Cook like you mean it.
Eat like you wrote the recipe.
Small, hands-on cookery classes in a working kitchen on the edge of the Old Town. Ten students, one chef, a proper lunch at the end. No microphones, no demonstrations — you do all the cooking.
A small kitchen.
Ten pairs of hands.
Knife & Flame is a day cookery school in a converted distillery workshop on Candlemaker Row. We run one class a day, six days a week, for groups of ten or fewer.
There's no auditorium. You stand at your own bench, with your own chopping board, your own kit, your own ingredients. The chef teaches by walking the room and correcting hands — not by performing on a screen. You'll be eating what you've made by lunchtime.
Five classes,
one standard.
Every class includes ingredients, equipment, an apron, lunch, a glass of something, and the food you make to take home.
Knife Skills
The single class every home cook should do. Grip, posture, the four cuts that cover 90% of what you'll ever need. You'll go home faster, safer, and far less afraid of an onion.
Pasta from Scratch
Egg dough, semolina dough, and three shapes by hand — tagliatelle, ravioli and orecchiette. We eat what you make for lunch with a glass of Nebbiolo. You leave with the rest.
Sourdough Bread
Build a starter, shape a loaf, score it properly. The science explained without the jargon. You go home with a baked loaf, a jar of starter, and a recipe that actually works in a home oven.
Indian Street Food
Pani puri, pav bhaji, masala dosa and proper chai. Spice handling, tempering, and how to build heat without burning it. Eat the lot together at the end with cold beer.
Couples' Evening
A three-course menu cooked together — one of you on starter, the other on main, both of you on pudding. Wine pairing included. Better than dinner out and you actually learn something.
Tom Lockhart.
Ex-Tom Aikens.
Tom trained at Westminster, did three years at Tom Aikens in Chelsea, a season at Noma's test kitchen, and four years running the pass at The Witchery here in Edinburgh.
He started Knife & Flame in 2018 because the cookery classes he saw being run were all the same: thirty people watching a chef demo on a big screen and going home having barely touched a knife.
Tom teaches every class himself. There's no rotation of junior tutors, no franchise. If you book, you're cooking with him.
More than
a nice afternoon.
Cookery classes that don't change how you cook the next week aren't worth the money. Here's what we send you home with — literally and otherwise.
A loaf, a jar, a recipe
Bread classes — you leave with a baked loaf, a live sourdough starter and the recipe card. Pasta classes — every gram you make goes home with you.
Proper technique
Not a YouTube approximation. Hands corrected in real time by a chef who's spent fifteen years in professional kitchens. Muscle memory you'll keep.
Lunch on us
Every day class includes a sit-down lunch of what you've made, with a glass of something. Aprons, knives, ingredients and the washing-up — all included.
The next four weeks
Want a date that's not listed? Private hires for 6+ run any day — just ask.
What they said
“Booked the knife skills class for my husband's 40th. He hasn't stopped talking about it. Three weeks later he's still showing off his onion technique to anyone who'll watch.
Sarah M.Knife Skills · February 2026
“The pasta class was the highlight of our trip to Edinburgh. Tom is a brilliant teacher — patient, funny, and the food was extraordinary. We've made tagliatelle three times since.
Mark & LisaPasta from Scratch · January 2026
“I've done bread classes elsewhere and given up every time. This one finally made sense. The starter is still alive on my windowsill nine months on.
Jamie D.Sourdough · April 2025
Pick a date,
bring an appetite.
Give us a ring or drop a line. We'll confirm your spot, take a deposit, and send the door code — we're a flight up, so you might walk past us the first time.
Call 0131 405 2200 →14 Candlemaker Row
Edinburgh EH1 2QE
Private hires Mon–Thu by arrangement