Stylishly dressed with a coordinating bandana, Indo the Indonesian Golden pig seemed completely oblivious to the chatty crowd who had
invaded his cooking school. He was more
interested in snuffing through straw in the back of the ute but didn’t mind the
odd pat either.
I met Indo at the opening of Brisbane’s newest cooking
school – The Golden Pig – which is located in the semi industrial area of Ross
Street, Newstead, near Morgan and Wacker for all you bikies.
It’s construction has been a
labour of love by consummate foodies, Katrina and Mark Ryan.
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| Katrina and Mark Ryan |
Their classes are created to offer something for all tastes,
with the calendar looking like a well-worn passport. You can experience a
little bit of Morocco, Thailand, Spain, France, Italy, Vietnam, Greece and the
Middle East with their classes. The school offers both hands-on and
demonstration style cooking classes in a variety of popular cuisines.
Mark is an award winning building designer, has
designed a space that will make you feel like you are walking into the Master
Chef space. It's all very open which should make it easy to see exactly what is going on in a class and get close to the action.
Katrina had plenty of food cred and was a former head chef at Neil Perry’s Rockpool
where she oversaw burgeoning apprentices such as celebrity chef Kylie Kwong.
Katrina and Mark opened their own restaurant ‘The Pig and
the Olive’ in Sydney, after the arrival of their children, while Katrina also
did stints cooking for Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise.
In 2000 a sea change bought the family to Noosa, and Katrina
joined the team at the ‘Spirit House Cooking School’ in Yandina, where she
worked until July 2012. Katrina is also
a co-author of the new Spirit House Book ‘Hot Plate’.
I've had a browse of the
classes and could see myself sitting in on quite a few. Friends who
have experienced Katrina's classes at The Spirit House, are enthusiastic
with their praise.
Bottom line: A nice addition to Brisbane’s cooking school
line up
Best tip: Plenty of street parking around
More reading
Disclaimer: Ramblings of a hungry food writer – nothing
more.
