gourmandise School for creating such a unique and memorable experience. I'd recommend their classes to anyone interested in learning new recipes, meet interesting people and have fun doing it! I'm looking forward to attending future classes.

Chef Robyn brilliantly executed a professional level class in Baking with Chocolate. The Devil's Food Cupcake and Brownie with Bourbon Caramel vied for perfection status when devoured at home. I also took the Thanksgiving Pie class and can highly recommend The Gourmandise School for their carefully organized classes and devoted instructors. Will definitely up your cooking skills.

My girlfriend and I have taken six or so classes over the last couple of years. They are always fun, we always learn something from the excellent chef/instructors, and the food we make is delicious. We love it and will be back again soon.

We had a wonderful experience in the 'Baking with Chocolate' class! Chef Robyn did an excellent job and was patient with everyone's different levels of ability. Not only did we thoroughly enjoy ourselves and learn a great deal about the science of baking, we also walked out with two HUGE boxes full of delicious chocolate baked goods: brownies, cookies, cupcakes, and caramel and chocolate sauces to boot.

I have attended numerous cooking classes in person and virtually. By far, The Gourmandise School of Cooking is part of my top 5. Pre-pandemic, one of their scheduled classes was "Walking with the Chef". We would literally walk with chef to the Farmers Market to purchase product, spices and any other items they would need to prepare their dish. In class, everyone participated. It was the high light of my experience attending the school.

I scheduled a private class for a holiday work party. The booking was easy and straight forward and given that I did it relatively last minute, they were very accommodating. As an fyi if you get the charcuterie it does not include the cheese plate, so order both of you want both cheese and meats. This class was SO much better than I even expected it to be. I don't cook and I don't like to cook; however, I had a blast and the food was so good. Our chef was Nigel and he was AMAZING. There are cheaper classes out there, but the quality and attention paid here are worth every penny.

Great teacher. Highly recommend and we not only a great time, we learned a lot and had lots of fun in this great environment! They honored our request for non meat and were extremely friendly.

A perfect date night activity! Or for anyone who wants to learn how to cook and have fun in a non-intimidating environment. My boyfriend and I booked the Thai Favorites class (we love Thai food) and had the most fun learning about ingredients and how to put together delicious meals. For starters, we made curried long beans (you can adjust the level of spiciness). Entrees were grilled pork skewers with chili lime sauce and tofu pad thai. I usually eat chicken pad thai and surprisingly really enjoyed the tofu version, it's also much faster to cook. We ended with dessert which was coconut sticky rice- this was already pre-made because the rice needed some time to soak. The class was full, with about 10-15 people. You could also purchase drinks next door for half off and enjoy while you cook. Thank you Chef May for a wonderful experience! I liked the recommendations for the brands of sauces, that's helpful. The class is a bit pricey but for 3 hours of a fun hands on learning experience, it's worth it! The school is located on the 3rd floor of Santa Monica Place. Paid parking available on site but give yourself a bit of time to get there so you're not late. It starts right on time!

Chef Dave gave a great date night Spanish Tapas class for me and my wife. We were there with about 7 other couples but for plenty of time to learn from the chef or his helpers. Everything was fun and fairly easy to do - you get the recipes after it's over so you can make at home. Bring some wine and enjoy your self cooked meal!

What an amazing experience. We took a challah bread class and it was super fun and informative. We learnt not only how to make Challah but also different types of wheats and their production. The process was easy and the instructor was there to help and answer any questions. The place is very clean and wonderful ambiance to just relax while baking and making some delicious goodie!

I was Christmas gifted a class from My Son! Yay! I picked a Bao making class! I had Such a Good Time! The class was from 630- 930pm. Student were paired up & I was paired with a Nice young man who was gifted the class by his Mom. The kitchen/ work station was Clean & Orderly. Chef May was Awesome. She explained Our Mission & demonstrated before we tackled our tasks! Lol I love to Cook & EAT Good Food! And we did a Great Job! We are also provided thru email Our recipes. I will definitely be signing up for a new class!! Fun! AND YOU DON'T HAVE to do THE DISHES!!

