COOKING CLASSES - MezKaroo

Welcome To Mez Karoo

cooking classes

From the restaurant that hosted guests from far and wide and near and dear comes the opportunity to learn to recreate the dishes that many have loved and savoured. Dishes with a simplicity of approach but complex in flavour. No unusual methods are used. I would like you to leave a workshop with the confidence of a revered rural nonna who has the most basic of amenities available to her. A heat source, pots and utensils and a mortar and pestle!

The classes will cover a region or type of cuisine allowing you the skill to offer your friends and family a full culinary experience. I will share the background of the recipes and practical tips that have made the dishes accessible to regions beyond their source.

The Kitchen Couple

For a hands-on culinary experience in the kitchen that once produced the beloved dishes of our renowned eatery, we offer an exclusive cooking class for two.

Available only on pre-booked Saturdays, this class is limited to two people, ensuring an intimate and personalised experience.

Choose from a variety of cooking styles and dishes, including vibrant Mexican flavours and bold Mediterranean cuisine. Alternatively, take it a step further by requesting lessons on how to master your Mez favourites, such as our signature Klein Karoo Lamb Kleftiko, delicious hummus and homemade bread.

During the intensive morning or afternoon session, you’ll explore the background, techniques and helpful tips behind creating authentic Mez Karoo Kitchen classics.

Afterwards, you can enjoy all the dishes you’ve prepared, either on-site or, if you’re staying in our cosy cottage, on your own porch. These dishes will form part of your personalised menu for the day and can be paired with a glass of local wine from our on-site wine boutique. While we offer a fantastic selection of local wines, you’re also welcome to bring your own drinks to suit your taste.

All ingredients and cooking equipment are provided, along with aprons for use during the class. If you’d like to take an apron home as a keepsake, they are also available to purchase. You’ll also receive a take-home recipe booklet featuring all the dishes you’ve learned to prepare.

Guests staying in the cottage will receive a discount on their accommodation, making this the perfect culinary escape for couples, friends or spouses.

A little piece of MezKaroo to take home.

Your MezKaroo apron will be waiting for you when you arrive and is yours to wear throughout the cooking experience.

Love it? Aprons are also available to purchase after your class — a little reminder of your time in the MezKaroo kitchen.

Mexican Cooking Class

Welcome to Our Mexican Cooking Class.

When many people think of Mexican food, they picture tacos, tortillas, nachos and bowls of chilli. While these are certainly part of Mexico’s rich culinary heritage, they are only the beginning.

Today we’re travelling beyond the taco, discovering the vibrant flavours, colours and traditions that make Mexican cuisine one of the world’s most exciting. It is a cuisine built on bold contrasts — smoky, sweet, spicy and fresh — all working together in perfect balance.

Throughout this class we’ll cook with some of Mexico’s most iconic ingredients: fragrant spices, smoky chipotle in adobo, chorizo, succulent shrimp, sweet corn, ripe tomatoes, rice, oranges and rich dark chocolate.

As we cook, you’ll discover how these ingredients come together to create food that is comforting, colourful and full of character.

On the Menu:

Sopa de Elote

Mexican corn soup

Chorizo & Shrimp in Tomato Sauce

Served tapas-style

Pork Carnitas

Slow-cooked Mexican pulled pork

Arroz Rojo

Mexican red rice

Wicked Choc Pots

Rich dark chocolate pots with a hint of chilli

Class Details:

Location: 24 Van Riebeeck St, Barrydale, 6750
Price: R1050 per person
What to Bring: While we offer a fantastic selection of local wines, you’re very welcome to bring your own drinks to suit your palate.
What’s Provided: All ingredients and cooking equipment are supplied. Aprons are available for use during the class, and you’re welcome to purchase one if you’d like to take one home. You’ll also receive a take-home recipe booklet featuring all the dishes you’ve learned.

I trust that you will leave your class feeling inspired, with a new appreciation for the diversity of Mexican cuisine and the confidence to recreate these dishes in your own home.

Anatolian & Middle-Eastern Cooking Class

Welcome to Our Anatolian & Middle-Eastern Cooking Class.

This class features recipes from Anatolia and the Middle East — a cross-section of the many varied and wonderfully spice-laden dishes that hail from this fascinating region.

With a natural commonality to Mediterranean cuisine, but with a little more adventure in the use of spice and fruit, these dishes offer an exciting combination of flavours, textures and aromas.

Think cumin, coriander, honey, dates, lentils and lamb. Rice, pasta, sesame, olives and fish. Figs, peaches, pomegranates, prunes and apricots. Pistachios, walnuts and almonds. Eggplant, peppers, tomato and garlic.

With a history of varied culinary influences, most recently shaped by the Islamic Ottoman era, the food of this region is imaginative, aromatic and wonderfully flavourful.

As with all Mez Kitchen classes, many of the ingredients are locally procured. The meat and eggs are, 90% of the time, sourced directly from the farmer. The vegetables are often organic, and many of the herbs used in our cooking grow right here in the Mez garden

On the Menu:

Shorbat Adas

Lebanese carrot & lentil soup

Chopped Salad

With honey tahini sauce

Turkish Rice

With sumac onions

Barahat-Spiced Lamb

Shoulder of lamb, cooked with barahat spice mix and peaches

Revani

Syrup-soaked semolina pudding

Class Details:

Location: 24 Van Riebeeck St, Barrydale, 6750
Price: R1050 per person
What to Bring: While we offer a fantastic selection of local wines, you’re very welcome to bring your own drinks to suit your palate.
What’s Provided: All ingredients and cooking equipment are supplied. Aprons are available for use during the class, and you’re welcome to purchase one if you’d like to take one home. You’ll also receive a take-home recipe booklet featuring all the dishes you’ve learned.

