Creative Fine Dining Mastery | Cooking Coaching by Chef Majk Reviews 58

This coaching program is truly extraordinary. Under the guidance of Chef Majk, an exceptional chef and coach, I've learned to refine culinary techniques and create beautiful dishes as an end result.

The chef's hands-on approach and quick responsiveness to answer questions at all times made the program immensely rewarding. Each session was meticulously crafted to my needs, resulting in a comprehensive learning experience that felt tailor-made.

What set this program apart was the emphasis on truly understanding and perfecting techniques, and receiving valuable feedback on the results - an aspect that has significantly elevated my cooking. Working with Chef Majk was a true privilege that allowed me to witness firsthand his meticulous attention to detail and incredible patience in explaining every aspect of fine dining.

The knowledge and skills I've acquired during these sessions are invaluable. I feel confident to step into my kitchen, armed with a creative mindset to craft my own dishes, rather than having to depend on recipes.

In essence, this journey has been an enriching experience that exceeded all my expectations. I am immensely grateful for the opportunity to learn from such a distinguished chef and would do it all over again.

As a home cook, I've been focusing the majority of my time and efforts around how to follow a recipe effectively and efficiently - making sure I was cooking my ingredients to the correct time and measurements.

As I delved deeper into cooking and aspired to take it to the next level, taking an interest in fine dining, I started to search the internet for tools and resources to guide me. Sure I found videos on how to make fruit caviar, searing scallops in a nice way and how to make carrot puree, but this was still 'following recipes' and not learning the why's and how to actually create a dish of my own. This issue was even more problematic when I wanted to learn how to plate my food like how they do in fine dining.

My course with Chef Majk changed all of that. Over the course of 12 weeks and lessons I learnt a few important lessons:

Firstly the basics of 'how to cook' properly - how to check for doneness and rely on touch and feel instead of timers.

How to season correctly and adjust dishes to what my pallet preferences and not just following traditional recipes blindly.

How to plate my food at a higher standard - getting feedback each week on how to improve and understanding why certain placements and food cuts/preparations worked vs those which don't.

How to prepare and cook gels/purees/shards and other fine dining components correctly.

What makes a fine dining dish - aside from plating, the different textures and flavors and how to create my own dishes.

This was by no means an easy course. Sure it was frustrating at times but that meant that I was learning and growing as a chef. I look back at the dishes I was able to put together for lesson 1 vs lesson 12 and it is in a totally different league.

Overall it has been a fantastic experience and I highly recommend this to anyone who has an interest in fine dining cooking and is willing to put the time and effort in.

Thank you, Chef!

As an average home cook, I have always wondered what is the main difference between me and a professional chef. What is that they do differently than me, how do they do it and what keeps them motivated to keep pushing themselves to greater heights in the culinary world.

Having explored Chef Majk's work on social media a few years ago, I was quite hesitant to sign up for his coaching at first, thinking it would be another self-paced online class.

Needless to say, I pulled the trigger and I am happy to share that the last 10 weeks have been absolutely phenomenal. There were many occasions where I felt like giving up, as things got overwhelming and I found myself making a lot of mistakes, repeatedly. However, Chef Majk made sure to show me all the different ways I could improve upon my failures, in order to get even better.

From understanding the nature of basic ingredients, encouraging me to experiment with different colours, flavours and textures, using my senses to it's fullest extent and how to best utilize all the different tools at my disposal to cook and plate a perfect dish ... Chef Majk really pushed me to go deeper.

If anyone reading this is thinking about signing up, I say don't overthink it and just do it! And do be prepared to put in some quality hard work. As the old saying goes, you get out what you put in. So if you want more, you give more! And the more you give, the better feedback you will get as well. Chef Majk will definitely improve your skills, if you're up for the challenge.

These days, my whole shopping experience has also changed and I have gained a whole new world of appreciation of all the food and ingredients around me. I'm constantly thinking about all the different ways I can prepare an ingredient, drawing plating concepts and learning about new ingredients and how to effectively use them. I plan to continue practicing everything that I have learned so far and keep pushing myself to greater heights!

