We arrived mid-morning on the charming and old Sakura line train in Tokyo at YUCa’s lovely home kitchen. We were greeted so warmly by YUCa and also all of the other five guests who we had not met before. I’m always quite nervous in new situations like this, not knowing what to expect, but we were instantly out at ease with a wonderfully knowledgeable and generous host and a absolutely delightful group of people who were all here to do one thing: learn more about the subtleties and hidden secrets of actually cooking home style Japanese food. We’ve been interested in Japanese food for many years and learned much from books, and even YUCa’s own YouTube channel. However, nothing compares ideally with having direct tuition in coming and revealing those hidden secrets. Simple things like the tare spoon/ladle, which I’d seen so often, but never knew what to use it for (we’ll definitely be buying one!). Our planned course today was for ramen and gyoza. The ramen was a soy sauce based one taking us from making the broth and the tare, through to making and preparing all of the toppings. We even learned how to law the perfect marinated soft-boiled egg, which I have never been able to perfect. For the gyoza, we each had a role to play, from chopping vegetables, to adding all the oils and other flavours of these lovely dumplings. We then each mad as many as we could with available filling, making a “gyoza pizza” that was gently fried until crispy. Once cooked and prepared, we sat down to enjoy our lovely meal we made together and continue our lovely conversations, although there was also a lot of silence given how lovely the food was. We had a wonderful day and learned so much that we will all take home to our own kitchens and prepare for our families. A wis person once said “all we need in life is food and love” and today we had that in abundance. I can’t recommend YUCa’s course highly enough. We learned so much and in such an easygoing environment. The food was delicious and we were all amazed that we had made that together for the first time. If you get the chance watch some of YUCa’s YouTube videos, but better still attend one (or more) of her wonderful courses.

This was our third class with YUCa and we loved it as much as the first time! Yesterday we joined a ramen and gyoza class and made some delicious food and learned lots of new things. YUCa is very generous with sharing her knowledge and skills in Japanese cooking and customs. Will come back on our next visit to Japan. Thank you YUCa!

We had a great experience with Yuca. She is really knowledgeable and was replying to all our questions. The ramen and gyoza that we cooked were really tasty and now we will be able to do it back at home and remember our time in Japan. One of the best souvenirs you can bring back home

Yuca is incredibly knowledgeable. She is also highly organised and a lot of fun! This is a class for everyone. We had absolute beginners and a professional chef. The food we cooked was delicious. Another bonus is coming to an area where there aren’t many tourists. You will love it.