Japanese Cooking Studio

Ramen class, woohoo! I have been looking for classes in NY for so long, but haven’t had any luck. The more professional, formal classes aren’t as frequent and they can be a bit intimidating. It never occurred to me to search Unilocal but when I found Mamie’s class, I was super excited. She offers a lot of services: private chef services, catering, and private cooking lessons for groups or individuals/​pairs. Private cooking can be done at her studio or at your house. $ 400 for a private class, up to two people.
Website was easily navigated. For contacting her about our private lesson, her responses were fast. Usually within the same day, or before 24 hours has fully passed. It’s a quick process of coordinating schedules, and then you have to put down a 50% deposit via Paypal or Chase quick pay. After that, you’re all set! A couple days beforehand, she reaches out again, which is really thoughtful — sometimes people forget and need a little reminder, but I think it’s just nice that she goes that extra step.
Love where her studio/​home is! Quiet, peaceful area, with a lot of eateries/​food places nearby. About a 10 – 15 minute walk from the train, depending how fast you’re hauling. Large building, with doorman/​concierge services, and a huge (and I mean HUGE) lobby/​waiting area with three cozy leather couches. We arrived early, but I didn’t know if she was teaching people before us, so me and my friend just chilled there, talking quietly. It was very relaxing!
When we went to her place, we were greeted by Mamie, took off our shoes, and put our stuff down on her couch. The view is amazing, you see the water/​bridge, and on a rainy/​cloudy day, it looked really peaceful. A nice way to start the class. She gave us her version of an apron, which looked like a cute top you can wear out, haha.
What I liked about this class was that it felt informal, like we were learning from a friend or relative (it helped that it was a home kitchen rather than a commercial kitchen). She was patient and we even made conversation as we worked. The entire process of making the dough and then kneading it, to using the Kitchen Aid to make noodles was super fun! But we made a lot of noodles, so we spent a lot of time running them through the machine. I zoned out a bit and got a little tired/​antsy.
Then she showed us how to boil the eggs. A lot of things were pre-​made already, like the pork belly, the broth, and marinated eggs from the day before. It makes sense, because it would be impossible to fit everything within a 3 hour class and get the same quality taste and flavors. And what would everyone do during the downtime?! She did walk us through how to cut the bone out of the pork belly, wrap it up, and how to cook it. Same with the broth, she explained how to do it properly, in terms of pre-​cooking the bones and then giving them a good clean, etc. Between her quick instructions and the take home recipe packet, and asking questions, I think we had a good understanding of what to do. In my head, I thought it would be more hands-​on or spending more time in the kitchen doing the actual work, but I now understand that wasn’t too realistic.
The final step was assembling our bowl! That, after actually eating it, was the best part of the class — my friend had a blast torching the pork belly slices so they were charred and crispy along the edges, but it still melted like butter in your mouth. I thoroughly enjoyed the ramen, because it wasn’t as salty as how the restaurants usually make it. I was able to truly taste the unique flavors coming together. She also gave us some noodles and marinated eggs to take home with us. How sweet!
She mentioned adding a dumpling class, so who knows, I may take that one as well. So happy I found this class! Thank you, Mamie! Super fun experience!

Chef Mamie is fantastic! A friend and I did a private sushi class at her studio as a Christmas gift to our significant others. We reached out to her a month before the class and she responded within the hour. She made the process personal and special from start to finish. For a group that didn’t know much about sushi, she taught us everything from seaweed salad to hand rolls and we had so much fun! Not to mention her cooking studio overlooks the east river and is romantic and beautiful. I HIGHLY recommend taking a class — it’s interactive, fun, and DELICIOUS! And we had plenty of sushi left over.

We absolutely loved our ramen making class — Chef Mamie is fantastic! Not only was she very responsive and professional as we figured out the details for the class, but the class itself was both fun and informative. Chef Mamie was extremely patient with our crew of 6 ramen novices and helped us make a delicious meal. I am already trying to figure out when I can book another class with her. If you are looking for a personalized experience with a knowledgeable, kind chef than look no further than Chef Mamie!

Mamie was a great teacher and I had a great evening learning how to make sushi. It was very relaxed and I was extremely happy with how my sushi turned out, it was delicious! Being able to bring your own sake also keeps the cost down. All in all a great evening, I would recommend to all.

An amazing way to learn how to make sushi!
Chef Mamie is great! Lots is fun! Class is very engaging and interactive :)
Learned a lot can’t wait to show off my skills and throw sushi party for my friends!
Thank you again!
Ruzanna

I attended a sushi class with Chef Mamie at Japanese Cooking Studio. I bought the tickets for my best friend’s birthday present and we were both very excited. The class was held in an apartment cooking studio. The atmosphere was elegant and professional. Chef Mamie was wonderful. She was friendly, extremely knowledgable, and gave us personal attention. We learned every step of sushi making! It was a blast. We were provided with plenty of the usual ingredients such as salmon, tuna, avocado, crab stick, eel, and cucumber. We were also able to add interesting ingredients such as pickled plums and shiso. After finishing making the sushi, we sat down to eat with a beautiful view of the East River and a bottle of wine we brought with us. It was a truly wonderful experience with Chef Mamie and I’d highly recommend her sushi class to others!

This was my second class with Chef Mamie. The first was the art of homemade tofu which was incredibly informative. We also made delicious azuki mochi and green tea chiffon cake. The first class was at my friend’s apartment, but Chef Mamie was helpful in coordinating in all the supplies and ingredients that we needed. My second class was at Chef Mamie’s cooking studio on the Upper East Side. The class was sushi and gyoza. We made gyoza skin from scratch which was really impressive, we also make the filling for shrimp gyoza. Chef Mamie taught us how to make 3 kinds of rolls (rice outside, seaweed outside and hand roll) We certainly prepared a feast and had plenty of leftovers! Chef Mamie is incredibly knowledgeable and was able to answer all of our questions. We made nikiri soy sauce, eel sauce, gyoza sauce and spicy mayo! I was impressed by how much we managed in a three hour class. I highly recommend Chef Mamie and the Japanese Cooking Studio for a personalized individual or group class. Chef Mamie is very flexible and will cater to the style of class you would like to have. I will definitely be taking more classes with Chef Mamie and JCS!