Chef Majk, thank you for being patient and helping me improve. Teachers like you are not easy to find and I have learned a lot, thanks to you!

I’ve been a cook for a long time, but only recently a chef. The lessons, fundamentals, and techniques I learned from Chef have been invaluable and have allowed me to break through a plateau and elevate my craft to the next level. I started training in the summer and each week was a new endeavor. A computer scientist and engineer by trade, I was not looking for a professional job in the kitchen. Only to better my skillet and be outside of my comfort zone. I felt like I was good at following recipes and maybe adding a bit of my own touch but I wasn’t creating and understanding flavor profiles and why / how / what works with what. I learned so many of those details and then started to learn how to create rather than replicate. Fast forward a month after finishing the apprenticeship, I’m working as a chef in an incredible restaurant, pushing myself, learning, seeing if I can hack it. Without the knowledge base I learned from Chef, there is no way I would be able to do it. If you’re able to train with Mikal Kovac, take the opportunity.

If you are a reasonable home cook like me and always get credits from you guests but only you know that every meal you make is just as good as last time, than coaching classes from chef Majk is your solution to culinary craftsmanship.
In 12 lessons he lets you make 12 perfectly balanced dishes which you have to dress up following the art of fine dining.
My first dish was a disaster my last one restaurant worthy. In a one hour Zoom session he gives his opinion about your last creation and explains the techniques of the next meal you are going to make. Chef Majk's coaching style is to let you think and understand why you are do A and why not B. Although this is an internet coarse, Chef Majk is always nearby through WhatsApp to help you out or give you advise while cooking. The recipes for each dish you make give you a ton of variations for you to experiment with and make you own menu. highly recommend Chef Majk's coaching if you want to improve to the level of a restaurant chef with good plating skills.

Personal coaching with Chef Majk was the best decision I’ve made in years. Each session I learned something new, each week I felt progress. It was an amazing experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

My experience was great! Chef Majk definitely has made me rethink not only how I plate food but also how I cook. He offered suggestions on how to improve the overall look of the finished plate, visual appearance of food as well as tips on sauces, cooking techniques, purees, etc. He has definitely helped me present food much better so the time spent was definitely worth it.

I've been stuck trying to memorize recipes and endlessly waking in the grocery store trying to think of what to cook for friends.

Well, I can tell you no more.
After three months with Chef Majk I've learned some easy techniques to elevate any dish, but most importantly how to become more creative.

Master sauces? Check.
Master purè? Check.
Master cooking meat? Check.
Master different type of chips and sides? Check.
Master beautiful platings? Check.

Seeing and feeling the progress for the last months have been amazing. And a huge compliment from friends, they'd rather eat at my place and cooking than eating out.

learning plan was personalised and feedback based on strengths and weaknesses of that week's task. Clear actions provided on how to buld on the skills developed with constructive critiquing of all aspects not just the finished product.
If you want to learn new techniqus and skills regardless of your ability level , this is for you!!

I'm excited to share my fantastic experience with Chef Majk as my private chef for several months. His course perfectly tailored to my basic cooking skills, providing confidence as I delved into the culinary world. His flexibility with my demanding schedule allowed me to fully engage in cooking.

Chef Majk's clear expectations and insightful feedback guided me throughout the course, refining my techniques and presentation. Despite a 12-hour time difference, his prompt communication on WhatsApp showcased his professionalism.

I highly recommend Chef Majk's course for those dedicated to transformative culinary growth. His expertise and unwavering support have significantly improved my cooking abilities. If you're ready to embrace challenges and elevate your skills, Chef Majk is an exceptional mentor for your culinary journey.

Great tutor, very nice and competent man!
I learned a lot!

