Seasonal Bento Making Class in Gifu with a Japanese Chef

Make a foodie trip like no other to the historic town of Seki in Gifu for this seasonal bento making class with a trained Japanese chef! This historic town is well known for its legacies of both cormorant fishing and making samurai swords. The Seki region is surrounded by luscious bamboo forests, sprawling rice paddies, and the local Nagara River, making it a beautiful location to learn all about seasonal Japanese food from an expert in washoku (Japanese cuisine). What’s more, this experience is held within a 100-year-old restaurant called Yamakyu, which is now the home to Chef Shuji’s wonderful cooking studio.

During this 4-hour experience, immerse yourself in the art of Japanese cuisine, creating a meal that is compact, convenient, balanced, and of course, embellished with an enticing visual aesthetic.

You will be learning from Chef Shuji Ozeki, an experienced Japanese chef. He has lived and worked as a chef in Sydney in Australia for 10 years, making him fluent in English. Under his tutelage, you will find out how to select and prepare fresh ingredients as you learn all about washoku (Japanese cuisine) from the master.

This class will teach you how to cook a range of seafood, meat, vegetables, and rice dishes. You will make dashimaki-tamago (rolled omelet), maze-gohan (boiled rice with diced chicken and seasonal vegetables), kuwayaki BBQ chicken thigh meat, and many other traditional Japanese bento dishes.

Chef Shuji’s passion for Japanese cooking will be apparent during the bento class, as you learn how to make a number of dishes for your bento box. The ingredients and dishes will depend on what is seasonally available, and you will learn essential skills like how to make dashi soup stock from scratch.

It takes approximately 3 hours to cook and arrange the bento boxes in the cooking classroom. The final hour will be spent enjoying your bento feast!