CookSpace

We held a group event at Cook Space a while back so this is a late review.
2 stars for the experience and our instructor, an extra star for allowing us our own alcohol.
We made gnocchi in small groups which went well. We paired it with a summer pasta sauced with a squash base, which we weren’t given the recipe for like we hoped.
To be frank, our instructor Grant is kinda what brought this from a 4 or 5 star experience to a 2 star experience. He wasn’t friendly. We asked him to heat up some zucchini noodles we had brought for some non-​gluten friends and asked him to not over cook, which he replied with a smerk remark to the effect of «i know what I’m doing». Well, he didn’t, because he handed us back a bowl of mush. It was a favor we asked for after all so we didn’t complain.
Side note to Grant: Your pronouncing gnocchi wrong. yours saying NO-​Key when thought its actually pronounced NYaw-​key. Some honest feedback.

Let me start by saying that besides the lady who decided to wash her baby’s ass in the sink while a cooking class was being hosted, this experience was alright. The class I signed up for was Handmade Pasta 101 with Andrea Onetti. Sign up was a breeze via the website. They shoot you an email requesting you bring a rolling pin and a container that can hold up to 16 ounces for take home pasta. Which means you don’t really have to, as people showed up without it and they had spares for those that failed to follow the instructions.
As you walk in they tell you to take a seat and wash your hands in the sink off to the side (the same sink where people wash their babies I guess.) Anyway the first part of the class is hands on. Meaning you will get your hands dirty making pasta. Now I was expecting every person to get their own bowl of ingredients to make pasta but that is not how this works. You sit in groups of four with one bowl, all the ingredients and collectively make the pasta. Meaning some strangers hand will be in your pasta. Some might care about this little fact, otherS might not…
While you are making the pasta the instructor provides tips and techniques on how to form the dough, when to use olive oil, why to use fresh ingredients etc. etc. etc. You have a piece of paper with the recipe for the dough but unfortunately, can’t write anything down cause your hands are full of dough. Lol Hope you have a good memory during this part. Once complete they take your dough, wrap it and place it in the fridge to sit. As it is warm in Hawaii that is where the instructor recommended you place your dough to rest. After that they give you a piece of rested dough and tell you to knead it out into a rectangle, which you will then take a rolling pin to and thin out. Once you roll your dough to a suitable thickness the instructor shows you how to cut it and make strips of pasta. (think fettucine) Now that that’s complete you put away your pasta into your bowl where they will store it in the fridge for the remainder of the class. At this time the instructor brings out the pomodoro and pesto. He boils some pasta and lets you have a taste. I can’t lie, the Pomodoro sauce was on point and you can really taste the freshness of the ingredients used. The Pesto/​Corn/​bacon sauce, well, the bacon overpowered the rest of the ingredients. It was good but I could have just ate bacon without having all the carbs.
During this part of the class, (the sauces) there seemed to be much confusion as the instructor didn’t lay out the ingredients of what was used. He basically had to explain it to each table as they asked. Not sure why it wasn’t just written down on the recipe card for the dough… maybe he didn’t really want us to know how to make it. I can’t blame him, he’s got to make a living somehow. Did I mention the pomodoro was on point. Anyway some takeaways, and I hope Cookspace reads this, they know how to find me if they have any questions
.
1. Have two pots of boiling water ready to go. That way we aren’t sitting around waiting for pasta to boil for the second dish.
2. What happened to the wine? I really thought you would at least give out a glass of wine. Maybe I watch to many movies. Was it BYOB? If it was you could have told me. I saw you had tons of wine glasses on the shelf.
3. Recipe for the sauces the instructor served should be annotated on the print out given to the students. As your website states, «You’ll learn the proper technique for cooking fresh pasta, how to make basic sauces, and to use local produce to create tasty, uncomplicated dishes. Take home recipes and fresh pasta.» I got the pasta and one recipe, the dough, It says recipes… plural.
4. Why can’t everyone get their own bowl to make pasta. Or at least people who sign up together can share versus sharing with a total stranger.
I truly believe this place has the potential to become great. A few minor adjustments and this can be the go to place for aspiring home cooks in Hawaii.
Oh, and the dough you originally formed is cut into pieces and given back to you to take home.
I will be on the lookout for other courses and will give this place another try. This place is A-​OK. with me.

Save your money! We recently celebrated a friend’s upcoming marriage at Cookspace with a «Bubbles and Baubles» course. I had been looking for a hands-​on cooking course or at the least a cooking demonstration (plus suggestions about wine and food parings) as a fun alternative to a traditional bridal shower. Instead, we ended up with a presentation from a sommelier (who was excellent) and a few small and not very interesting pupus. When a group of women get together for a celebration, it is not really fun to sit and listen to someone speak for too long. Also, the table was long so it was hard for the people at the end to hear/​feel involved. The servers were friendly, but the food was mediocre and sparse and the whole experience was very expensive for what we had. There was no demonstration or even any discussion about the food at all. We paid $ 75 per person for the sommelier and a few small nibbles. We had to purchase our bubbly separately. Cookspace is in a good location with a nice «look» and a great concept, but the organizational and business skills and (lack of) professionalism of the management were disappointing and the execution of the concept was not good.

