Small Group Montreal Cooking Class with Michelin-Trained Chef

Meet Robert

Robert has been cooking professionally for over 30+ years. For almost three decades, food has been the center of his life. He has worked as a food editor, restaurant designer, hotel operator, and chef. He launched his first restaurant pop-up as a high school junior and began traveling the world in search of flavor by 19. As a food writer, he was nominated as World’s Best Food Journalist and won numerous global accolades as a correspondent for Travel+Leisure, Gourmet, and Slow Food. As an Oxford-trained scholar, he has lectured at food conferences on four continents. As a culinary consultant, he has worked with generational talents like Michelin 3-star chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Sydney’s top toque Neil Perry, and Top Chef winner Harold Dieterle. As a culinary and operations director, he has developed 50+ restaurants and luxury hotels in the US, UK, and Asia, including some of the world’s top brands (W Bangkok and Seoul, Fullerton Bay Singapore, Corinthia UK). He believes that food has a unique ability to connect people, transcend culture, and create lasting memories. He is so excited to share his passion and hopes his cooking can bring a few dollops (or more) of joy into your life!

What to expect

Please note menu might vary. If there are particular dishes you are interested in trying, please include your request in the booking form.

In-home meal: (2-36 guests) During this small-group dining experience, Robert blends European and American techniques with global influences, using the finest local produce, seafood, and farm-fresh ingredients. Passionate about showcasing Montreal’s diverse food culture, he invites you to explore the city’s rich culinary landscape through his carefully crafted menu.

Hosted in his home kitchen - a historic 1800s building in the heart of Montreal’s Old Port, this experience offers a luxurious and immersive 4-course tasting journey. Each dish is inspired by Montreal’s multicultural food scene, featuring bold flavors from Asian, Jewish, Caribbean, Portuguese, and Québécois traditions, woven into a delicious narrative of food, culture, and community.

Enhance your meal with an optional alcohol pairing, featuring four tasting glasses of artisanal wine and cider, or opt for a curated rare and vintage tea tasting for a unique non-alcoholic experience.

Cooking experience: (2-36 guests) Join Robert, a Michelin-star-trained chef and award-winning food writer (Travel+Leisure, Slow Food), for a small-group cooking class in Montreal. This hands-on experience goes beyond traditional recipes, teaching you to cook like a professional. Chef Robert will guide you through the same training he offers to professional cooks, focusing on essential culinary skills like knife techniques, plating, building sauces, and developing key culinary habits. Over the course of three hours, you'll work just like a chef in a top restaurant, gaining practical skills that will elevate your cooking to the next level. At the end of the class, you'll sit for a formal 3-course lunch. Each dish will be inspired and influenced by a culinary community in Montreal - for example, Caribbean, North Asian, Syrian and Quebecois. If you opt for the alcohol add-on, you'll enjoy 4 tasting glasses of artisanal wine and cider. Non-drinkers can savor a curated rare and vintage tea tasting experience. Your experience is hosted in a historic Montreal building with a simple home kitchen setting. Coffee and additional drinks are extra. Start time may fluctuate slightly depending on local farm, fishery, or market deliveries.

Market visit: (2-15 guests) Meet your host outside 'Poissonnerie Shamrock Fish Ltee' for your small-group guided tour of the Jean-Talon Market, one of the largest farmer's markets in North America. You will tour the market from a working chef's perspective focusing on the historic food communities of Montreal (Italy, North Africa, Middle East) through tastings of boldly flavored street food. Wind through the market stopping to explore the history and trade behind local and (for rare items) global sources of vegetables, tea, meat, and fish used by Quebec's top chefs. Then visit a tea store that supplies Michelin 3-star restaurants, buy cheese directly from artisan makers, and nibble on handmade Tunisian sweets. Your market tour will last for 1.5-2 hours.

Notes: 1. Unlike most Traveling Spoon experiences, Robert's experiences are not private, but in small groups in the single digits.
2. Robert can offer lactose free, gluten free, vegetarian and vegan meals, and adapt to almost any food allergy or dislike, on request. You can also request special menus and celebrate occasions (birthday, anniversary, date night) for larger groups. This cooking class in Montreal is also suitable for families with children.
3. For groups of 5 or more, a 1-week cancellation policy applies. The standard 48-hour cancellation policy does not apply.
4. Robert can accommodate up to 12 guests at a time in his home kitchen. For groups larger than 12, he will divide the experience into two or three seatings on the same day or come up with a special concept. If you're planning a larger group, please email us at reservations@travelingspoon.com.
4. For groups larger than 8, Robert brings in additional wait staff and applies a service surcharge.
5. Robert has two hypoallergenic cats; they can be placed in a different room during your experience.
6. Children above the age of 4 will be charged the price of an adult.
7. Start times may vary by up to an hour, due to Robert's work with small, artisan farms and local producers. He will reach out to you directly to coordinate and confirm the timing.

Languages spoken: English

Sample menu

• 3-Course Gastronomic Tasting Menu:
• Salmon Crudo (Caribbean) smoky cucumber, mango, sherry, chives
• Monkfish (Southern Thai) green curry, bamboo shoot, holy basil
• Duck (Persia) red pepper, chickpeas, sage, almonds

Traveler reviews

It IS really an experience to have if you are ready to discover the real food experience: cooking, sauces, Michelin stars, asian cooking... and: if you REALLY want to eat great food made by a connoisseur, that's the place (local food, great ecologic values...). The Chef is very routined at explaining you the real thing and, in a more intimate way: in letting you taste the outcome... Great experience. Really worth it.

- elke April 11, 2026

I highly recommend booking a private dinner with Michelin trained Chef Rob. We joined his supper club of 12 people, located on a back street behind a paint peeling blue steel door with a security lock, up 3 flights of seedy service entrance stairs where you think you're being led to have your kidneys removed - it adds to the air of adventure of rooting out some of the best food in Montreal. "Knock loudly when you arrive." You hear the laughter behind an apartment door, aromas wafting into the hallway, and know you've reached the right spot- opening to a warm and welcoming scene of chatter and smiling faces of new friends. Chef Robs incredible wealth of knowledge about food, wine, and culture weaves between the 5 courses effortlessly. You're in his kitchen, at his table set for 12 and conversing with 10 strangers. Casual and comfortable, shoes off and coats tossed on the couch, yet the food remarkable and plated meticulously, his 30 years of travel and training highlighted as you travel with him through food and wine to Thailand, Persian, Korea and other areas of the world where he has spent months or years at a time immersing himself with street cooks. Truly an experience not to be missed.

- Jennifer March 23, 2026

Great time Chef was super and the food amazing. We learned a lot about chopping and sauces and how to cook and clean as you go

- Fern September 17, 2025

Rob shared so many great techniques in much more depth than any other cooking class we have had. I feel like we can really take these things back to our own kitchen. Spectacular flavor combinations that can be easily modified. Knife skills, mixing skills, proper plating.

- Renne August 30, 2025