Since 1989 the Sydney Seafood School has pursued its mission of showing Sydney-siders just how easy it is to prepare a wide variety of seafood species at home.
The School is now widely regarded as one of the country's leading cooking schools with over 10,000 guests a year attending classes. From a prime directive of creating a demand for the more unusual varieties of seafood, the school has moved into teaching local, interstate and overseas 'foodies' (a term coined in the 1980s) how to cook a huge variety of cuisines. While seafood is still its raison d'etre, there's no longer any need to convince most people to try cooking with mussels, octopus or crabs, in fact abalone, sashimi, pipis and sea-snails don't daunt many of the food-savvy clientele who now fill classes most weekday evenings and weekends. Asian flavours are popular, with a class beginning in the Thai shops of Chinatown among the most popular. Leading Australian chefs teach classes, including expats now running successful London ventures such as David Thompson from Nahm and Christine Manfield. Cheong Liew, Damien Pignolet, Neil Perry, Matthew Moran and Peter Doyle have all been spotted presenting their unique takes on Australian cuisine at one time or another on the School's extensive program.
