Milan: Traditional Homemade Pasta Cooking Experience

Overall, the class was great. The teacher was from India, which was a surprise to me but after all she knew her stuff. When I paid, I was expecting an Italian chef and that did not happen. Also, the tour company and the teacher need to be on same page. The teacher telling us her frustration with the tour company giving out wrong directions should not be shared with paid guests, but behind closed doors. It went great but i hope everything comes out better for new guests looking forward to an italian cooking class. I even had to pay a taxi driver to reach new location.

Throughout the years I have done multiple tours with Viator, however the Milan homemade pasta cooking experience was a complete disappointment. First of all the location was changed at the last minute. Once we arrived to the apartment complex we were extremely surprised at the fact that the instructor was Indian and not Italian like we expected. In addition, she was prepared for a group of three instead of our group of four; she only had ingredients, set up, and space for three which forced her to had to go out and purchased more materials for the class. I am glad I had my voucher with me. The class was held in a tiny, messy and crowded apartment that didn’t have air conditioning. I kept starring at the messy bedroom, destroyed kitchen cabinets, broken countertops, and stacked boxes around the tiny kitchen. We had to leave the door open so that the air the fan was providing could ventilate. Lots of flies and mosquitoes came in and bit us. It was so hot that the instructor had her belly exposed (which we considered totally inappropriate) and her messy hair up in some type of a bun. She kept talking about Indian food and even though we love it, frankly it was not the place to constantly bring it up. We were supposed to also make lasagna which we never did. She made a sauce for the pasta, but didn’t teach us how to make it. I had given her money when she went out to bring me a Coke Zero because my husband is diabetic and she brought regular Coke. We were also promised half a bottle of wine for each participant, but we only took a zip of the one provided because we wanted to leave so badly. Apparently the apartment did not belong to her but to another chef that was out of the country. The cups were dirty and I did not want to touch anything. When I went to the restroom to wash my hands there was no liquid soap and had to use a bar soap that belonged to the owner and was disgusting. I have enjoyed most Viator tours but this one left me with a bitter taste, especially when I had done everything in my power to make it on time coming from Capri. I would recommend using an Italian instructor, finding a nicer location for the class, ( we could barely fit) and providing a real three course meal! (our dessert was taken out of a frozen box). Although my family tried to make the most out of it because they are troopers, I felt completely embarrassed having taken them to such place!

The highlight of my trip to Milan. Bruna was extremely welcoming and showed us around her home, taught us her secrets and tips from her years of cooking, and was a blast to be with. You have hands on demonstration as well as eat all you make. She sends you home with the recipes. The homemade tiramisu and limonchello she served you at the end were the BEST you will ever have. Would definitely recommend.

Cooking instructor Bruna is the real thing!! Felt like having dinner with a Michelin Chef and a good friend! She provided demonstration and recipes to take home. We mixed dough, and used both traditional pasta maker and KitchenAide attachment to make lasagna, ravioli and tagliatelle!