Nella Cucina

When I was invited to take a culinary class hosted by Barton & Guestier (B & G) at Nella Cucina Kitchen, I jumped at the opportunity to work with an experienced chef in a professional kitchen. What’s more is that special guest, Clementine Queraux, the Export Manager and Global Brand Ambassador for B & G guided us through wine and food pairings.
Brianne Nash (of Chopped Canada fame) led our team in preparing the entrée, which was grilled organic New York strip loin from Beretta Farms. Under Nash’s instruction, we salted and grilled the steaks to a perfect 120 degrees. She also taught us how to make a flavourful wine reduction using B & G’s Domaine La Gardie. The combination of wine, shallots, beef stock and rosemary produced a heavenly aroma while simmering away. I really enjoyed the hands-​on and interactive component of preparing a meal with the other guests. I could not wait to sample the other dishes that were prepared. Once we finished cooking, we sat down and enjoyed the fruits of our labour together.
The first course on the menu was a fresh beet, fennel and apple salad with honey-​mustard dressing made by my peers. The wine pairing for the salad was a medium-​bodied B & G Partager La Gardie Merlot, which had hints of herbs and the sweet scent of raspberry and currants. It was the perfect complement to the crisp and refreshing salad.
I eagerly anticipated sampling the main course that my team and I prepared. The steak was served over truffle roasted fingerling potatoes and glazed beans. Although not as tender as other cuts of beef, strip loin is arguably the most flavourful. It is best cooked medium rare, so that it does not become tough in texture. I thoroughly enjoyed the steak, as it was juicy and bursting with flavour, even though it was sparsely seasoned. The vegetarian accompaniments provided a fine balance to the meal. Paired with a glass of dry B & G Partager La Gardie Cabernet Sauvignon, the medium bodied wine revealed notes of blackcurrant, cherry and plum aromas.
To end the experience, we enjoyed a dark chocolate brownie with sour cherry compote. Dessert was paired with Les Charmes de Magnol Médoc, a Bordeaux blend of 60% cabernet sauvignon and 40% merlot. Fruity aromas wafted from my glass of the smooth, tannic wine. Aged in French Oak for six months, it had a bold and distinctive flavour.
My first foray in cooking French cuisine and learning about recommended wine pairings was an excellent learning experience thanks to Nash and Queraux. I look forward to hosting my next dinner party with an air of sophistication and French flair!

Great selection of kitchen gear, but given the rudeness I’ve experienced from staff (mentioned by other Unilocalers as well), I can’t recommend it. I went in twice over a two-​week period and was made to feel like a bother rather than a customer. There are a lot of kitchen stores in Toronto so I’ll take my business elsewhere.

This place is quite an enigma:
it’s the place to go if you want to find an array of high-​quality cooking and kitchen equipment, people knowledgable about the products they sell, and efficient, informative and professionally-​run cooking classes (we were *very* impressed with the one we took very recently)…
…but what is with the attitude of the staff (a good number of them, anyway, a couple of them are wonderful)? I’ve been in there a half dozen times now and generally the folks are curt, unfriendly, and downright disdainful (watch them look down their noses at you when you ask them a ‘dumb’ question).
I get that they want people to know they’re ‘the real deal’ when it comes to the culinary arts, and I get that they would prefer to deal only with professionals and restaurateurs (vs. kitchen gumbies such as myself), but, really, would it be so hard to be nice to people? Show a little common courtesy? Some of us drop a lot of $$ in the place and maybe just a little gratitude for that is in order…
Anyway, I’d rate this place a 5, but I’d only give the staff a 2. Since they likely already know about their front-​stage deficiencies, my critique is really only for customers.

This place is in my neighborhood I’ve been coming here since it opened. Today I saw a popsicle molds in a display window and thought I’d go in and check them out. No one greeted me when I walked in the door (not typical, even when they’re busy at the cash, they’ve usually greeted me) but then once the (only) clerk was done w the customer he silently sidled up next to me (a little too close, creepy) and asked if he could help me w anything. I responded with «I’m okay thanks please don’t sell me anything!» he’s very snootily replied back with «I don’t sell you things. I help you find what you’re looking for.» So sorry mister tall pretentious child with Napoleon Dynamite glasses, I didn’t come into the store intending to verbally spar with anyone I was merely considering purchasing some items at this business which employs you to provide customer service — not rudeness. I then proceeded to describe a mold that I’d seen and he cut me off, responding rudely, (employing his art school dialect, attempting to impress, with something along the lines of «…in this postmodern century that we live in these molds no longer exist, I only sell ones that exist in this millenium». I responded with «Well I just saw them on Amazon.» and then he seemed taken aback and paused (however briefly) snootily replied with «Well I don’t carry them then». I was left speechless by this level of rudeness. I am SO insulted and appalled that this is how a business allows an employee to treat customers. I will never make another purchase there, as well, I will be sure to let everyone I know (in the neighborhood and beyond) about the kind of service they can expect should they ever make the mistake of venturing in here. This is officially the worst service I ve ever received IN MY ENTIRE LIFE (and that includes throughout North America, Europe, Africa and the Carribean). CONDESCENDING. APPALLING. UNACCEPTABLE.

Very poor course for tweens. They got to WATCH food being cooked and really only participated in the preparation of the ingredients. No placing on or in stove, did not get hands on experience with actual cooking, very minor instruction regarding chopping as the instructors geared it to very young children and the tweens did not have to do dishes, Very dull and overcrowded. The course at Loblaws is better as the children do get to do all aspects of cooking, not just watch and try to cope with extreme boredom. Very overcrowded class.
Management was not receptive to feedback. Appeared to be a complete money grab. This course would even bore an 8 year old as they don’t get to do much. Adults who take the course actually get to do everything so when they say the material is the same that is true but children don’t get to actually experience cooking.
All I can say is DONT go here and if you do leave a review and avoid management as the problems are top down. All they want is your money!!!