My hope is that you’ll leave with more than a collection of delicious Anatolian and Middle Eastern recipes — you’ll take home the flavours, techniques and inspiration to recreate the warmth and generosity of this beautiful cuisine around your own table.

Greek Cooking Class

Welcome to Your Mez Karoo Greek Cooking Class!

In this class we cover a few of the many Greek classics.

These dishes involve many of the Mediterranean staples that we associate with that part of the world, with the emphasis on olive products, garlic, vegetables and lamb.

The hummus is mashed by hand to give a rougher texture than one usually finds.

Kolokithokeftedes is the Greek name for the zucchini fritter that is celebrated in many parts of that region.

Our version of skordalia uses potato as the base for garlic, olive oil and vinegar. Traditionally, stale white bread was also used as a base. In some areas, almonds and walnuts were also added.

Kleftiko translates to “stolen meat,” named after Greek mountain bandits who cooked their food in hidden underground pits to hide their misdemeanours.

On the Menu:

Hummus

Chickpea dip

Kolokithokeftedes
Greek zucchini fritters.
Skordalia
Greek mashed potatoes.
Kleftiko
Slow-cooked Lamb.
Galatopita
Greek milk pudding

Class Details:

Location: 24 Van Riebeeck St, Barrydale, 6750
Price: R1050 per person
What to Bring: While we offer a fantastic selection of local wines, you’re very welcome to bring your own drinks to suit your palate.
What’s Provided: All ingredients and cooking equipment are supplied. Aprons are available for use during the class, and you’re welcome to purchase one if you’d like to take one home. You’ll also receive a take-home recipe booklet featuring all the dishes you’ve learned.

I hope you’ll leave this Greek cooking class with a taste for more — inspired by the fresh flavours, timeless recipes and generous spirit of Greek cuisine, and ready to bring a little Mediterranean warmth and kefi into your own kitchen.

Cooking Class Booking Form

We just need a few details to get started! Once you have completed the form we will send more information and the invoice.

Full Names

Phone

What Date Would you like to book?

We only offer classes on Saturdays, so please only give us 2 potential Saturdays that could work for you

Which Class are you interested in?

Course descriptions are available on the COOK page.

Make this the ultimate experience and stay the night in our cozy cottage.

Yes please

Not this time, thank you!

Any allergies or dietary requirements that we need to take into consideration?

If you are human, leave this field blank.

Guests staying at the MezKaroo Cottage are also welcome to book one of the above cooking expereince as an addition to their stay. Our guests love to cook and then enjoy their tasty meals on their private patio, overlooking the beautiful Barrydale mountains.

You will leave with knowledge, recipes, tidbits and wonderful memories of a splendid time had!

"Everything was exceptional"

What a beautiful morning we had with Michelle! Being foodies, my husband and I attended the Mexican cooking course in Barrydale at MEZ. Not only is she the most gracious lady, but she has had a lot of experience cooking for their restaurant in Barrydale, named MUD. From the flavourful and easy Mexican corn soup, through the chorizo and prawn tapas, pulled pork carnitas with Mexican red rice and wicked chilli choc pot, everything was exceptional! So easy to prepare, soooo flavourful! It was a hands-on experience, which gives us confidence to try these on our own. We have all the recipes!! Thanks Michelle, not only for your knowledge, but for the way you show up. Your love and humility will stay with us! We are coming back for the Greek and North African courses.

Minda & John

★★★★★

"Just loving what we’d learnt to make"

My husband and I enjoyed a fantastic cooking course with Michelle Berry at Mez Country Kitchen in Barrydale! Her home kitchen is warm and well-equipped — the perfect setting to learn.

We made slow-cooked Greek lamb, hummus from scratch, Greek-style mashed potatoes, zucchini fritters, a peasant salad and freshly baked bread.

Michelle’s teaching is clear, knowledgeable and genuinely fun. We loved how easy it was to follow the recipes whilst chatting and sipping on wine. We picked herbs from Michelle’s garden while she shared ideas on how the recipes could be varied for different flavours and occasions.

What a feast! We had booked Michelle’s adjoining cottage for our stay in Barrydale, so we had a romantic dinner, just loving what we’d learnt to make. We left with new skills and dishes that we will definitely be cooking at home. Highly recommended – a must-do if you’re in the area!

Tara – Cape Town

★★★★★

"Incredible cooking experience"

We had an incredible cooking experience with Michelle! From the start, she was so thoughtful, checking in with us about our menu preferences—which led to a fantastic Mediterranean feast. We loved preparing every single dish, especially the lamb cooked with Baharat spice mix and peaches, the Turkish rice, sumac onions, honey tahini sauce, and the Lebanese lentil and carrot soup (with a game-changing prep tip we’ll definitely be using at home!).

Harvesting fresh herbs from the garden and learning to blend our own spices made the whole event feel truly special. Michelle is a wonderful, accommodating host and instructor, and the printed recipe booklets were a lovely touch to take home. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a fun, hands-on culinary experience!

Alicia & JP

★★★★★