I have been cooking successfully for a long time but have never been satisfied with the presentation of the meals I've prepared. I wanted to be able to take my cooking and plating to a different level and this is exactly what Michal has enabled me to achieve.
Whilst initially the course is for twelve weeks it was, in fact, a little longer time scale due to times when I wasn't able to complete the assigned dishes, as life gets in the way and Michal demonstrated great patience with me, always giving the time for me to complete the tasks he set.
I wondered how useful an online course would be but with the way in which he structures it the feedback he gives is of immense value.
At no point does his critique make you feel that a dish is wrong or a failure but he is able to tell you what elements worked and on what elements a change would have beneficial. He has created the course so that it builds your skills and encourages you to use initiative and creativity to improve each week. He focuses on 'generic' ideas so that the technique learned can be applied to any variation of that aspect of the dish.
By the end of the three months the difference in what I am able to achieve was very clear and we rounded off with a comparison of the first dish I made for him and the last, a very satisfying conclusion.
The course itself is easy to follow and as other reviewers have said requires no special equipment or an extensive kitchen to be able to create the recipes Michal suggests. I think it is beneficial if you are competent cook to start with and understand basic culinary techniques.
It is worth pointing out that this course does require effort and dedication as you won't achieve the desired result if the necessary work isn't done.
Having completed the course I feel I will now be able to create dishes and meals without having to necessarily follow someone else's recipe and present them in a way that is very 'fine dining'.
The final thing to say is that not only will you learn a huge amount but it is fun as well and Michal is very easy to get along with.

Hi i did the cooking course to learn Fine Dining. I can really say this is one of the best cooking educations i have had. Chef Majk pushes you to learn new things and to learn how to plate a nice dish. In the last 3 months i have probably learned more then in the last 10 years. I you would like to go to the next level with cooking i highly recommend this course. Be aware that you need to be committed to learn and that you need to put in a lot of your time to make it happen and to learn. But if you are committed and willing and motivated to learn you will see it's worth it all the way. Chef Majk is given good feedback after every dish about the food that i prepared but also about my plating .
I learned so much during the months to get better in plating, making better sauces, purees etc. Also learned to work with food i didn't know. So very possitive experience for me! Thank you Michal!

I really enjoyed my time working with Michal. I learned many great techniques and got much better at fine dining plating. Michal will give you true feedback on your dishes, instead of always positive feedback, like you might get from your friends and family. I would say I learned something like 30 new techniques for making components of a dish.

You should know that this course is a lot of work. For me, this was great, because it got me consistently cooking fancy meals every week. Typically, I would spend 8-9 hours in the kitchen on Saturday and Sunday (on top of my day job)

One critique is that sometimes the material was spoken so quickly, that it was hard for me to grasp the concept. This would sometimes end up with me doing a component of the dish wrong. I would usually try to write down everything Michal said, but would sometimes miss things. Even though this is a class meant to help you cook without a recipe, it would be nice to have some written instructions for some of the dishes, especially since they can be very complicated.

Overall, this was a really great experience for me that I will never forget. Now I have a whole bunch of new tools to go and be creative with.

I can't believe the difference that 12 sessions with Chef Majk made on my cooking and plating. When I compare what I did the first week with what I was able to create at the end of the coaching sessions, the difference is night and day. Every week, Chef Majk walked me through different cooking techniques and then gave me very helpful and constructive feedback on what I had done the previous week. Getting feedback from someone as experienced as Chef Majk is really the only way to improve (and do so quickly). I really feel that my cooking (and especially my plating) improved more in 12 weeks of coaching with Chef Majk than it had in the last 10 years of cooking on my own, where I was just trying to mimic what I was seeing others do online.

If you're worried that you don't have the equipment in your kitchen to make fine dining dishes - don't. Just like on Chef Majk's Youtube channel, none of the dishes or techniques in the coaching required any crazy equipment. You learn how to use simple ingredients and basic kitchen gear to make fantastic meals.

I would 100% recommend this coaching to any serious home cook who is looking to dramatically improve his/her skills!

My 2 month mentoring program with Chef Majk was an amazing experience! He created something I desperately needed and could not find anywhere else - to have a personal professional chef as a cooking mentor. I could not only improve my cooking skills and learn a lot of tips and tricks that professional chefs use, but also to improve tremendously my plating skills. Chef Majk is a true perfectionist (in a good way!) in terms of plating and I appreciated his feedback a lot. I also found it super cool that he doesn’t give you a precise recipes - you have to develop your inner chef with his guidance. He is also responding to your questions very fast and it makes you feel supported whenever you need it - in the shopping mall, in the kitchen, and afterwards.
I would be happy to continue my mentoring with Majk next year,
Big thanks from Culinary Atelier, Switzerland

This was a masterclass put on by chef. I learned so much about technique, attention to detail, and plating through this course. Chef does a remarkable job, and has set up the course to allow you to practice consistent techniques with each dish to get better at certain areas.