Came with a friend to have a brobake. We made holiday cookies including flodboller, linzer cookies and snowballs. The chefs were all great teachers and gave great tips about how to avoid most common pit falls and to cook not by time but by how the ingredients looked as they're mixed. I especially appreciated how they had a lot of the food prepped that might've been difficult to do at home. It was a really fun three hours and I learnt a lot. They were patient and provided an ample amount of breaks to use the bathroom and rest. Expect to be on your feet the majority of the time though. Highly recommend for a nice date idea or something new to try!

On Wednesday I took a delightful cooking demonstration and participation class at The Gourmandise School, located on the third floor of the Santa Monica Place Mall. Our class started out at Fig Restaurant at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel on Wilshire at Ocean Ave., where we met up with the Executive Chef, Damon Cook, a fun Brit with serious cooking chops, who led us through a tour of the Santa Monica farmers market to purchase items we would use. Then we walked over to the school and prepared two great dishes. The first was a Crudo of Hamachi Aguachile. This was a perfect first course, and was accompanied by lovely little flowers, sliced avocado and radish. The second dish was breast of duck with farmers market apricots in a type of chutney, accented by a reduced duck jus. For just $25 this was a super way to spend an afternoon and I would definitely return for another class. Excellent value!

I love it here. My best friend (novice baker) and i (hobby baker) joined for the pre-Thanksgiving pie class and had an absolute blast. We walked out with a full pumpkin pie and apple pie - thankfully they freeze! Excellent support team from helping me find the location when I got lost in the mall to pie instruction to the delicious snacks they brought out to keep us well fed during breaks. Seriously, those chocolate chip cookies were life changing. Can't wait to go back for another class. Highly highly recommend.

This is a long overdue review but I was so so disappointed with my experience at The Gourmandise School for my partner's birthday. I thought it would be a fun experience where we might get to learn some new tricks (we are both avid home cooks) but the instruction we received was lackluster. We signed up for a date night class making fried chicken, cornbread, collard greens, and banana pudding. I was really excited about the chicken because we didn't have a lot of experience frying. Unfortunately, it seemed like our instructor had even less! I believe he was a last-minute sub because he was so unhelpful and unknowledgeable about the process. Almost no one in the class had chicken that turned out well because our instructor did not know the right temp to fry at or how to fix any issues that came up. We didn't have enough thermometers or fryers for each couple, and he rushed our frying process so the batter didn't stick while the chicken was raw in the middle. You would think that for hundreds of dollars they would be able to afford more than 3 thermometers... If it was just my chicken that had an issue I would have chalked it up to my lack of experience, but no one, including our teacher, had well-fried chicken. It was full of bald spots and some people even had the entire breading come off! The other dishes were fine but very simple. This was irritating because it was clear our instructor was not well-equipped to be teaching a class. I also felt disappointed with the lack of knowledge he had in other areas. When students asked about why their cornbread looked a certain way or why we did a specific step, his answers were really vague. I absolutely do not recommend The Gourmandise School. The only redeeming quality about my experience was how easily I was able to move my reservation. Thank you to the nice woman who answered the phone!

We did the date night class, the Meze menu. Our instructor, Dave, was great - informative, very accomplished (including history as a prep cook for Bourdain and several years in European kitchens), and fun. The facilities are good - heavy-duty professional ovens, hoods, etc. -- and the equipment is adequate. The class actually emphasizes knife work - we chopped our way through baba ganoush, tabouli, and lamb kefteh - but we did not measure or portion anything, which I think was a lack. It's a lot of actual cooking and we got some good tips. The eating experience at the end was a bit disorganized and anticlimactic, but we did end up taking a whole additional meal away as leftovers .

