seasonal cooking in the kitchen atelier

(LUNCH INCLUDED)

Step into a Japanese cooking experience shaped by place, season and hospitality. At Modern Minka, our culinary programs celebrate the seasonal abundance of Kanazawa and its surrounds, set within a traditional Japanese Rojiniwa garden and our teahouse architecture-inspired home. Menus and recipes change throughout the year, offering a deeper and more personal introduction to Japanese cuisine. You’ll leave with practical techniques, adaptable recipes and a stronger understanding of the foundations that make Japanese cooking both refined and achievable in your own kitchen.

Your day begins in the garden with a welcome tea and a short tour, gathering a few seasonal ingredients along the way. From there, we’ll move into the kitchen atelier for a relaxed, hands-on class where you’ll cook, taste and learn together around the workbench.

Throughout the class, we’ll work with local produce, ingredients gathered from the kitchen garden and house-made preserves and ferments prepared across the seasons, adding depth, character and a distinctly Modern Minka touch to the meal.

By the end of the day together we will have explored foundational Japanese cooking techniques and everyday kitchen practices, from careful knife work and ingredient preparation to building balance through seasonality, texture and umami. The class will cover essentials such as washing and cooking rice, preparing dashi, simmering, steaming, grilling over charcoal using our kitchen's irori hearth, frying, pickling, fermenting and making simple stocks, broths and sauces. We’ll also discuss how to create a practical Japanese pantry with ingredients such as miso, soy sauce, mirin, sake, rice vinegar, kombu, bonito, sesame and seasonal preserves, along with the tools and habits that make Japanese cooking approachable in your own kitchen.

After the class, you’ll sit down beneath the weeping cherry tree to enjoy the meal you’ve helped prepare. With the table set in the garden using local ceramics, beautiful linen and fresh flowers, each course will be carefully plated so you can relax into a seasonal dining experience that feels both thoughtful and unhurried, paired with local wines and sake. Non-alcoholic drinks can be made available on request. The experience runs from 10am to 3pm and includes a 2.5-hour hands-on cooking class in the kitchen atelier, followed by a leisurely five-course lunch and a selection of locally made wagashi sweets to finish.

If the weather makes the garden unsuitable, the workshop will be adapted for the tea house and kitchen atelier indoors.

All instruction is in English

As much as we love to see little ones getting involved in the kitchen, we are not able to accommodate children during our cooking classes and seasonal workshops in consideration of the other guests participating. If you would like to inquire about an exclusive use class to accommodate children, please use the ‘contact us’ form.

Please note our classes are not suitable for vegans, strict vegetarians, those allergic to seafood or those who are gluten intolerant.