Welcome to The Avenue Family!

We’re a family-run cookery school led by the dynamic trio; Diana and her two children, Sophie and Rich – a true family affair!

Our mission is simple: to teach people of all ages and abilities a real understanding of food, and to have an absolute blast while doing it. We’re proudly known by our customers as “The Most Fun Cookery School in London” – their words, not ours (but hey, we’ll take it!)

We’re all about encouraging you to ditch cookbook dependency and start treating recipes as inspiration rather than strict instruction. We want you to enter the kitchen with a smile and leave with an even bigger one… and maybe sometimes just a little tipsy!

We incorporate love, enthusiasm and a relaxed, fun atmosphere in all our carefully structured classes & courses based in our South West London kitchen.

Join a class with us, trust us you won’t regret it!

Check out all our classes and courses here to see what tantalises your taste buds or get to know our team a bit better below…

Diana

Starting off as a chalet chef, Diana climbed the rungs to founding her own specialist food ventures. This included a catering company and a refined delicatessen in Chelsea. She famously taught at The Grange Cookery School in Somerset for seven years and has injected that experience into a business with her kids, that is The Avenue.

This Mother Duck engages and educates her students with undying energy, character and warmth, welcoming everyone into The, now extensive, Avenue family.

With a knack for trailblazing twists on classical dishes, Diana simply loves food and is identified for her delectable culinary creations that will amuse and delight your palette. She does not do boring!

Sophie

Working hard running things behind the scenes she is only seen in the kitchen when enjoying the odd class!

Her previous experience in corporate entertainment means she can identify exactly what people want, down to the finest detail. Sophie is on a constant culinary journey of discovering new exciting recipes and restaurants in order to keep our classes refreshing and innovative. Having travelled extensively, this gypsy has tasted her way through the most exotic of lands. Good food and wine leaves her absolutely smitten.

With her culinary knowledge, obscene organisation skills and energetic drive she really is the backbone of the business.

Rich

Alongside Sophie, Richard is another child of Diana’s, making The Avenue very much a family affair.

A multi-talent, he started out as a builder (his fathers profession) and moved onto a cookery teacher (his mothers profession). His previous experience has included Chalet Hosting, prestigious Corporate Events and working as a private chef in the South of France.

Richard is a self-confessed Foodie, with an interest in modern cooking techniques. His knowledge and flair for experimental cookery will certainly broaden your culinary horizons. He effortlessly shares his enthusiasm with the students and pushes out the traditional boundaries, he is the youth and energy in our kitchens.

Niv

Niv has experience in both sales and the finance world as well as a degree in Economics and Management and having moved from Israel to marry The Avenue’s very own Sophie, he brought with him his talent and joined The Avenue family in 2019 as Bookkeeper and Head of Marketing. These days, his responsibilities vary between all areas of managing and running the business from behind the scenes, making him officially Sophie’s right-hand man.

Alongside his business mind, he also has a real passion for food, wine and travelling which, together with his outgoing personality, makes him a perfect fit with The Avenue Family both in business and leisure.

Since Niv joined the family he has not just flourished within the business but also into an excellent sous-chef and washer-upper, in a family of chefs – priceless!

Charlotte

Charlotte leads all things marketing and social media at The Avenue Cookery School. You’ll often find her buzzing around the school with her phone in hand, capturing the magic of your cooking creations.

Though not a professional chef, Charlotte is passionate about home cooking, especially vegetarian and vegan dishes – known for living off her homemade Hummus and Turkish bread from Green Lanes.

If you see her around the school, don’t be shy, say hi! Just mention movies or ABBA, and she’ll be your best friend in no time

Dan

Dan studied maths and finance at university but always thought a desk job wasn’t for him and, originally a safari guide after COVID, Dan decided to explore his love of culinary science.

In 2020, following completing our 2-week course at the ripe age of 20, Dan loved his time in the kitchen and with the family, even joining them on a family Easter holiday, so much so that he asked to stay on as an intern.
After 3 months of hard work, a serious knack for absorbing information and a true love for food, he joined us as an assistant and has since climbed the ropes to one of our main teachers.

He particularly loves teaching those who are interested in the science behind food while also helping develop recipes for future classes with Richard, spending lots of his time researching recipes and different scientific methods of cooking.

With our mutual love, we are so happy he has stayed on with us!

Sisi

SiSi joined us when she finally took the leap to turn her love for food into a career.

