Who wouldn’t want to learn making panna cotta and macarons from the mind which basically ushered in the new-age baking culture in Kolkata? Sneha Singhi, the chef and entrepreneur behind the beloved Paris Cafe is now taking time out of her busy schedule to share the culinary art of European cooking with the people of the city. Her new 600 square feet Ballygunge workshop space Le Studio is a cooking studio where Singhi personally hosts hands-on workshops and classes for people of all ages.
“I conduct the workshops and I also collaborate with people from across the country. Till now we’ve taught pies, fondants, Christmas cake, etc. And it’s not just about cooking, we just had a table-scaping workshop a few weeks back,” Singhi reveals. The workshops still has limited seating as it can accommodate around seven to nine students per session, but Singhi tells us each session is thorough and intensely education as the students are encouraged to make everything from scratch in real-time.
“It’s a completely hands-on workshop where everyone has to make everything from scratch, we provide all the ingredients and equipment. The classes are usually three to four hours long so it’s easier for us to give it the time it needs,” the chef tells us. Le Studio’s workshops are not skill-specific, you can be a total beginner or an amateur baker, and can still show up to fine-tune your skills.
For instance, their recent fondant workshop also taught people how to perfect human and animal figure-making with fondant. In fact, right around Christmas last year, Le Studio held some festive baking workshops where Singhi taught people how to make exotic baked goods like Stollen, Kuglof (German bundt cake), Crinkle Cookies etc. Baking enthusiasts can easily opt for a one-day workshop and invite their squad over for some brunch over champagne and home-made macarons!
“I wanted to do something new, something interesting, this seemed like a great way to give back and share with the people something they always want to learn. I am always teaching anyway in cities like Mumbai and Delhi, I had never done it here. And the only way people can learn is by doing it themselves so we wanted the studio culture to crop up in the city,” Singhi says.
The classes are of course, very detailed and well-planned; in one of the finishing cake workshops, for example, students were taught the step-by-step process of baking the sponge, making the filling, layering the cake and perfecting the garnish. Singhi also reveals that it’s not just kitchen rookies or college kids but home bakers and culinary enthusiasts also show up to her workshops to learn a thing or two.