I've come to the Gourmandise 2 times now to take classes on specific techniques: Chicken and Eggs. Both times were wonderful experiences, my friend and I had a great time and learned new things in both classes. I consider myself a pretty proficient home cook, but I do tend to stick to the same techniques and methods for cooking both chicken and eggs. The classes taught me how to butcher a chicken properly, and how to make 5 different types of egg dishes, include aioli/hollandaise, as well as how to poach the perfect egg, a method I had never tried because it was intimidating. The atmosphere at Gourmandise is fun and low pressure, my instructors were kind and helpful, and explained everything well so that we could try things out. I'll definitely be baking and I'm looking forward to taking a pastry laminating or croissant class in the future. A great place for both accomplished cooks and those just learning.

I gifted my husband a class at The Gourmandise School and we really enjoyed the experience. Chef May was a wonderful instructor who went over everything clearly and was really nice. The food was tasty and we will definitely be making these recipes at home. We would definitely recommend trying out classes here.

Kid Here! I have a dream of being a chef, and yesterday I took a sushi class at The Gourmandise School. The instructor, Chef May, was really nice, knowledgable and taught me and my mom how to make sushi rice and multiple different types of rolls. My experience was amazing. I can't wait to take another class!

I enjoyed cooking 101, it is fun and if you want to start cooking you will love it. I knew how to cook but I liked to know about other methods and kinds of cooking. If they have more advanced classes or some healthy cooking class I will be happy to join them as well.

Loved the parent and me class I took with my seven-year-old. It was great to watch her build confidence and excitement in such a short period of time, and she has already said how much she wants to go back. Chef Benny is so unfussy and accessible - she makes everyone feel like they can be a great cook!

My husband signed us up for cooking 101 and I honestly was hesitant at first. We went to the first class and I soon realised that this was a great investment. We learned so much in just that first class, and most importantly we had fun. During these 4 weeks (once a week) of classes, I was super excited to go to the next class. We would cook and then eat as a class, and then take a ton of our food home, so it was well worth it. It really was like date night. Chef May and the entire staff were GREAT! So helpful and so knowledgable. Thank you to the Gourmandise school! We will definitely be taking more classes in the future!

My son took the teen camp. He had so much fun! The instructor was incredibly knowledgeable and very supportive given these are teens. The school itself is so beautiful and clean. Their shop is full of tools and books inspired by what the kids learned. My son had an amazing experience and best of all, made really delicious food. He's really motivated to continue his kitchen adventures. Thank you Gourmandise!!

Took a Yulelog cooking class for the holidays and had a fantastic time. All of the staff are very knowledgeable and friendly. We learned baking skills on a scientific level and got to hone our own personal creativity with flavors and design. HIGHLY recommend!

I participated in the Business of Food class virtually. Clémence was wonderful - so knowledgeable and inclusive of my virtual attendance! She presented the missing pieces of information I was looking for to start my business and now I feel empowered to keep moving forward. This was time well spent. Thank you!

Loved my Cooking 101 course with Chef May. The location is convenient, the kitchen is spacious and well-ventilated and there's a lot a beginner like me gets to cook - and enjoy eating - right off the bat. Before the course was even over, I went ahead and signed up for three more one-off specialty classes. Oh, and I should mention that a cooking class makes for a great date! Dare I say, I know love cooking, thanks to Gourmandaise.

Taken many classes. Great facility, great teachers. Great community conscious establishment. Highly recommend!

My work colleagues, and I had a great Teambuilding event here. They were very accommodating to the vegans in our group. They even provided vegan cheese for our wine and charcuterie, that we enjoyed while watching the demo. They even provided vegan fish & oyster sauce for our Thai menu. Chef May was our instructor and did a great job.

Hands down, best place to take cooking classes in Los Angeles. Have enjoyed date nights through the years and our kids have enjoyed taking cooking classes while learning helpful lifelong culinary skills as well. Recipes are amazing and practical. Chef instructors are down to earth, happily share their talents with patience and joy. Will continue coming back for many classes to come and hope to host a work event soon. Recipes are replicable at home with some practice depending on level of expertise and difficulty. Took Chinese dumpling class tonight with Shu Mai and Chinese broccoli. Was delicious and left with new skills! Thank you Gourmandise and Chef May!

