Baking with Maria – The Baking Lab

Words and Photography by Howing Lai

“Did you watch the final of The Great British Bake Off Final?”…”Yes!!! It was so good!!!” were the first words I heard as I arrived at London’s newest bakery school The Baking Lab. There is no doubt that baking is probably one of the coolest things to be doing right now and what better way to boost cool points than learning how to bake. I was invited to a preview evening and having been trained at Le Cordon Bleu London in Pastry, this was right up my street.

The Baking Lab located in St. Johns Wood, North London offer baking classes aimed at novices to keen home bakers in a wide range of classes including:- artisan bread, traditional French pastry (croissants, pain au chocolat, éclairs, millefeuilles, etc), macaroons, and cake baking. 

The school has come on as the next step for owner and keen home baker Maria Mayerhofer who spent three years teaching baking courses at home. She is so passionate about baking that not even being massively pregnant could stop her! Her success hasn’t gone unnoticed either where companies including KitchenAid, Shipton Mill, Kvadrat and Rice.dk have backed her.  

The preview of the focaccia class was excellent, the large turnout of guests were keen to learn how to make focaccia and Emmanuel Hadjiandreou (Artisan baker with over 25 years experience) who is a teaching staff of the bread classes did not disappoint. Emmanuel prepared the foccacia the previous night and left it in the fridge to allow flavours to develop within the dough, a step often neglected by many home bakers. As it was only a preview of the class, the guests shaped the dough by massaging it with olive oil and adding toppings of caramelised onions, cherry tomatoes, olive oil, and rosemary (All rather yummy!). At the same time Emmanuel explained to the guests how the dough was made, shaped and also educated on the history of foccacia bread whilst giving plenty of attention to each person. After what felt like an eternity (actually it was only about 30min) waiting for the bread to prove, it was finally ready and in it went into a hot oven, 15/20mins later... voila - super tasty foccacia bread! I had a quick taste of one made by the chef, and I must say it was really delicious.

Classes are excellent valued ranging from £65 to £110 for 3 to 5 hours of teaching and for those who are really enthusiastic, Maria offers a 4 day cooking holiday in the beautiful Villa Boccella, Tuscany. The classes are run in small groups to allow plenty of interaction with the teaching chef. Students also get a copy of the recipe and also to take home the goods so they can brag to their friends and loved ones of their now baking expertises. Honestly if I hadn’t already been to culinary school I would seriously be tempted to take a class here as they are good value for money and really enjoyable, Go on! Give it a try!

The Baking Lab,
2nd floor,
81 Loudoun Road, 
St Johns Wood,
London, 
NW8 0DQ

Telephone: - 077 2595 2724

For further information on courses visit the website: - http://www.bakewithmaria.com/courses/

Words and Photography by Howing Lai

British-born Chinese, Howing Lai comes from a family of gourmands from the Midlands, where his father is a renowned dim sum and pastry chef. Graduated in Biochemistry with a Masters in Bioinformatics, Howing decided to leave science to pursue his true passion in life - cooking. Recently graduated from Le Cordon Bleu's Grande Diplome, Howing is now working as a commis-pastry chef at a 5-star London hotel, with an ultimate goal to bring his creative and contemporary interpretation of Chinese cuisine to us one day.

London Restaurant Reviews – Mandalay

Mandalay

Mandalay is a little institution in the London Food Scene – I remember going there 15 years ago and being rather intrigued at the time, so I felt another visit was overdue. Surrounded by the most traditional Levantine restaurants in the country, Mandalay is slightly at odds on the Edgware Road strip. Sadly, very little has changed in this restaurant’s decor and menu in the last 15 years; the food however, tasted as simple and good as I remembered it to be.             

Burmese cuisine is a difficult one to pin down – it is primarily a fusion of Chinese and Indian flavours and also to a lesser degree of other South East Asian cuisines, particularly Thai. It is rich, complex and contains most of those familiar Asian ingredients such as coconut milk, coriander, tamarind, lemongrass, curry, and shrimp paste (belacan), among others.  

We tried to order a selection of different dishes which we felt would give us a good overview of various cooking methods and flavours. We skipped the appetizers deciding to have an additional main course and accompanying vegetables instead. All dishes were served pretty much at once, by the very personable waiter and owner “Dwight”.  

The Lamb in Tamarind @ £6.90 was tender, tangy and delicious. The sauce was rich and thick with hints of cinnamon and star anise – there was a lot going on in that sauce but the flavours integrated beautifully. I really enjoyed this dish with plain boiled rice @ £1.90 a portion.  

The Chilli Chicken @ £5.90 was, as the name suggests, very hot to the point that it impaired the palate for any subsequent dishes. I love spicy food so was happy with the abundance of dry roasted chillies, and the heat that followed. This was a simple dish where the flavours of chicken and chillies were completely unadulterated by other spices. I would recommend this to those who like me, really enjoy hot foods.  

I was intrigued by Mandalay’s Twice Cooked Fish Curry @ £6.90, and was informed by the owner Dwight that the fish was firstly fried and then baked in a rich tomato sauce. We were slightly underwhelmed by this dish at the time, but having tried it at home the following day, I was pleasantly surprised by the flavours of the tomato sauce and spices. It tasted much nicer than the previous evening, so this is possibly a good take-away option!  

 

Aubergine with Potatoes @ £4.80 was one of the best dishes of the evening. The odd combination of these two vegetables, married with some exotic Asian flavours such as shrimp paste and soy sauce, was a real winner. I will certainly order this again.  

The star of the evening however was Mandalay’s banana fritters with ice cream. The batter had been prepared with a combination of wheat and rice flours making it crispy and light, melting in the mouth with the hot banana and ice cream. Utterly scrumptious!

Mandalay’s beverage menu is quite limited and well priced: with house wines priced at £8.50 and other wines at £9.90, you are unlikely to break the bank at this eatery. We decided to go for Tsingtao beers at £2.20 per bottle, and felt that they partnered the food well.

We had a lovely chat with the owner Dwight who took great pride in his country’s heritage and cuisine and demonstrated a real passion to communicate that to all his customers. He explained the menu in detail, and made me promise to try one of his signature dishes namely Calabash (fritter appetizer) on my next visit. Our experience at Mandalay was greatly enhanced by Dwight’s care, knowledge and insights.

Verdict – Good, simple Burmese food at very reasonable prices. The location and decor are a little disappointing. Dwight’s love, knowledge and enthusiasm for his country and cuisine are an inspiration to those lucky enough to be served by him.