Is it about time you learnt how to make the perfect nasi lemak or beef rendang? Or perhaps French pastries, chocolate, pralines or macaroons? Anyone who has lived in Malaysia for any time at all will appreciate the nation’s obsession with food—so where better than right here in Kuala Lumpur to pick up a new art?

A visit to just four of Kuala Lumpur’s bountiful supply of cooking schools was enough to inspire this self-confessed lazy chef into stepping it up a gear and learning new tricks.

“There’s nothing like home cooking lah,” the bubbly Ana Abdullah laughs. Sitting in the garden of LaZat, her Malaysian home cooking school that she set up three years ago, feels like I’ve been invited to lunch. The open kampong style house, the leafy garden and the warm Malaysian hospitality of Ana and her team— this is real Malaysian home cooking.

“I’m quite passionate about promoting Malaysian food. Not enough people know about it!” she smiles determinedly. This bubbly lady has made it her mission to teach the world about Malaysian cuisine.

And she’s succeeding. With glittering reviews in the Lonely Planet guide and on Trip Adviser, Ana has found herself with students from all over the globe. It’s RM200 per class (and you probably won’t need to eat for a week afterwards).

Cumin, coriander, chilli, fennel seeds, ghee and fresh curry leaves plucked from the garden—all ingredients used daily in Malaysia and yet ones I was still a little nervous of. Ana and her team walk us through all of the ingredients and the recipes before letting us loose on our work stations.

They patiently watch me try to fold (and nearly destroy) my first samosa, but by samosa number three, I have it. Beaming smiles of satisfaction and delight spread across all of our faces as we tuck into our first creations. And when Ana tips us off that LaZat means “delicious” in bahasa, the smiles are followed by choruses of “lazat!”

With one-on-one guidance from Ana’s team, we produce, with surprising ease, dhall curry, fried masala fish, a tomato and mint salad and a fruit and nut pudding. It is four extremely satisfied customers who sit down in the garden to eat their feast for lunch.

LaZat has six set menus to choose from; we’d chosen the Indian menu. An Australian lady who was back for her second day assures me that her beef rending and cucur udang (prawn fritters) from the previous day were equally fantastic.

Onwards to PJ for an entirely different experience; to be welcomed by the delicious aroma of freshly baking bread, cookies, pralines and chocolates. The Academy of Pastry Arts Malaysia was set up by French chef Guillaume Lejeune just four months ago.

The huge open kitchen is abuzz with activity on a Friday morning. With the enviable enthusiasm of a true chef, Guillaime grins as he says, “Every day is different. Today, in the three corners,” he says, arms flailing, “we have wedding cakes, cookies and breads.”

The academy caters for everyone, with full-time courses that will boost you to heady professional heights, or just two-day courses in which you can learn French pattiserie, artisan pastries, cookies or celebration cakes artistry. Chef Lejeune is busy training future chefs for the international hotels. He’s also busy teaching people like me how to make a quiche...

The choice is huge and it’s a lively learning environment. “I like my students to be independent,” Chef Lejeune says, “so I give them a lot of responsibility to find their own ideas. This is how you really learn, when you design your own project.” He laughs as there is a large thud from the kitchen—the arrival of a 25kg block of butter.

“Here at the academy we want to give the students skills and confidence.” The academy attracts visiting teaching chefs from all over the world, with some of the most prestigious baking champions, like Chef Stephane Treand, teaching courses.

Guillaume’s aim of creating something truly international has been met. A quick visit to two of his students who are busy decorating wedding cakes is incredible—totally self designed, these cakes are works of art. But don’t be perturbed; if you’re not ready to take up cake artistry, they have fantastic courses in cookies, cakes, canapés or even quiches. These classes range from RM150 for a half day to RM250 for a full day.

Bayan Indah really is a culinary retreat. A wonderful sense of calm envelops you as you climb out of busy Damansara into the hills of Kampung Palimbayan Indah.

What is even more surprising is that this little enclave of leafy tranquillity is just a 15-minute drive from Bangsar. It really is an oasis in the middle of KL’s urban sprawl.