The Gourmandise School is hands down the best cooking class I ever attended. My wife and I took the Izakaya class where we learned how to make classic dishes served in Japanese pubs. Our instructor, May, was incredible in sharing the history of the food and how certain dishes have distinct flavors based on the ingredients and the way they are prepared. We made five dishes at our cooking stations. The sixth was a Matcha Ginger Shortbread which was the dessert. May talked us through the preparation for the cookies in class and had the kitchen staff baked the cookies while we focused on our five dishes. The overall setup of the class and preparation were well thought out and very thorough, making it easy for us to focus on cooking the dishes during the class. The staff and support team were phenomenal in making sure we had everything we needed to make the dishes. They even gave us tofu for our Shrimp and Garlic Chive Gyoza recipe to make them vegetarian friendly. We ended the class with a feast. All of the dishes were so flavorful and authentic. One thing to note is you can bring your own wine if you wish. The Curious Palate is a restaurant/bar next door that sells bottles of wine for 50% off to students. Kudos to the Gourmandise School for creating such a unique and memorable experience. I'd recommend their classes to anyone interested in learning new recipes, meet interesting people and have fun doing it! I'm looking forward to attending future classes.

My kids took a teen sushi class and loved it! Covid protocols were well enforced and each student was able to get hands on. They had leftovers and I got to try it to the delight of my taste buds. So good! The quality of the ingredients was obvious and I'm grateful they were able to try real sushi with sashimi versus fake crab. Since the class, my son has made sushi a few times using the recipe he brought home from class.

Had a great time at Gourmandise. The Italian Trattoria class was so fun & Chef Gino is a fantastic teacher. Would definitely recommend and will definitely be back!

This is pretty delayed so I apologize. We schedule a french macaron class here on September 25th as part of a bachelorette party weekend. There was 8 of us in the class and we were partnered up to make two batches of french macarons. While we waited for the class to start, they had a nice cheese plate and iced water for us to snack on which I thought was a nice touch. The class area had a great display of different colored mixers, big ovens and cooling racks. They also had a storefront which had a good selection of cookware and novelty items. They went through the class step by step, showing us every step and letting us go through it with a recipe to help us along. I have always been intimidated baking macarons but this class really showed us some tips and tricks and now I can't wait to make it again. The macarons turned out great and we also made a chocolate ganache for our filling. We all had such a great time and came out with so much macarons to take home. The only thing that I would recommend is to confirm the length of the class. We unfortunately were on a time crunch and didn't realize the class was longer than we anticipated. May did a great job accommodating us and gave us containers for the ganache so we can fill our macarons at a later time. All in all, I highly recommend trying the classes here. The location is easy to find since it is in the mall. Staff was absolutely great, friendly and very accommodating. I wish we had this time of place in SD. I already want to come back and try their other classes as well. Hopefully soon.

Awesome way to learn. I felt like the staff is very kind and helpful. Definitely recommend trying this.

I attended the a brunch class this morning with Chef John at their new location across from the old one. The new place is a lot bigger and out in the open. Very well displayed. I booked a brunch in Havana class for my partner and I to do together. The class was in a smaller scales which I totally appreciated because you get more time to actually share tips with one another. We got a little history on the dish we were preparing which was nice. During break we were able to go get a drink at the bar next door and bring it back. We all were able to sit down and eat our brunch once we were done. Which was delicious. The reason why I'm updating my review to a 5 star however is because of our amazing Chef John. Right off the bat he made you feel welcome very approachable and relatable. He gave us tips on how to substitute anything we probably didn't have at home. He made sure to walk around and help us individually. This would be my third class and by far the best chef I've encountered. He took control of the class in a polite way which allowed us all to learn. You always have that one person but it seems like he was quickly easily to let them take over the class. Definitely will book another one of his classes.

