For the (so called) end of the busy season at work we headed out for a bit of a shin dig at Social Cooking in the CBD.
This is a rather brilliant idea business wise given the rise of reality television over the past 10 years, and in more recent times a huge increase in the number of reality T.V programmes which revolve around cooking (I’m looking at you Masterchef & My Kitchen Rules). You know, those programmes that are conveniently on right around the time you are cooking or eating your own dinner. Making you wish you were an awesome cook, when in reality you are among the bulk of us who are just slightly above average, average or below average.
The basic premise is that you get together in a group and compete (or not, if your group is not competitive, but really who doesn’t have at least a little competitive streak in them) to make the best dish.
You begin by watching the chef make the dish of the night (Pad Thai in our case) and then head off to your stations to attempt to replicate what he has just shown you and inevitably both your dish and all the other teams dishes taste completely different despite watching the same demonstration, receiving the same recipe and having exactly the same starting ingredients.
We also received some freshly made banana fritters with banana ice cream for dessert which was prepared by the chef, given the inebriated state of some of my colleagues I can see why the chef was the only one cooking with a hot pot of oil!
While it seems a little overpriced to me given all you really get is a plate of dinner (which you cook yourself) and a (small) dessert, the whole experience is worth spending that bit extra compared to just going out to a restaurant. And now I know how to cook Pad Thai, if only I could find the noodles in the supermarkets we shop at!
If you’re interested check out the website www.socialcooking.co.nz
There are branches in both Auckland and Wellington.