Creative Japanese Cooking in a Beautiful Tokyo Home

"We love doing cooking lessons whenever we travel abroad. And this session with Makiko was too interesting to pass up! She met us at the local subway station and walked us to her neighborhood grocery store. It was a fascinating tour that went aisle-by-aisle, exposing us to Japanese ingredients, home cooking trends, and what new trends were evolving in Japan. We then went to her home in a lovely neighborhood where she shared what mealtime was like in a normal Japanese home. This included all sorts of introductions to cooking Japanese-style. The table was groaning under the weight of everything we made with her and the food was absolutely delicious. At the end of the evening, she drove us back to a nearby train station. This was a fascinating evening that not only gave us exposure to Japanese food but also an incredible insight to Japanese life, something you don't get in most tourist activities."

"As residents of Japan, already being aware of the richness of Japanese culture and cuisine, our experience with Makiko served to greatly exceed our expectations. She was the perfect gracious host; patient and informative. We learned so much while visiting the local shops and while preparing the evening meal. She answered many questions and expanded our awareness of the complexity of Japanese cuisine, and Japanese hospitality. It was a highly enjoyable experience.

By the way, last but not least, Makiko took great care to provide super logistical support making sure it was easy toi meet-up so everything proceeded smoothly. Also, Makiko's excellent English language proficiency added great depth to the conversation."

"Although we booked Makiko's cooking session only a view days in advance we were lucky that she was available at this evening.
We met at a nearby train station and were led throgh the market area by Makiko. She knew a lot about the different food we were going to have for dinner and it was amazing to see all the different shops in a real Tokyo neighborhood. As tourists we would have never gone there.
After our market experience we walked to Makikos home and felt at home at once. We could help to prepare the vegetables, fish, and the rest food was prepared together - although in some parts we were glad that Makiko was a perfect teacher and much faster than we were in cutting and preparing all the ingredients. If we had to prepare it on our own we would have been very hungry afterwards.
In the end a wonderful dinner was prepared and we had such a great time. Very different tastes could be enjoyed. Perfect! Thank you so much for the nice time we had!"

"I booked a cooking experience via Traveling Spoon with Makiko T. of Tokyo Japan. We started the evening with tea and we discussed the recipes we would prepare. The recipes were challangeing enough to be interesting, but easy enough to recreate at home. We spent the majority of the evening cooking in which Makiko demonstrated her teaching skills as she patiently and expertly walked me through several recipes. From there we sat down to a truly delicious meal. We discussed food, Japan, family, and life, and for the first time since my arrival in Japan I felt relaxed and completely at ease.

I found Makiko to be warm, generous, and hospitable, and I highly recommend booking a cooking experience with her.

Makiko, If you happen to read this, thank you again."