“Eric’s advice is gold dust for the perfectionist baker”
TEST REPORT
THE COOKERY SCHOOL
WHERE The Cookery Club aboard P & O Britannia
THE COURSE A baking masterclass with Eric Lanlard (£75 for two hours; cruises to Norway cost from £749 per person for seven nights, full board; to book, visit pocruises.com)
TESTED BY Karen Barnes
ALL IS SHIP-SHAPE Eric Lanlard (top) is a fount of knowledge; the Cookery Club is sleek and modern
PHOTOGRAPH: TARA FISHER. FOOD STYLING: OLIVIA SPURRELL. STYLING: WEI TANG
This isn’t your ordinary cookery class because it’s on board Britannia, a cruise ship known for its restaurants and stateof- the-art cookery school. You have to go on a cruise to do a course – obviously – but the Cookery Club is the reason a lot of food-and-cruise-loving people choose this as a holiday. That’s because you get a rare opportunity to learn from top chefs Marco Pierre White and Eric Lanlard, plus this year Paul A Young, Matt Tebbutt, Robert Thompson and Sabrina Ghayour are all jumping aboard at different times, so it’s a case of picking the chef you admire and a destination you want to go to. Our backdrop was the Norwegian fjords: jaw-droppingly beautiful.
The chefs not only teach cookery classes but also host intimate chef’s table dinners (£75 a head) for about 20 people – it was the best food we had on board, plus you get to chat with the chefs during the meal.
THE SETTING The Cookery Club is stunning, with windows running the length of the room, looking out to sea. Everything is white or stainless steel and spotlessly clean.