A cookery class in Hong Kong ‘brings people together’: welcome to Yuki’s Table, where you learn to serve up a Japanese feast for the senses
- Yuki Yamagishi’s cookery classes have lured a mix of nationalities and people of all ages and experience to her Sai Kung village house in the New Territories
- Her classes teach how to make Japanese classics such as bite-sized rice balls, crispy tempura, ramen, miso and kimchi, and help keep our ‘connection with food’
Yuki Yamagishi places a bowl of thinly sliced pickled radishes on the kitchen island. The delicate pink discs resemble rose petals, which is handy because she wants to arrange them into a flower shape on top of a tiny rice ball.
Welcome to Yuki’s Table Hong Kong, where Yamagishi’s cookery classes are more like art lessons. Her food and table displays are posted on Instagram under the handle @yukistablehongkong.
People kept asking me to show them how to cook Japanese food, so it started that way
With its warm wood decor and views of verdant countryside, her home oozes calm. Birdsong and a playlist heavy on indie music pierce the silence.
“There’s a lot of pre-class preparation but because I love hosting it doesn’t feel like I’m working,” says Yamagishi. “People appreciate the work that goes into each class and that’s rewarding.”