Fulfilled a lifelong dream of making croissants at this wonderful school, that is staffed by the most wonderful people, and such an amazing instructor. I was very fortunate to have two amazing guests in my class, from Grist and Toll and the Canyon Bakery. The wealth of knowledge that these amazing women have amassed was awe inspiring. I didn't even take notes, I just soaked up every bit of knowledge they shared like a sponge. It was such an amazing and inspiring experience. I look forward to continuing on my journey of 1,000 miles, as The Gourmandise School has taught me to take that every fearsome first step.

Fabulous experience, highly recommend!!! Took my team here for a private team building event last night. We took the homemade pasta class with Chef Geno. Geno was exceptional, from his Italian background to his historical knowledge that only added to the class. Thank you to Chris who stayed in contact with me throughout booking and planning and allowed me to switch up the menu a little. I will definitely be back and have also shared my wonderful experience with friends and family.

I'm not sure if I'd call my cooking gourmet at all but it sure tasted and looked like this time! I got the opportunity to cook here last night with a class making butternut squash filled pasta with a brown butter sage sauce and a butterscotch custard. OMG so good and so fitting that it was right after Thanksgiving. The whole process was about 3 hours from start to end, including prep and time to eat. The instructor was extremely informative and helpful throughout the event in making sure we were doing things correctly (aka: not burning the food or the place...) They were organized and helped us step by step in getting everything ready for us to create the dishes. The additional assistants were quick and efficient and helped us throughout as well. They cleaned up our prep stations after each step and brought out the ingredients we needed for the next. In the end, the dish came our great with an ol' so rich and buttery pasta and dessert, with a side salad that they mixed for us to start the meal with. On top of that, you get the recipes to go as well so you can make it over and over again! IMO a good date spot. A good spot for a gift for parents. A good spot regardless to have some fun cooking different things. There are other options in terms of dishes you can cook based on their schedule. If you get a chance, come check it out!

This was my first time experiencing a structured class at a cooking school. I have worked in the food industry for 11 years at Disney, picked up cooking techniques on the job and learned at home from my parents. Nowadays, I apply these cooking techniques to the food I create for contests/competitions/recipe development and they give me insight when judging food competitions as well. Our instructor provided a quick overview of beef cattle, going over which cuts work best with different cooking methods like high heat grilling versus slow and low roasting and braising. We then got to work with three different types of beef: ground beef, skirt steak, and New York steak in three different recipes. We started by creating a marinade for a Sweet & Spicy Skirt Steak so the meat could marinate while we worked on the other recipes. Then we started chopping and mixing ingredients for Classic Meatballs on Grilled Bread and then rolling them into meatballs. While the meatballs were baking in the oven, we started on the tomato sauce. When the meatballs were ready, they took a dunk into the sauce. After grilling some crusty bread, we topped the bread with the meatballs draped in sauce and garnished with fresh basil leaves. They came out beautifully. The methods and ingredients I would change the next time I made these: Chop the onion finer so it would integrate into the meatball mixture better (my bad). Either melt a slice of provolone or mozzarella on the bread and/or garnish with shredded parmesan. By now, the skirt steak had enough time to marinate and it was off to the grill. We like our steaks rare to medium-rare so our steak was done before anyone else. We let it rest for about 5 minutes, sliced it against the grain, and served with rice. The marinade flavor penetrated the meat and gave the outside a nice caramelized crust from the grill marks. This would be a great recipe for a barbeque yet fancy enough for an intimate dinner. I can even see this sliced and placed inside a baguette like banh mi with pickled vegetables. The final recipe was the classic, Steak Diane. This is an entrée you would see on a classic steakhouse menu. I have always wanted to learn how to make it and it was much easier than I thought. No matter what your cooking level (beginner to advanced), The Gourmandise School of Sweets and Savories has a class for you. I would say I am closer to advanced in my cooking knowledge, yet I still learned a lot of new techniques and just more about beef in general. This is a great date activity (since you work together and then you get to eat), a fun outing for friends (girls/guys day out), and only a couple of blocks from the Santa Monica Pier and beautiful Pacific Ocean.

