It is hard not to be affected by Lynda Booth’s enthusiasm. Her passion for food and teaching is apparent immediately. What better place to combine these two loves than in a cookery school? Her enthusiasm has been rewarded with numerous awards. 

The school offers a wide range of courses, from Saturday one-day courses, to longer three month certified courses and everything in-between. Lynda Booth’s Dublin Cookery School is housed in the dazzling purpose-built premise with bright, spacious kitchens, making it the perfect setting for novice cooks and seasoned chefs alike. There are 12 fully-equipped workstations, complete with hobs and ovens. Students learn tricks of the trade in a supportive and challenging environment.

As they say themselves, ‘serious food in a relaxed atmosphere’. Lynda is a well-respected professional. Her experience includes cooking in Canada (The Four Seasons Hotel), Italy (Relais Chateaux), England, at Raymond Blanc’s prestigious Michelin Star Le Manoir au Quat’ Saisons and L’Ortolan and with Myrtle Allen at Ballymaloe House.  

Dublin Cookery School, which started from her home, had a list of upcoming chefs like Neven Maguire from the beginning, and with a change of premises, has developed over the last number of years into a top class city-based centre of gourmet education. The big attraction is the Three Month Certificate intensive professional course, which runs twice a year.

The team of professional chefs back up Lynda’s hands-on approach. A long line of famous guest chefs are on hand to put the students through their paces. The world renowned London based chefs Atul Kochar and David Thompson, the first chefs to gain Michelin Stars for Indian and Thai food respectively, have made regular guest appearances on the professional course. Top Irish chefs such as Neven Maguire, Oliver Dunne, Sunil Ghai, Stephen Gibson, John Wyer, Paul Flynn, Enda McEvoy and Aoife Noonan have also featured regularly, a serious list of names to be reckoned with.

On the Three Month Certificate course, students learn all aspects of cooking, as well as knife skills, cooking terminology and professional techniques. Dublin Cookery School’s professional course offers students from home and abroad the opportunity to learn in a bright open space, fully equipped with everything a cook needs. Learning comes through cookery demonstrations and hands-on kitchen experience, via field trips to producers, theory sessions, practical business sessions from industry professionals, and front of house skills.

Three Month students are also given the opportunity to go on placement for a week to one of Dublin’s best restaurants. Previous placements have been in places like Chapter One,  L’Ecrivain, The Greenhouse, Bastible, Forest Avenue, Dax, The Pig’s Ear, Cleaver East, Ananda, Restaurant Forty One, Etto and One Pico. Graduates of the course have gone on to cook at some of Ireland’s best restaurants, open their own food businesses or have used their new found skills to pursue a new life overseas, working on yachts and in ski chalets.

Food and wine matching adds another dimension to this fully comprehensive experience. All students are made to feel comfortable right from the off. Even the most anxious find themselves getting into the swing of things fast. Aside from the professional courses run here, Lynda Booth also offers a One Month Certificate course, plus a varied programme of day and evening classes, something for everyone at times and prices to suit all.

This is a full on school with a lively program, dedicated to sending students out into the cookery world with self-confidence and skill. Local produce is a highlight, but students are also introduced in all courses to the delights of food from further afield. A good all round knowledge of ingredients which helps in devising menus at home, or in the professional arena.