Meet the Chefs

Ian Dowding is an experienced chef, having spent 35 years in the restaurant trade and the past five years teaching and writing for catering press publications. During his career, Ian spent 12 years running his own successful restaurant and whilst Head Chef at the Hungry Monk, Jevington, he invented the now famous Banoffi Pie. Ian was also the chef for the television series Regency House Party. Ian is an excellent tutor; enthusiastic, and encouraging and has the patience to develop skills in even the most kitchen shy individual.

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An experienced, traditional cook, born and raised in North London, Kirna draws on her Gujarati and Parsi heritage to amass a huge variety of authentic, regional Indian recipes that are fresh and flavoursome, by using herbs and spices to turn humble ingredients into beautiful dishes. Kirna will demystify spices and techniques, to enable her students to cook Indian food with confidence and achieve great results. She is a patient and relaxed tutor and will help you to easily create a repertoire of dishes that you would find in most Indian homes.

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Originally from Kyushu, a southern island of Japan, Atsuko has been sharing her knowledge and techniques of Japanese homestyle cooking with a series of courses in the UK since 2008.
Her down-to-earth and unpretentious approach to cuisine combined with her talent to create delicious, simple to prepare, fashionable meals will make you experience the Japanese philosophy of elegance and simplicity.

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Jack Balchin is a chef whose main focus is pairing great flavours, textures and techniques to create modern, contemporary dishes influenced by the latest food trends. He has spent 8 years working as a chef, progressing through Michelin starred kitchens. Currently, Jack teaches up-and-coming chefs in restaurants all over Sussex a mixture of classic French and modern British cuisine, which he has been doing for the past 3 years and finds very rewarding. A class with Jack will give you the foundation skills and confidence to create your very own culinary masterpiece.

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Stefano’s passion and interest in cookery began at a very early age, surrounded by the aromas coming from his parents Trattoria at home in Italy, he couldn’t wait to get into the kitchen and start experimenting. He has worked in several renowned London restaurants including Daphne’s, Quaglino’s and Harrods, serving traditional and modern Italian dishes to top celebrities from around the world. Stefano’s passion now is to make Italian cooking fun and accessible to all.

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Noriko is a highly skilled professional sushi chef. After completing her art degree in sculpture at The Slade School of Fine Art, Noriko joined the acclaimed Nobu Park Lane’s kitchen and worked there as a sushi chef for 10 years. After her experience at one of London’s best sushi restaurants, she decided to open her own sushi bar Sakeya in Pop Brixton in 2017.

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Local Forest Row chef Dave Hussell trained with the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts and at the Ashdown Park Hotel before moving to Cornwall for 3 years to work at Rick Steins in Padstow, Having now returned to Sussex he’s worked in almost every area of the food industry, from producer and supplier to chef and teacher. He’s also worked in a wide range of restaurants and hotels and have done most things from classical cookery to running a tandoor in an Indian street food restaurant.

View Dave’s current cookery courses…