We had a fantastic time with a private cooking class at the school arranged for a family birthday. They were even kind enough to modify the class to make sure that the 4 kids in our party (ages 5, 7, 9, 10) could participate. The instruction was clear, the pace was just right for both the novices and the more experienced. We did a pasta class, and it was so amazing to see how simple it could be to make pasta from scratch. It tasted absolutely delicious. We were told that ours was one of the first classes since they reopened the school, and I'm so glad they were able to preserve through the pandemic so we could enjoy such a wonderful place.

Had the most wonderful experience enjoying a cooking class for a bridal shower! The whole team was so helpful, accommodating, and professional. Highly recommend.

Delightful and delicious! We went as a family to celebrate our daughter's 18th birthday. We enjoyed learning to cook a traditional British breakfast with a California twist. The school accommodated our diet by getting veggie sausage for us. Chef John is skilled, helpful, friendly, and easy to follow. We even learned some knife skills and after cooking, we all sat down to enjoy our work! Highly recommend and we'll be back!

I took the Izakaya class at The Gourmandise School this past weekend with my husband and we had a ball! This was my second class with Gourmandise and just like my first class (on jams, canning and pickles), I was impressed by the organization and professionalism from everyone at the school. The environment the school provides creates such an easy environment to learn in. I've taken a lot of cooking classes in the Los Angeles area, and classes at The Gourmandise School are by far the most informative with the most hands-on practice. Our teacher for the Izakaya class, May, demonstrated how to make each dish and then we replicated her work at our own cooking stations with a mise en place discretely arranged for each us at our places while we were watching the demo. We made multiple dishes and then were able to eat our work at the end of class. It was so much fun! The Gourmandise School has two large rooms that are incredibly well equipped. There is plenty of bright light from outside, and there is easy parking in the Santa Monica Promenade (park on the 5th or 6th floors and then walk directly onto the 3rd floor of the mall to the school). If you're looking for a fun foodie adventure, I recommend taking a class at The Gourmandise School. You won't be disappointed.

I can not offer enough praise for Clemence and the Gourmandise School. Clemence, herself, is the most generous, kind font of knowledge. From olive oil to chocolate to flour, to farmer's markets, her knowledge is unmatched. Plus, her croissants are heavenly, A few years ago, I attended her "Business of Food" class, then hired her to consult on a project of mine. Best investment of time and money I've made. While I haven't personally attended one of her online cooking classes, others have told me that they're just as enjoyable as the pre-COVID live classes were. Not surprising since her attention to detail is exceptional.

Tons of fun! We went here with a group of 20 people and were thrown down South with a decadent soulful meal that Paula Deen would jump in line for. Southern fried chicken, bacon collard greens, glazed yams, cornbread, and banana custard. How can you not love that? Drink some wine with friends. Cook. THEN DINE! Oh yeah, this would also be an amazing date for all you love birds out there!

I took cupcake baking and decoration earlier today. I did not have a good time for a few reasons. 1) we constantly needed to ask for equipment and did not have the things ready at our stations (this includes the chef not having equipment either and the class needing to be stalled until she received it). This happened more than 5 times throughout the class. This number may be an understatement. 2) it was a cupcake decorating class and they didn't have enough piping tips for everyone. So there were a few rosette tips but I had none so I ended up just taking most of my cupcakes home bare and deciding to decorate them here since I have tips. (The entire point of the class was to decorate though). 3) they ran out of cupcake parchment paper which is actually insane to me but then eventually got some more after people had to create their own parchment paper by cutting out squares. 4) I didn't really think that our instructor taught us how to decorate. She demonstrated two patterns within 30 seconds and then we were on our own. I asked her for help once but it was overall disappointing since I took this class to have help from someone. A YouTube video may have been more helpful. 5) the assistants were not friendly at all and it was a challenge to ask them for the equipment we needed but didn't have. I'm really upset I spent all this money on this class and could not recommend this experience. I gave it two stars because the cupcakes mostly tasted good. So I guess I paid $200 for a few recipes.

