What's Cooking?

Sisters Helen, Lisa and Janet opened Sweet Mandarin on Copperas Street in Manchester’s Northern Quarter in 2004. The restaurant is situated close to the Old Fish Market, on High Street, and near to the Manchester Craft and Design Centre. Helen has also penned an award winning book entitled Sweet Mandarin, which charts the survival of three generations of females in the family, starting with the birth of their grandmother, Lily Kwok, in rural southern China in 1918. Lily moved to Hong Kong in the 1930s and then onto England in the 1950s, where she opened one of the first Chinese restaurants in Manchester. The love of catering has sustained the family for three generations.

I had never been to a cookery school before and I was a little apprehensive at the prospect. My fears were soon dispelled by the warm and friendly welcome that Helen, Lisa and the other three participants on the Beginners Programme to Chinese Cookery gave me.

Lisa began by telling us about the five essential ingredients in Chinese cooking: ginger, onion, garlic, salt and sugar.

Then it was down to business, starting with a Dim Sum Masterclass. Lisa patiently explained the origins of the dish. She then demonstrated how to create mini vegetable spring rolls, crispy won tons and chicken fingers in turn. We each created a number of rolls ourselves.

Lisa explained and then demonstrated how to make Won Ton Soup and Chicken and Sweetcorn Soup. Won Ton literally means ‘hollow cloud’.

Lisa then explained how to make four dishes. Each of us would be responsible for cooking one of them. I cooked Crispy Vegetable Chow Mein Noodles. The other dishes were stir fried beef strips with ginger and leeks; egg fried rice and chicken and veg in a jung pao sauce. They tasted pretty good – for beginners.

Susan, one of the other participants, had sampled a number of different cooking courses and felt that Sweet Mandarin’s Cookery School was far and away the best. It was a really hands-on approach to learning to cook and I can recommend it to anyone. For more information about the opening times of Sweet Mandarin and their cookery courses available at the restaurant please click here.

Sweet Mandarin is located a short walk away from Cathedral Gardens where the Manchester: Then & Now audio tour guide concludes.

Helen Tse’s Sweet Mandarin book was nominated for the Portico Prize last year and Helen was also selected as one of eight great new writers in the Fall of 2008 by Barnes and Noble, the American bookstore chain.