Ever so often, you might want to entertain at home. If you are looking for something to impress, Japanese cuisine night might just be it. With its versatility and variety, Japanese food makes for a great choice for dining in with style.

We tell you where to go to pick up the chops to make Japanese meals that will wow your guests.

Ramen

Of all the Japanese noodles available, ramen is probably the most well-loved. Imagine the faces of your guests if you served them homemade, handmade ramen that you have personally made from scratch.

At ABC Cooking Studio, you can learn to do just that. This cooking school actually started in Japan. That is why their Japanese cuisine classes are so comprehensive. In fact, sign up with them and you can learn to cook one Japanese dish each month for a whole year. By the time you are through, on top of being able to make your own ramen as well as your own udon, you will know how to make Japanese favourites likeyakitori, grilled onigiri, takoyaki, and yakisoba.

Sushi & Maki Rolls

At Palate Sensation Culinary School, Amelia Seko will be on hand to share from her 18 years of experience as a home chef lovingly preparing Japanese food for her Japanese husband. Her sushi-making classes will teach you how to prepare the sushi rice from scratch. When she is done, you will be able to make temakizushi or hand rolls as well as maki rolls like a pro.

Yakitori, Yakisoba, Takoyaki & Okonomiyaki

For all the yaki (grilled over direct heat) Japanese dishes, turn to Cooking Class Singapore. This cooking training centre has several hands-on Japanese cooking classes run by professional chefs that you can attend.

There is a Yakitori Yakisoba Class where you can pick up grilling skills to make the skewers of yakitori then learn to make a wonderfully stir-fried yakisoba of noodles, shredded vegetables and pork to go with it. At their Savoury Summer Japanese Dishes class,takoyaki is one of the items on the menu. To learn to make okonomiyaki, take the Japanese Pancakes and Dumplings class.

Japanese Dishes

Cooking Class Singapore also has a Japanese Comfort Foods class where you can learn to cook Japanese dishes like chawanmushi and tempura.

To expand your repertoire, Brettschneider’s Baking & Cooking School has classes for home cooks. Join the class and Chef Jeremy Tan will teach you how to grill, fry and simmer so you can create kiniko takikomi gohan (mushroom mixed rice), chicken teriyaki and saba misoni (saba fish stewed with miso paste).

Wagashi

Wagashi is the collective term for Japanese sweet confections often served with green tea. At ABC Cooking Studio, you can learn to make one type a month for 12 months straight. There are the usual mochi variations like the delicate Sakura mochi made from anko or sweet bean paste stained pink to look like Sakura blossoms, nerikiri shaped like blossoms and fruit, and daifuku (mochi stuffed with azuki beans).

But there are also some lesser known Japanese cakes like wakaayu, a fish-shaped sponge cake, as well as jellies like mizuyokan, which has azuki beans, and kingyoku, a jelly that represents summer as it cools to autumn, are also part of the repertoire. Included is a selection of steamed goodies like kimishigure, a spring-time steamed bun filled with sweet bean paste; ukishima, a two-layered steam cake; and karukan, a steamed sweet bread.

Bento Box

Filled with a staple of rice or noodles, a meat or fish dish and finished with vegetables, bentos are complete single-portion meals that are packed from home or for take-out. Technically, they are not meant to be served at home. But there is no stopping you from putting them on your menu when you invite family and friends over, especially when they can be so creatively and beautifully presented.

D’Open Kitchen is where you can go to learn how to put together a bento box. Apart from learning how to cook the items and put them compactly into lovely containers, you will be taught how to create cartoon characters with the food items.

Cooking Class Singapore offers teishoku cooking classes where you can master the art of putting together a Japanese meal set. Presentation is one of the hallmarks of Japanese dining. Preparing the set meal of main, staple, soup and vegetables alone is not enough. You will be taught how to arrange them to delight your guests.