Cordon Bleu-trained Rohani Jelani is so passionate about cooking that she has transformed her elegant home into a cooking retreat. Not only can you learn to cook here, you can also spend the night, in one of four immaculately decorated rooms looking out on to the greenery of the garden and hillsides.

The breezy kitchen, open to the garden, is a dream—enough to lift the spirits and inspire any aspiring cook. Rohani believes that doing, not watching, is the way to really learn. And so, after just a short introduction to the ingredients, it’s all stations go.

A group of 11 friends grapple with mortar and pestles, lemon grass, chillies and woks as they start their Typically Thai menu. Rohani, together with her team, keeps a watchful, smiling eye on proceedings.

Bubbly and passionate about cooking, she’s a fantastic teacher. And at the end of the morning, it’s a feast of green chicken curry, Thai herb rice, mango with sticky rice, green mango salad and tom yum kung that’s spread on the table.

Rohani’s extensive cooking career means that she’s equipped with over 60 themes for you to chose from: Fishy Business, Great Tarts, Laksa Workshop, even a Laid Back Italian.

The kitchen can cater for 15 people so it’s a fantastic place for a birthday party, team building or just for a breath of fresh air—it feels a million miles from the cranes, motorbikes and craziness of everyday KL. Definitely worth booking in for a weekend.

From one busy kitchen to the next. Leaving behind the wafting aromas of Thai curry, I enter what looks to be the world of macaroons.

A wonderful array of colours are spread across a table at Nathalie’s Gourmet Studio in Solaris Dutamas as her team start packing up the thousands that have been ordered for a shop launch. There is more to this place than macaroons though.

The studio is a great concept; both a restaurant and a cooking school. “I’m a selftaught chef,” Nathalie explains, “and it was always my dream to have a restaurant and a school.”

French by birth but living in Asia for the past 12 years, Nathalie’s cooking classes reflect her lifestyle. I learn about the upcoming classes—All About Bread and Thai Cuisine Discovery. Most are RM220. Sumptuous recipes for scallops with champagne sauce and porcini ravioli have my mouth watering. Nathalie explains, “I’m very precise on recipes; I want people to have everything they need when they get home.”

With a glossy photo for each recipe (essential in my eyes) and with extremely detailed step-by-step instructions, she’s kitting her students out well. Nathalie limits her classes to just eight or ten people, “so the ambience is always excellent,” she smiles.

I picture myself taking one of her evening classes and, with a leisurely glass of wine, mastering Nathalie’s recipes before sitting down to eat them in the studio— it’s that sort of place.

Four very different schools, all faultless. The most difficult step now is knowing which one to book first.

Culinary Classes
Sharpen your kitchen skills with these top Malaysian cookery schools

Academy of Pastry Arts Malaysia
Lot 2-A, Wisma Thrifty, 19 Jalan Barat, PJ.
Tel: 03–7960 3846/017–3252 395
www.academyofpastryartsmalaysia.com

Bayan Indah
3343 Kampung Palimbayan Indah, Sungai Penchala, KL.
Tel: 03-7729 0122
www.bayanindah.com

High Tide
Master Classes with Chef Onderbeke
Menara Taipan, Jalan Puncak, KL.
Tel: 03–2072 4452
www.hightidekl.com

Jen’s Home Kitchen
Tel: 03–7728 7909
www.jenshomekitchen.blogspot.com

LaZat
584 Jalan 17/17, Section 17, PJ.
Tel: 019–2381 198
www.malaysia-klcookingclass.com

Nathalie’s Gourmet Studio
Unit 4-1-5 Solaris Dutamas, Jalan Dutamas, KL.
Tel: 0 –6207 9572 / 019–6660 528
www.nathaliegourmetstudio.com

Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur
My Private Cooking Class experience
168 Jalan Imbi, KL.
Tel: 03–2142 8000
www.ritzcarlton.com

That Little Wine Bar
That Little Wine Class
54 Jalan Chow Thye, Georgetown, Penang.
Tel: 04–2268 182
www.thatlittlewinebar.com

Woods Macrobiotic Cooking Academy
25 Jalan Telawi 2,
Bangsar, KL.
Tel: 03–2287 0959
www.macrobiotics-malaysia.com