A friend and I found this place awhile back and thought it would be a great place for a birthday party. I left a message and sent an email and even went by the store and have heard nothing. Hard to run a business when you don’t return inquiries. Too bad since this is a fantastic concept and is needed in Honolulu.

While I’m happy to have a cooking school in Honolulu, I hoped for more.
First, it’s not hands on. This is a big deal.
Second, Seating is flat, so hard to see what the instructor is doing. An angled mirror on the ceiling over the stove would help the class see into the pan. This’s pretty basic.
Third, the one class I signed up for, they changed the menu completely without notice. Different food, different techniques. They were very professional and gave me a refund. But it meant I drove there for nothing. Anytime you have students walking out of a class, it isn’t a good thing.

What a great idea ! Kinda stumbled on this place while visiting one of my frequent haunts at Ward Warehouse (Island Guitars). Can’t give an official review yet because I have’nt taken any classes or attended any events, but just to give a heads up on this interesting fairly new business here at WW. My info for now comes from reading some handouts and talking to some people who where attending a baking event.
With a passion for food and food preparation myself and the ever growing popularity of the Food Channel and other cooking shows, I thought… Hmmm…refreshing, exciting, interesting and something that I would definitely want to get involved in. An ideal venue for cooking classes and events.
Stay tuned for upcoming updates and reviews!

Almost a year ago I was diagnosed with celiac disease and as a result had to go gluten free. It’s been a struggle to do so and I was excited to see that Cookspace was offering a gluten free cooking class since gluten free baked goods are difficult to find at a reasonable price.
The class cost $ 50 for 2 hours which seemed a little steep but I was willing to pay since gluten free cooking is so hard to find on this island. I showed up about 15 minutes before class started and notified the women in the kitchen that I was there for the gluten free class. They told me to come back in 20 minutes (even though I was 12 minutes early, tops). I wandered the mall a bit and came back. I found the other people taking the class hanging around outside and the ladies had actually locked the door to keep us out. Awkward. 6pm rolled around, time for the class to start, and the door was still locked. They finally let us in about 10 minutes late
Although things got off to a slow start I was okay with that since the place is new and they were working out the bugs. We started out doing a bread recipe, but it took a while because they didn’t have enough measuring cups and spoons for everyone. Um, if you are going to have a cooking class shouldn’t you have that kind of stuff for everyone?
As the bread was baking the instructor leading the class showed us several pasta dishes, one of which was a quick lasagna with spring roll wrappers. Ingredients used included canned tomato sauce and sausage. Another attendee of the class asked if the sauce and sausage were gluten free (a valid question since wheat appears in lots of stuff). The instructor looked at the sauce ingredient list and didn’t see wheat on there, but she did not know about the sausage, but she assumed that it was. Now, if you are familiar with celiac disease you are not supposed to have anything with gluten and some people can get extremely sick if you have some. I don’t tend to get sick with minor cross contamination so I ate some of the finished products despite the risk of gluten. Unfortunately that night I ended up with a stomach ache.
A few days later I was in whole foods and decided to recreate the lasagna. I picked up the spring roll wrappers that the instructor had used. I idly looked at the ingredient list and the first ingredient: wheat flour. Awesome, well that explains my tummy ache.
I was willing to overlook some of the quirks and issues since the place is new but it is pretty vital that if you are going to offer a gluten free class, make sure your ingredients are gluten free!!! They could make someone very sick.

Great Spot! Had a sneak preview of it and had the Owner of Just Tacos give a great speech about Tequila. He created his own brand of Tequila and we compared it with Patron!
This place is hidden in Ward Centers but when you walk in, it’s nice and clean.
It’s great for get togethers and learning how to cook!
Can’t wait till they have great cooks teaching how to cook amazing dishes.
Plenty of Parking and great vibe!

I got a sneak peek into CookSpace a few weeks ago for a tequila tasting/​launch.
I love the space. It’s open, bright, airy and very inviting.
The kitchen has all the essential items any cook would need. Everything is brand new from the beautiful fridge to the Vitamix blender.
There are a lot of very affordable cooking classes that CookSpace is hosting, so check their calendar for updates. This includes kid and adult classes. Right now they have regular height dinner tables, which is fine, but I think it would help to put in bar height table and stools so students can see cooking demonstrations from eye level.
I was able to meet some of the instructors during my time there that have upcoming events and they were all wonderful. Some teach cooking classes at KCC already so I think you will really enjoy some of the classes they will be teaching.
I think the space is awesome for private dinner parties and events. CookSpace can organize a private chef for any event you are thinking. The space can hold plenty of people too. Plus there is plenty of free parking at Ward Warehouse.
Hawaii is very limited with cooking classes and I think that CookSpace fits that void wonderfully. i can’t wait to see how they evolve their great idea as time goes by.