Move over Sur La Table. Move over Surfas. There is a new gal in town and her name is Clemence. She has opened The Gourmandise School of Sweets and Savories in Santa Monica, and she has a huge and growing fan base here in the South Bay!!! My friend and I signed up for the Advanced Holiday Macaron Class on Monday, December 9. The owner and teacher was Ms. Clemence. She was born and raised in France, so she brought 1st hand knowledge to making these French Macarons. She is a pastery chef, who has taught at Surfas and has baked for many of the local eating establishments. TALENT! http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/the-gourmandise-school-of-sweets-and-savories-santa-monica#PZLQiHMojNJiOvgi91zlew First, you have to understand that the style of baking / cooking here differs with each instructor. In general, the instructors are very layed back and casual. Clemence started off the class by telling us that her style is very informal and doesn't stick with the typical "tricks" of the trade. Instead, she makes learning low-stress and fun! We learned how to make three different types of French Macaron Cookies: Coffee, Pistacio, and Hazelnut. Each of the macaron cookie batches were pre-measured and prepared for for the students. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/the-gourmandise-school-of-sweets-and-savories-santa-monica#8HSfIskpXT96mlF97cm1DA We also learned how to make five different types of fillings, each of which can be varied according to your taste preferences. The first was a Chocolate Tiramisu filling. The second was a buttercream filling (flavored by plain, currants, rasberries, and pear purees). The third was a dark-chocolate honey lavendar filling. The fourth was a chocolate-pear infused ganache. And, the final was my favorite - it was a salted caramel made from SCRATCH! All were amazing and fun to make. Each student gets to make his/her own cookies and fill them. Some had to work in teams, as there would be TOOO many cookies if everyone made 3-4 batches by themselves. Team work is fun and encouraged here! The day ended with each student piping about 2-3 dozen macarons to take home. They provide the pastery box and a little gift box for you to give your macarons as gifts. What I liked best about this class was that I could ask as many questions that I wanted. Clemence answered questions about too high temperatures, bad ingredients, over-mixed cookies, and the best kinds of filling-pairings to the right kinds of cookies. And, what I loved most was that i told her that I loved Earl Grey and Lavendar, and she actually changed the menu to include fillings that I wanted to learn how to make. That is the added service and value that other cooking establishments (i.e., Sur La Table) can't offer their students. The Groumandise School is clean, professional, and full of knowledge. The staff work really hard and know their stuff. If you have questions, ask the receptionist "Jaime" as she is super friendly, knowledgeable, and welcoming! Take classes here for making chocolate, donuts, macarons, holiday desserts, healthy food options, truffles, fudge, and home made caramel! They specialize in groups, so corporate team building events are held here. I'm bringing my team to the Healthy Eating class! Product / Food / Instruction Grade: A+ Service Grade: A+ (Kudos to Clemense and Jaime) Worth the Money Grade: A! Overall Impression Grade: A+

Do you hate paying 2 bucks for a small macaron? So did I.. so I decided to enroll in one of the macaron classes at the Gourmadise School, at the new Market at Santa Monica Place. They fill up so fast that it's good to reserve well in advance. The classroom/kitchen is spacious and well lit. Clemence, the owner, was our teacher. She was very knowledgeable and gave us all the tips for the best macaron. She makes a batch, and then the students make other batches to practice. The best part, we get to take home everything we make. I am posting some pictures here. I was very happy with the results. It was a very nice way to spend the afternoon and I will sure go back to try other classes.

Attended my second class at Gourmandise-Baking with Chocolate. (First class was Tempering Chocolate.) Clemence was a excellent instructor. After pairing off, we watched Clemence go through the recipe for a chocolate hazelnut torte, and then went to our work stations to make it ourselves. This was followed by making a double chocolate melt away cookie and a chocolate budino. All were decadently delicious. We had a small tutorial on chocolate, from bean to usable chocolate and had a small chocolate sampling of various milk and dark chocolates. Lastly, we sampled some almond lace cookies that Clemence had made in a demonstration/ Highly recommend. I will be back at Gourmandise for some other classes during the year.