Shortly after finishing university, where she got a degree in Fine Art, she decided to explore her creative potential in The Avenue kitchen and hasn’t looked back!
Having travelled extensively throughout her childhood and into early adulthood Sisi is always wanting to discover new flavours and techniques before attempting to recreate them at home. She has endless curiosity and enthusiasm for recipe testing and learning about the science of food, which she adeptly applies when planning her next dinner party and of course, teaching our customers.

Ultimately, Sisi just loves how food brings people together, which is what drew her to The Avenue and what she loves about our classes – creating feasts and chatting with all the happy faces that come through the door – what more could you want!?

Jorge

Jorge worked in many different jobs before joining The Avenue family back in 2019. From KP and Assistant Chef jobs in pubs, porter and post room service in a hotel, and when living back in Italy he worked in the mechanical field as a welder.

Having lived in Italy for many years with his family he is well accustomed to tasty food. Bringing his good energy and experience, Jorge started as a KP and sharing Rich’s passion for food and culinary techniques they would stay in the kitchen late into the night after classes experimenting. Working so closely together and absorbing Rich’s culinary wisdom Jorge has moved up the ranks to assist classes.

Nicolas

Nicolas is our favourite French man. Starting with us in 2019 after years of working in the restaurant industry, he is our knight in shining gloves, Nicolas is our beloved KP and loves to spend his hours, cooking, recipe testing and baking.

In particular, he makes a mean Japanese Melon Pan that he learnt to make after travelling around Japan.

Nicolas works closely with Darling Diana during our weekday classes and courses ensuring the kitchen is spotless for all of our customers and ready for the evening crew, essentially we’re all helpless without him!

Helen

Helen joined The Avenue family as a chef and although cooking is in her blood (her Grandfather was a chef), she spent many years in banking, while cooking amazing dinner parties on the side, until the penny finally dropped, and she decided to swap banking for cooking permanently.

She completed her chef training at Leith’s School of Food and Wine and directly after that did the WSET Level III course in 10 days!
She has incredible enthusiasm and a deep-rooted love of cooking that she enjoys sharing with those that come through The Avenue doors. Inspired by her travels and experience of global cuisines, she brings imaginative & creative cooking with an emphasis on exceptional flavours to the kitchen.

She is also a fully qualified dance teacher, and when not in the kitchen, can be found in the dance studio!

Alex

Alex’s journey with The Avenue began over 25 years ago, when Diana took over his mother’s bakery in Chelsea. By pleasant happenstance, Alex has been reacquainted with us all these years later.

In the interim, he developed his passion for the culinary arts through the food cultures of the places he has lived in: Ghana, Catalonia, and South Korea. Although working as an English teacher he says “teaching was a secondary job to what I considered my full-time occupation: exploring and delighting in the intricacies of food culture.”

Alex has formulated a rich appreciation for ingredients and methods of cooking, which The Avenue has since had great pleasure in honing. With natural charm and charisma, you will no doubt be delighted to have him amongst you when you visit us!

Renan

Renan’s cookery journey stemmed from his childhood when cooking with his family, and learning the importance of good food, family and fun – fitting perfectly with The Avenue.

Born and raised Brazilian, Renan developed his culinary portfolio whilst living in Italy and Ireland for multiple years, embracing different cultures and respecting traditional cooking methods.

In 2019, Renan moved to London and discovered the world of recipe testing and product development. Playing an active role within the queer community, he enthusiastically shares his talent while making new social connections within the culinary world.

Keeping up with the latest foodie trends and always being a friendly face, he brings excitement and colour to our customer’s experience.

Imagine: two decades in the heart of New York fashion, then a bold leap into Hong Kong’s bustling food scene. That’s G’s story. Now, this culinary adventurer, the creator of GSpot by GSpotcookin, joins our team at The Avenue Cookery. We’re thrilled to welcome his incredible talent and have him share his journey with you.

Daisy

Daisy’s cookery journey began just over a year ago when she was still at school. She came to The Avenue in the summer holidays to do a one week course and had the best time meeting so many really nice people and making delicious food. She approached the family to become a part-time intern and a year later she’s still here! She loves practicing what she’s learnt at home, as well as experimenting with new recipes she finds in books and on social media and she’s set up her own business making freezer food for families locally in London.

Nikola

Nikola is an amazing lady who designs incredible cakes at her SW London cake business, NDCake Atelier.

She is fuelled by indefatigable energy and boundless creativity. An acclaimed artist and graphic designer Nikola is a creative genius and has joined us at The Avenue to share her undeniable cake making talent.