Hospitality, Catering & Cookery

Amazing Food – Made by You!

Whether you’ve got an existing passion for cooking tasty, Instagram-worthy food or you’re brand new to it but really fancy yourself as the next Gordon Ramsay, East Durham College’s professional cookery courses can help make it happen.

Studying in our two fantastic, state-of-the-art commercial kitchens, you’ll be learning the ropes (and recipes!) from professional chefs and catering professionals with years of experience in the industry.

Your food won’t be going to waste either – catering students get the opportunity to prepare meals for

the public in our on-site restaurant, Scene 1 (more on that later!), and also prepare food for our ‘Hatch’, where hungry staff members and students will be more than happy to pay for the tasty grub you have prepared!

Students studying cookery also get the opportunity to learn all about hospitality too and interacting with members of the public, to ensure you have a thorough understanding of both behind the scenes in the kitchen and the importance of customer service front-of-house too.

Before we get too much into what makes our professional cookery courses so great at EDC, why not take a look at it for yourself with our video below?

Scene 1 Bistro Restaurant

A huge part of your course is preparing you for the workplace, and there’s no better way of doing that than ensuring that the delicious delights you make as part of the course are served to actual members of the public, just like how they would be if you were working as a professional chef!

Open for lunch and dinner service during the week, Scene 1 is our fantastic, bistro-style restaurant, found at our Peterlee campus.

With a changing menu every single week to ensure you learn a wide variety of different dishes, the restaurant will keep you on your toes and you’ll learn plenty of different techniques from creating incredible sauces to learning many different pastry techniques too.

Scene 1 also regularly has themed events during the year. In the past we have hosted a highly-popular Burns Night supper, as well as themed events such as a carvery, French Night, Italian night and special fare for Valentine’s Day too. In December, the restaurant has its busiest – and most wonderful! – time of the year as we serve a special Christmas menu from the restaurant.

Want to take a look inside the restaurant and kitchens for yourself? Use our 360 degree tour below to take a look around.