This course can definitely be challenging, especially for inexperienced home cooks. However chef does a great job walking you through steps and techniques. I love that chef is more of a mentor than a friend, because it allows for true feedback from a professional without bias.

Meals can take a while to complete, so you have to be dedicated about this class. But with the right amount of effort and practice you’ll be able to achieve things in the kitchen that you may not have known you can do.

This course put so much energy and passion and intentionality into my cooking. Can’t wait for chef to release a fine dining part 2 class. I’ll be first to sign up

Before going any further in this review, the first thing I would like to do is say ‘thank you Chef’, thank you for being you, thank you being honest, thank you for pushing us, thank you for being a pleasure to work with!!

My partner and I are home cooks, we love eating out, we love spending time in the kitchen and we love entertaining. During Covid we spent a lot of time cooking, and like everyone else we missed enjoyable meals out with our friends! We’ve been fortune to be able to dine in several Michelin star restaurants over the years and decided that it was time to elevate our game, gain new skills and learn how to plate and present food!

Chef Majk’s course offered exactly what we were looking for and we haven’t looked back since! We presented him with his first ‘couple’ that wanted to learn together, cook alongside each other and present our own styles! Open to all opportunities Chef took our request onboard, and quickly realised that there may have been a little bit of competitiveness between us, and joined in our weekly fun and post of ‘Plate A or Plate B’ as we didn’t even reveal to him which plates were which!

Chef’s style is totally personable, and we learned SO much more than we ever imagined. We were able to switch out elements that didn’t suit, his years of experience are passed on and can be tailored or embellished to suit your needs.

Chef provides a gradual build up from basics like preparing a superb stock for sauces, learning to finesse knife skills, thinking about plating before buying ingredients and of course tasting, balancing and combining delicious ingredients together.

If you have the equipment, that’s brilliant but Chef works around what you do or don’t have! Your ability to learn is only held back by your dedication to give time, willingness to source/buy ingredients and experiment! There are no recipes, no precise measurements, methods or temperatures! But you are also not left alone… Chef will share what ingredients you need, how to prep, how to cook and what you should (or shouldn’t) achieve! Some weeks it goes well, some weeks it doesn’t and you’ll try, try and try again! But practice makes perfect! Occasionally we couldn’t remember what to do, sometimes we disagreed - come on we were a couple in a kitchen together for days at a time! Chef always was on the end of a WhatsApp message, with encouragement or clarification!

We now have the skills and confidence to build on our lessons, and we have already said to chef, once we have embedded these, we will ask too learn more!

If I had one slight regret, I wish we had thought and asked about the time we would need to dedicate. We booked our course ahead of a busy summer socially (postponed events). It is definitely not for the faint hearted and we under estimated the amount of hours we would spend in the kitchen for each and every lesson, as we were preparing and cooking items over a number of days. We both work full-time, some weeks we struggled with time to even source ingredients let alone cook. Chef was always very accommodating (thank you again!) but I would certainly think about the amount of hours needed and ensure you have ability to honour the commitment!

For anyone thinking about improving their knowledge and skills, don’t delay just do it!

Chef Majk gave me something culinary school and work probably never would have taught me. The concept of fine dining can be difficult to grasp, but he helped me understand it more and apply it across different dishes - from starters to mains to desserts. He definitely had extensive knowledge on the culinary arts, and I feel so lucky to be one of his students and learn from such a talented chef. Once again, thank you!

Learning to cook with Majk is like having a personal trainer at the gym. Majk challenges you to go beyond your limits. I was a passionate home cook for many years (and you should have advanced cooking skills to benefit from his class) but Majk has taken me to a different level. I used to follow recipes only but Majk tought me to understand the cooking process so that I am now confident to cook without recipes. His plating tips have also helped me to improve the presentation of my dishes. Thumbs up, Majk! Highly recommended.