Back to school with ABC
The ubiquitous Japanese cooking studio ABC has spread its wings to Malaysia.
I AM elbow deep in dough, kneading, rolling and pressing at precise intervals to get the texture just so.
“O oh, you’ re doing such a good job ,” says my instructor, a cheerful young girl with a sweet smile and the rah-rah enthusiasm of a cheerleader.
Later, I wat china we as my cinnamon rolls and sliced chicken ham and mayonnaise bread emerge from the oven, looking so picture perfect, I find myself surreptitiously whipping out my phone to take a congratulatory picture.
The other girls who have also taken the bread-making class hover around, and we each gaze at the others’ creations, oohing and aahing appreciatively.
It is a wonderful sense of accomplishment and even though I’ve only just met those girls and my chirpy instructor, there is a sense of camaraderie and positivity surrounding the session. This is the magic of the newly-launched ABC Studio in Pavilion Elite shopping mall in Ku ala Lump ur.
ABC Studio was established in 1985 in Shizuoka prefecture in Japan andi snow so popular that it has 135 studios in Japan and 20 globally. The Malaysian studio will be the seventh country ABC has penetrated and its 20 th studio overseas.
Cumulative ly, ABC Studio has 290,000 members!
According to Hiroshi Sensaki, director of ABC Cooking Studio Worldwide Limited, the decision to come to Malaysia was almost a no-brainer.
“We have opened in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Thailand, and we chose Malaysia as another destination in Asia, because of the local love for Japanese culture,” he says.
There are several classes that people can opt to take at ABC, like traditional Japanese cooking, bread-making, cake-making, a kids’ course and even a wagashi (Japanese dessert) course.
The classes are designed for a maximum off our people, but what’s interesting is that each class off our is conducted at a table, with a total of 12 tables altogether. Each table hosts different classes, which means that at any given time, 12 different classes can be conducted simultaneously.
“That is a very interesting thing: you can look at the other menu s and what the others are doing; you can make friends and you can take other classes. That is how we have been successful ,” says Sensaki.
According to Sensaki, the main difference between the ABC
Studios in Japan and its overseas counterparts is that the Japanese studios tend to focus on more elaborate dishes whereas the overseas studios offer more classic Japanese dishes like sukiyaki, traditional ben to and tempura.
“The Japan recipes and overseas recipes are a bit different. We focus on ordinary Japanese home cooking outside of Japan, bu t if we do that in Japan, regular Japanese people are not interested because they already know how to make these things.
“So we offer more advanced cooking in Japan, bu t the bread and cake courses are the same ,” he says.
There are lots of interesting options in all the categories. For cooking classes, you can learn how to make all sorts of Japanese staples like chicken karaage, u don and yakitori while a cake course teaches everything from financiers to shortcakes and mille crepes.
Bread-making classes, meanwhile, offer the opportunity to learn how to ch urn out English muffins, sausage brunch braid and cheese sticks while the wagashi course explores the intricacies of traditional Japanese desserts like sakuramochi and daifu ku .
You can opt to do trial lessons at ABC at RM95 per class, or RM 70 if you signup via the ABC Cooking Studio Facebook page. Each trial session lasts for two hours and gives enthusiastic home cooks a sneak peek of what’s on offer.
After that, signing up as a member is required and tickets for classes are sold in packages that average at around RM 180 per class, with prices going down when attendees purchase more classes.
Classes are conducted by culinary instructors who are selected after going through rigorous interview processes, and according to Sensaki, there is an emphasis on customer service over cooking as the studio aims to make the lessons fun and accessible for all.
“The profile of our staff veers towards customer service (70%) rather than culinary background (30%). That’s because we are not a restaurant, so our business and service is to teach, so there is more emphasis on social skills rather than cooking itself. And we supplement this with internal training,” he says.
There are already plans to expand ABC Studio’ s presence in Malaysia, with an estimated total of 10 studios planned countrywide, including in states like Malacca, Penang and Johor.
Ultimately, what you ’ll get from a class at ABC Studio is a highly enjoyable( and educational) culinary experience with instructors who are excellent at spreading joy and enthusiasm so that no one is deterred by the tasks at hand.