One of my favorite things to do when traveling is take a cooking class. It allows me to connect with locals, fine tune my cooking skills and learn about the local cuisine. In Cinque Terre, I took a pesto making class with Nessun Dorma and haven’t been able to purchase packaged pesto since.
While on my search for luxurious experiences in San Sebastián, I came across Mimo – a cooking school based in San Sebastián that has quickly expanded to other parts of Europe including London, Sevilla, Algarve and Mallorca.
If you didn’t already know, San Sebastián has been coined the culinary capital of the world. And with the most Michelin stars per capita, I was curious to see what the region had to offer in terms of its cuisine.
Mimo offers an array of cooking experiences and tours from Pintxo and wine tours, Michelin star cooking classes, a chef’s table dinner and more. With a fascination and curiosity for Michelin restaurants, I opted for the Michelin Star Secrets Cooking class taught by head chef Patricio Fuentes.
Day of cooking class:
My short walk to Mimo from my hotel (located right next to Hotel Maria Cristina) is lined with palm trees and the well-preserved historic scenery of San Sebastián. The streets are quiet, as the city doesn’t fill with tourists and locals until about 10am.
Upon arrival, I’m pleasantly greeted by head chef Patricio Fuentes and the rest of the Mimo team. The room is furnished with a fully equipped kitchen with all of the gadgets and devices you would ever need to put together a Michelin star worthy meal, a rustic wooden dining table, cooking stations and a café bar.
I sit down with the other guests (many of which who are chefs or culinary instructors) over a flat white as we discuss our travels and what brought us to Mimo. I was surprised to learn that the other guests have already done a cooking experience (or two!) with Mimo already.
Before class begins, Patricio gives a run down on all of the ingredients + devices we’ll be using. Before me sit foie gras, white asparagus, dover sole and other worldly ingredients, many of which I have never cooked with before.
On the menu for our class is a fresh clam ceviche, foie gras & apple meringue sandwich, watermelon Carpaccio, torched Toro, sous vide & pan seared dover sole, grilled venison, and mixed berries with lychee membrane spheres & foam.
Item by item, Patricio leads us through various techniques including properly filleting fish, making fish stock & sauce, preparing foie gras, vacuum sealing & sous vide, the molecular gastronomy technique of creating membranes, spherification and plating.
The course is thorough and beyond educating and I leave with a new set of skills that I can easily replicate in my next gathering.
After we create and assemble our plates, we gather around the communal table to indulge in the fruit of our labor. Each dish is carefully paired with noteworthy wines of the Basque region.
My experience with Mimo in San Sebastián was one to remember and something I would recommend to everyone who visits the city. Whether you’re a chef wanting to improve your cooking skills, or just passionate about food, an experience with Mimo should be on the cards.
San Sebastián Travel Guide
