[Shanghai] Stiller’s Cooking School

Stiller’s Restaurant & Cooking School

Add: Bldg 13, 6-7/F, The Cool Docks, 505 Zhongshan Nan Lu 老码头, 中山南路505号6-7楼
Tel: 6152 6501
Hours: email cookingschool@stillers-restaurant.cn for course schedule and time
Price: 420~650 RMB/class
Website: www.stillers-restaurant.cn
Visited: Nov 2011

I have known about Stiller’s Cooking School since the first time I dined at his restaurant, but it wasn’t until two weeks ago that I eventually signed up for a class. So how does haute cuisine actually work? Let’s find out.

Stiller’s cooking class is held on the 6th floor in an open kitchen gorgeous enough to make any housewife jealous. I arrived at 10:50am, greeted the chef, put on my apron (ours to keep), and carefully perused the recipes while waiting for my fellow classmates to trickle in. What’s on the menu? The theme of the class was “Stiller’s Autumn Set Menu” (650 RMB), and the recipes read foie gras, turbot, venison, and chocolate cake…looking good, looking very good.

The cookware and utensils, all glistening.

Here’s the view out the window, with a sky so glorious it didn’t even look like Shanghai.

Most ingredients we needed were already measured out and placed on the table, mise en place.

Chef Stiller’s office. Totally forgot to take a peek at what books are on his shelf…

The class began at 11:00am with a glass of champagne. A most pleasant start, wouldn’t you agree?

For each of the four dishes we were to make, Chef Stiller would demonstrate first, then give us detailed instructions on how to finish the rest. Together as a group, we put together some very complicated dishes I didn’t think we were capable of finishing.

The cooking class is held on the same level of Stiller’s professional kitchen, which conjures up all the dishes for Stiller’s Restaurant.

After each dish was finished, we would all sit down at the sleek dining table next to the kitchen so we could taste the fruits of our labor. I was excited and nervous at the same time to find out how edible our dishes really were.

For appetizer, we made a Foie Gras Mousse with Seared Foie Gras and Apple Chutney. I wasn’t a big fan of the foie gras mousse as it tasted too strongly of alcohol, click here to see more details on this dish.

Next, a Turbot Salmon Roulade with Beet Root and Horseradish Sauce. This dish was beautiful in presentation and in flavor, I would say this is the most memorable creation out of the four recipes we attempted. Details here.

The main course was Venison with Juniper-Berry Sauce, Fig-Red Cabbage, Brioche & Apple Souffle. Considering how lean venison is, I was very surprised to find the meat tender and succulent. Judging from the oohs and aahs around the table as we cleared off our plates, I’m guessing this was the most popular dish of the day. Details here.

For desserts, Warm Chocolate Cake with Walnut-Krokant-Parfait. This delicious and simple recipe is probably the only one that I will attempt to replicate at home. Details here.

Are you impressed? I was. We spent a total of 6 hours in the kitchen – no easy feat, but it was an absolutely gastronomic and educational experience. Seeing all the hard work that goes into cooking gave me a whole new perspective on fine dining. Do not that not all classes at Stiller’s are this long. Some end at 2:00pm and some end at 4:00pm, so be sure to check with the chef beforehand and leave enough buffer time in the afternoon in case the class runs over.