This place is a surprise. I have gone past there other location several times but somehow never went in. The setup is very nice and airy and they hold regular cooking classes for aspiring home cooks and people looking to add a spice to their lives.
The kitchenware sold here is an interesting mix with an area dedicated for professional equipment i.e. industrial mixers, advance cooks i.e. chemicals for molecular gastronomy and home cooks who prefer high end items like staub etc.
Prices can vary a lot and I was surprised to see some items being sold at the same price point as Thon Phat (known for lower prices).
I spent a good hour or so here as I was looking for memorable item to give out as a gift. The sous vide machines caught my eyes as have been considering buying one for a while. Unlike most stores they had quite a few one’s available which hit all price points (ah well one can keep on dreaming).
The staff was quite helpful and provided me with the several options and seemed knowledgeable. The cutlery and server ware options are limited IMO as this is place to buy cooking tools.
4 Stars for what they offer under one roof.

Allergic to gluten (boo!), I was super excited to find Nella’s 3-​hour evening hands-​on Gluten Free cooking class. After research, we (boyfriend and I) felt that $ 107 pp incl. tax was comparable to if not less expensive than other hands-​on style classes.
Nella Cucina contacted us by email to ask about any allergies but once we arrived, the chef — who made adjustments for people who were dairy-​free/​vegan, etc. — said that our class on Gluten Free Cooking wasn’t in fact GF.
The chef told us, «if you’re allergic to gluten, just give away to friends what you make today and try these recipes at home yourself later.» Never warned in advance, I was advised to go hungry instead.
She also advised us that the GF class class had never been taught before and that she hadn’t even tried several of the recipes planned for the evening. This was evident when:
1. We were then subjected to a biology lesson on celiac desease and gluten-​sensitivities — having nothing to do with cooking instruction, entirely patronizing and a huge waste of our valuable class time.
2. For the next 2-​hours we stood huddled around the chef’s workspace where she demonstrated several recipes. We watched as she demonstrated how to make «1−2−3 Nutella Cookies» by combining Nutella and eggs, and placing them on the cookie sheet. It might have required more skill to fry an egg.
3. We had to ask to eat the samples. After 2-​hours of standing/​watching and no hands-​on cooking, and having had nothing to eat, many people abandoned to sit at their unused work spaces, a classmate finally asked if we could eat some of the chef’s samples — growing cold and long out from the oven.
4. In our last hour of actual cooking, we were abandoned to prepare 2 recipes at our stations. It was absolute chaos. There weren’t enough cooking tools to go around (the irony with a store downstairs!); 2-​scales for 36 people, and few whisks for this baking-​centric class. The chef stood at her station and we lined up to speak to her when we needed help, otherwise unadvised.
— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —
TL;DR: ¹⁰⁄₁₀ would not recommend.
The chef’s lack of preparation (and judgment) was evident and a poor reflection on Nella’s management/​quality-​control. Having never offered this specific class before is no excuse for failing to provide a minimum standard of its advertised «hands-​on, «insulting the intelligence of it’s customers, and starving them.
When we asked for our money back (after lots of correspondence) Nella offered us a 50% refund and 50% returned in gift cards.

This is not a bad store at all. If you want the basics of culinary items, including a chef’s knife bag, and a whole range of equipment or kitchenware, this is a good place to start.
It’s right by Bathurst TTC which is very convenient and they have another location East of Queen, which has more professional equipment.
This is more like a Williams-​Sonoma with a bit more of a professional flair.
I however, do not love the service all the time, which is why I’m not very thrilled. Their computers seem to screw up and go on the fritz a lot, and it gets annoying if you have to wait 15 minutes for some un-​related problem.
Still, not a bad place to go to for decent kitchen stuff.

I used to be a regular customer at NC as i used to live 4 doors down.
Their product range is great and the prices are not over the top — quite reasonable for the higher quality!
Today, for the first time, i tried out a cooking class. I have to say, all in all, i was very impressed and it made for a great evening. The staff were great and the entire experience was different and nice. I didn’t learn any amazing new things about food, but what i did appreciate was all the little cooking tips… a lot of it was new for me (despite considering myself a self taught cook), such as not refrigerating your tomatoes, grid cutting onions for single chops, etc.
i recommend doing this for a different and intimate evening. you can shop at the store after with a 15% discount. i was kinda expecting the staff to kinda push products on me while we cooked and after, but it wasn’t the case at all.

I work for Food Network, and we filmed a couple of videos at Nella for web exclusives. I was acting as «star» for these so I had alot of time to browse while the producer and video people set up and made decisions.
Nella is awesome. They sell everything that you could imagine for culinary pursuits, including a wide variety of chef knives. They also have a full kitchen upstairs for classes and demos, which we used for the shoot. It is beautiful and well stocked. I didn’t attend a class, but they have interesting options, including cooking for kids classes which I took as a child elsewhere sparking my interest in cooking. They also do private events, which could be really fun.
I went home with some really lovely ramen bowls, tea cups and spoons. Everything was priced reasonably.
Bonus Points
— «Bar Keepers Friend» (the ONLY thing that cleans my stainless steel kitchen island) is cheaper her than Kitchen Stuff Plus.
— Super friendly staff
— Excellent selection
— Good Location for TTC
— Gorgeous Kitchen