10 great restaurants where you can (also) don your kitchen apron

From Top Chef to the countless tips published on TikTok, cooking feeds all kinds of fantasies in the way it is prepared, assembled and accommodated. Tricks of the trade as well as secrets are no longer precious information kept to themselves by the great chefs. Of course, cooking classes have been around for a long time now, but they're now a leisure experience that takes place in the very heart of the finest restaurants, often before you even sit down to eat...

Giverny / Le Jardin des Plumes

A green getaway in Normandy takes on a delightful air when you set down your bags at David Gallienne's home. In his Jardin des Plumes, you can sit down and/or put on your apron. Amateur cordon bleu cooks have the opportunity to learn market cuisine from the chef, who exchanges his chef's hat for a teacher's jacket for a 1.5-hour Saturday afternoon class. The setting is ideal: no more than six students. The formula is convivial, not only for the promised sharing with the chef, but also because apprentices have the opportunity to invite a guest when the time comes for the tasting.

• Price: 150 euros per person (upon reservation) / 50 euros supplement for a guest at the tasting

Joigny / la Côte St Jacques

This emblematic Burgundy establishment on the banks of the Yonne is a school in itself, having trained some of today's most renowned chefs. Culinary enthusiasts too can feel the imprint of the Côte st Jacques during a serious half-day session on Monday mornings or afternoons (depending on availability). It's best to plan ahead, as the schedule calls for one class per month, and they fill up fast. Each workshop concludes with a tasting of the dishes, and a pairing service based on the recipes created. For the more assiduous, a two-day formula offers an extraordinary experience, including participation in the mise en place at the start of service alongside the brigade, as well as a face-to-face lunch with Jean-Michel Lorain or his chef and nephew Alexandre Bondoux.

• Price: 162 euros per person

Eugénie-les-Bains / Les Prés d'Eugénie

Imagine taking over the kitchen where Alain Ducasse began his sumptuous career. It's enough to make you salivate, you must admit. A dream that can become reality in the lair of the much-missed Michel Guérard, who has set up a cooking school in a greenhouse-like laboratory nestled under the bamboo of the Prés d'Eugénie park. In the same way that professionals come here to perfect their technique through the Institut de Cuisine, where courses are given on the late great master's famous healthy cuisine and patisserie, all levels of amateur cooks are welcomed for tailored sessions. You can take part in four-day or half-day courses, or take part in less academic workshops to share a moment of cooking or pastry-making with your child.

• Prices: from 95 euros for a 1.30-hour workshop to 880 euros for a four-day course

Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid / Maisons Marcon

Mushrooms may seem easy enough to enjoy, but they deserve just as much attention as poultry or lobster when it comes to preparing them. Porcini, chanterelles and girolles, the signature products of Régis and Jacques Marcon's cuisine, are all part of the convivial cooking school set up within the emblematic Saint-Bonnet-le-Froid gastronomic establishment. There's something for everyone, with training courses for the more seasoned cooks, who can take part in a full-day course, as well as children's workshops. Sweet tooths are also catered for, with courses based on the great classics. It's best to plan ahead, as workshops are fully booked several weeks in advance!

Prices: from 40 euros for a children's or teenager's course to 185 euros for an 8 h 30 course

Vonnas / Georges Blanc

It's the same old story every Christmas: if you're even remotely fond of moist poultry, you'll want to know how the master of Bresse poularde can delight your guests. The aptly named Georges Blanc. And just as well, since the great chef doesn't keep his delicious secrets to himself. You can learn them in cooking classes given by Frédéric Blanc in the famous village of Blanc, in the Ain region. Allow two hours on Saturdays to witness the preparation of the poultry so dear to Georges Blanc. at the end of the session, students are given the recipes they need to reproduce at home everything they've learned behind the stoves of this iconic den for all lovers of Bresse poularde.

