Ren’s Kitchen

Basic ingredients: Group and tailor-made Indian cookery classes held in a modern cookhouse in the garden of Renuka Patel’s suburban house in North London. Groups comprise a maximum of six students and are completely hands-on, starting with a spices tutorial and ending with good food to take home. Courses include Curry in a Hurry, Dinner Party Delights and Vegetarian.

They say: “We teach curry lovers of all abilities how to cook authentic delicious Indian meals for themselves so they’ll never need to order takeaway again.”

We say: Eyes peeled for Ren’s Magic Paste, a gunk made from taking a handheld blender to equal volumes of peeled root ginger and fresh green chillies.