Corporate Team Building Cooking Class in Downtown Toronto?

[gourmetnista]

Has anyone been to a corporate team building cooking class in the downtown core? Did you love it? Hate it? Where was it?

I'm looking at picking a venue for a pretty important client and need to make sure their team has a great time. It has to be in the downtown core close to their office. So far I've found:

A class at Liason College
A class at George Brown College
A class at Great Cooks on Eight (the bay eaton centre)
A class at Calphalon Culinary Centre

Its a group of 10 people with discerning palates. Any help would be appreciated!

[pescatarian]

We've done the Great Cooks on Eight corporate class/dinner a couple of times.

They are very personable and it's fun. The food is good - not necessarily wow, but as good as I would expect from that kind of thing. You split up into groups (with 10 people you'd probably be in groups of 2) and each group makes one part of the meal (which you can choose from different options beforehand) and then you sit and eat the meal together. You can drink wine before and after but not during the meal - that's the only drawback ;)

[Snarf]

Not during? What do you mean? My glass never left my side when I did it in December.

[Danybear]

Nella on Bathurst does this sort of thing, and they are pretty flexible.

[pescatarian]

When we were there (both times, but the last time was over a year ago), we were not allowed to have our wine with us when we cooked. They said it had something to do with their liquor license.

[thebutcher]

Calphalon is great - but pricey.
Great Cooks is terrific too - very personable and knowledgeable chefs.
I've also done the session at "Upstairs at Loblaws" - great if you are on a budget - but you need to get your own liquor license.

[millygirl]

I've been to many cooking classes, and found Trish Magwood's Dish Cooking Studio far and away the best. Lovely facility and very passionate team. Fantastic way to spend a day.

[gnr]

Agreed. I ran a corporate event there in November, and the staff there was great. We divided our group into 2 and had an Iron Chef competition. It worked out really well. We brought in our own wine, paid a nominal corkage fee, and drank before, during and after

[estufarian]

Some clarification please - is this run in the same space as their retail outlet - I mean DURING opening hours.
I was shopping there once and a class of some kind was running in the other half of the store. It probably affected me more than the group - but I thought it odd that complete strangers (i.e ME) could just wander in and shop in the middle of some 'class'.

[millygirl]

Yes the class is in the same space, but off to the side. But like you say, it's not a problem - at least I've never noticed or been bothered by the odd shopper dropping in.

[tuile]

I also really enjoyed our team building session at Dish. Although, I did end up with helping prepare the easiest course (app) and all my red peppers were pre-roasted and peeled... there really wasn't much for me to do, but I had fun regardless!

[GrosseDouceur]

Dish, yes. Definitely. Really nice afternoon. Great facility. Nice ladies.