Bathrooms are all locked during hours and are unhelpful at guidance. The chefs are great but are hard to accommodate groups.

If you're looking for a unique and memorable kids birthday party, I HIGHLY recommend The Gourmandise School and Chef Gino!! The school's kitchen is beautifully set-up, clean, and easy to find on the top level of Santa Monica Place. Chris helped me secure the party and she was lovely to work with, even answering late night texts! Thank you, Chris. Sabrina made sure everything was smooth and I had no idea until now that she's one of the owners! The kids made fresh pasta, sauce, baked, and decorated cupcakes. Chef Gino has this wonderful energy that truly made the party so much FUN! All the kids and adults loved him. The kids did a great job with making pasta because Chef Gino is a very good teacher. The pasta turned out delicious! The cupcakes turned into a competition where Chef Gino and my twin boys judged for taste and presentation. We captured it all on video and it was a hit with the kids. It was also impressive to see the Gourmandise team helping Chef Gino assist him and everyone throughout the party. From cleaning up between baking cupcakes/making pasta/decorating cupcakes to giving one-on-one attention to the kids that needed extra help, I can't thank them enough. This was an AWESOME birthday memory. My boys and their friends LOVED it! Thank you, Sabrina, Chris, Chef Gino, and the Gourmandise team! We'll be back and look forward to making a meal from Chef Gino's cookbook.

Came here for a work event and we had a pasta cooking class/competition. It was really fun event and the instructors made it feel like I was in an episode of Master Chef. I channeled my inner Gordon Ramsay and won the competition!

I just took Intro to French Macarons: The French Method this past Sunday. I really enjoyed it! They provide the recipes and aprons. You should wear comfortable clothes and closed-toe shoes in the kitchen. The instructor, who was also the owner of the school, Clemense was excellent. She moved at just the right pace and explained everything clearly. I asked a lot of questions and she was very happy to thoroughly answer all of them. We paired up and got to make two batches of shells (one standard and one of our choice.) For our second one we did matcha. We also made a chocolate ganache. With the buttercream, we split it into three different flavors of our choice. My partner and I decided on passion fruit, strawberry, and rose. Strawberry and rose were my favorites, yummy! Clemense also demonstrated a batch of caramel. To allow time for our shells to dry, we took a couple breaks, which gave us time to socialize and grab a beverage from the restaurant in the same area. Once the shells were dried and baked, we began to assemble the macarons. WE GOT TO TAKE HOME EVERYTHING WE MADE. You can bring your own container(s) from home, but they provide them if you don't. As a nice little favor, the school sent each of us home with a bag of dry ingredients to make a batch of the shells at home! They also e-mail you the recipes and a discount for another class. There's also a hotline you can call with questions or problems you may have at home. With the wide variety of classes they offer, I'm excited to take another soon!

A group of us attended the Hawaiian Surf & Turf cooking class last month and we had a lot of fun. I've taken cooking classes at other businesses but this particular school exceeded my expectations and seemed more hands-on and professional yet still informal. The best part about these classes is that you and your partner do everything yourself. My husband and I were able to have our own station and cooking tools. We were able to prep our own food, cook it and enjoy eating the rewards of our labor. Although there were times when the chef would demonstrate and would ask fellow students to help with the prepping. In this case, we cut and chopped certain veggies to cook in the communal pineapple/bacon fried rice. Throughout the class, the chef would instruct while the staff were constantly prepping, assisting and cleaning whatever you needed at the time. Everyone was really helpful as there were times when we weren't sure if something looked cooked or good enough. I always love learning new techniques and ways to cook since I'm not really one to throw down in the kitchen. They have small cubbies to put your belongings, you can bring your own wine if you choose to drink it with your meal and they also had a small charcuterie board at the beginning so you can nosh while you're cooking (since classes are 3 hours). It was also nice that they gave us to-go containers for our leftovers. School is located at the top level of the Santa Monica place across from the Arclight.