Sicilian Cooking Class in Taormina

Taormina is a must visit township when one is in Sicily. An absolute gem with lots to see and do. Built on a cliff with a cable car down to the beach, the town offers a main street with many shops, markets, and great places to eat. A bus ride from Taormina Hop On/Hop Off up to the higher elevation of Castle Mola is strongly recommended, where one can have lunch while taking in the view of Mt. Etna and the surrounding mountain sides. The Cooking Class held in the center of Taormina was a fabulous experience and great value. Our chef met us at the Messina Gate, the main portal to the shopping main street, and took a mixed group of about 12 people shopping in the local market. There we selected fresh fish and vegetables, mixed with the locals, and sampled wine and cheeses and got to know our class mates, a mix of Australians, Norwegians, Brits, and Americans. In the center of Taormina, is the family restaurant where our cooking class was held. We were taught by the family how to make pasta from scratch, prepare appetizers Sicilian style, roll and stuff fish, etc. at individual work stations in an open terrace setting. After cooking the meals we all settled down to eat a delicious multi course meal with wine. The experience lasted some 5 hours, and each person was presented with a Certificate of Completion and an Apron. The class was certainly a main highlight of our trip to Italy/Sicily, and strongly recommended as a must do activity. Maurice and Diane T

It was so commercial and not worth the money invested. The cooking instructor guys, Luca and Stefano, were great but almost everything was pre-cooked and we were only required to do some minimal tasks. Not sure whether I have learnt anything. On a more positive note, it was nice to meet people from all over the world and do a little bit of socializing.

I'm a good cook, so I was expecting more. The market visit was okay, but more time should have been allocated to making the pasta. As we were all going to eat whatever was made, it meant that if the majority of the group made lousy pasta, we would be eating lousy pasta and so it was. The caponata was actually the one thing that I enjoyed learning to make, and will likely make again. Italians seem to overcook their proteins so the tuna was uneventful. Also the description of the tour said that we would get an apron, which I assumed would be a souvenir apron of the restaurant with logo, it was never given. I was offered the used apron that I wore in the class to cook with, or a paper apron. Very disappointing.

While the tour to the market from Mimmo was wonderful we were disappointed with the actual cooking demonstration. There were only three of us in this class so we should have gotten much more attention but I felt that because it was such a small class that they did not need to make such a big effort and hurried us along. The chef, Francesca,who didnt speak any english seemed to do more scolding then teaching. We learned how to make caponata, a baked fish, tomatoe sauce and pasta. While the caponata was wonderful the fish was basic and tomatoe sauce was nothing but smashed tomatoes in a pot, again very basic and not what was posted in the overview on viator. We were promised the recipes but they never arrived in our email. It was disappointing and could have been much better.