• Price: 70 euros for the Saturday course dedicated to Bresse poultry

Mûr-de-Bretagne / L'Auberge Grand Maison

This is undoubtedly one of the best deals for gastronomy enthusiasts who dream of learning the rudiments of cooking alongside a three-star chef. Head for the Côtes-d'Armor, for a breath of fresh Breton air, and above all a lesson in gastronomy from Christophe Le Fur. The chef from Auberge Grand Maison opened a specially dedicated space to welcome twelve students for a half-day workshop, followed by a tasting of the three recipes created: starter, main course and dessert. And it's a hit! Her "Cuisin'In workshop" is fully booked several months in advance.

• Price: 85 euros for a course including three recipes and tasting

Avignon / La Mirande

When you book a cooking class in a gourmet restaurant, you create memories that last a long time. Just imagine how much more memorable the experience can be when the lesson is given in a historic setting such as La Mirande. In the City of the Popes, the prestigious townhouse reserves its former kitchens, including its 19th-century wood-fired oven, for its cooking school, Le Marmiton. In turn, the great chefs of Provence pass the baton to amateur cordon bleu cooks, who come to learn the tricks of the trade for making macaroons, working with black truffles or morels, imitating the techniques of great chefs, and so on. Florent Pietravalle is not the only teacher in this rich program, which also caters for the youngest apprentices. Workshops from the age of seven give them the chance to get their hands dirty as early as possible. Among the chefs who swap their chef's hat for a teacher's jacket are Georgiana Viou and Brundo d'Angélis.

• Prices: from 60 euros for a children's workshop (7-13 years) to 180 euros for a course on truffles, lobster and wild mushrooms

La Rochelle / Grégory Coutanceau

In the Coutanceau family, there's Christopher of course, our four-toque and 2018 Gault&Millau d'or winner, but there's also Grégory. Nourished by the experience of his father Richard, who trained at the Troigros and Prés d'Eugénie before becoming the most illustrious gastronomic table on the Plage de la Concurrence, thethe elder Richard now runs his own establishments in the white corsair town of La Rochelle. The chef from La Rochelle has set up a cooking school, dubbed "la classe des gourmets", where eight workstations equipped with state-of-the-art equipment provide amateurs with a solid foundation for learning. just a stone's throw from the Vieux Port, on the Quai Sénac de Meilhan, these cooking sessions offer both the chance to discover the basics of French cuisine and to hone your skills to approach the techniques of a top chef.

• Prices: from 72 euros for the "chef's secrets" session to 195 euros for the "à la table des chefs" course.

Joucas / Le Phébus & Spa - Villa des Anges

At this Provencal relais et châteaux, it's not just the prestigious setting of the gourmet restaurant's kitchens that are an argument for choosing chef Xavier Mathieu's culinary instruction. Of course, there are group lessons, but also private sessions, i.e. individual and personalized. The result is rapid progress in techniques and tricks of the trade that students are not necessarily familiar with. Another of Le Phébus & Spa's assets is the fact that its courses are taught... in English! Every Thursday. As for the content of the lessons, whether on their own or in groups, enthusiasts approach learning through the prism of Chef Mathieu's recipes, with three of them created over the course of three hours. A tasting session always follows.

• Prices: from 135 euros per person for a group class and from 280 euros for an individual class

Paris / Le Pavillon Ledoyen

poached egg badaboum with osciètre caviar", "filet de veau du Limousin à la ficelle et matignon de légumes", "baked chocolate ganache". ganache chocolat cuite au four"... These are just some of the creations that the lucky students of the Pavillon Ledoyen can learn to make in this den of Parisian gastronomy. And, of course, they'll be able to identify the contours of the iconic sauces of top chef Yannick Alléno, who has made extractions his signature. So it takes no less than half a day to get behind the stove and get the job done. All recipes for these masterclasses are taken from the Pavillon Ledoyen menu. After a long session of culinary practice, the amateurs sit down to lunch in a lounge where they become customers again.

• Price: 345 euros