Baking

Complete Deelite
Conveniently located on On Lan Street in the heart of Central, Complete Deelite is a well-established cake shop and baking school offering a range of classes and workshops to both children and adults. Aspiring professional bakers will be interested in the Wilton courses, which include cake decorating and design at advanced levels. The store also sells baking and decorating supplies imported from overseas.

The Mixing Bowl
The Mixing Bowl in Sheung Wan offers baking classes and summer camps to adults and children. Each class is two-and-a-half to three hours long, during which you will be taught a range of dough-handling techniques such as how to measure, mix, knead, shape, roll and cut. The school also offers specialty classes on how to make traditional Hong Kong snacks, macarons, bread, pasta and pizza.

Beauty

Monita Academy
The award-winning Monita Academy offers a range of professional beauty courses covering hair, nails and makeup. Longer courses include work experience placements at local hair salons and beauty centers. The Academy also offers a number of courses eligible for refund by the Continuing Education Fund (CEF).

Cooking

TownGas Cooking Centre
Household energy provider TownGas opened its Cooking Centre in 1977 to nurture an interest in cookery among young people, and has since become one of the most popular cooking schools in Hong Kong. Offering introductory to advanced-level cooking classes in English and covering local and foreign cuisines, the center is suitable for all ages. It is also an ideal place for newly hired domestic helpers to train in the techniques of Chinese home cooking.

Martha Sherpa Cooking School
Martha Sherpa is a well-known professional Chinese cookery instructor with her own cooking school in North Point. Martha will teach you the various techniques of Chinese cooking including how to braise, stir-fry, steam and marinate, with an emphasis on her view that you don’t need a large kitchen or fancy utensils to prepare an authentic Chinese meal at home. Her specialties include Chinese wok cooking and Chinese BBQ. (Note: As of November 2020, this cooking school is not operating due to COVID-19. They plan to resume when the pandemic is under control.)

First Aid

Hong Kong Red Cross
Several first aid and health training courses are offered at the Hong Kong Red Cross in both Cantonese and English. This includes a first aid course for domestic helpers. Individual and corporate discounts are often available and the organization provides Standard First Aid courses to the hearing- and speech-impaired free of charge.

St. John First Aid Courses
The Hong Kong St. John Ambulance Headquarters on MacDonnell Road in Central Mid-Levels offers a number of first aid courses and examinations to the public at different degrees of specialization. The majority of these are conducted in Cantonese, but classes in English are arranged whenever there are sufficient candidates. Basic first aid courses and demonstrations can be performed at schools and organizations upon request.

General Courses

YWCA
The YWCA’s Centre of Learning & Life Enhancement offers a wide range of short courses, talks, events and outings that are available to all, including expatriates, their family members and domestic helpers. Courses include the arts, local culture and language, parenting, cooking, Chinese watercolors, gymnastics, international cuisines, swimming and special courses for domestic helpers. You can apply for an annual pass to receive discounts on course fees and other privileges.

Performing Arts, Dance and Music

Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts / EXCEL
The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA) is an institute dedicated to the tertiary-level study of performing arts. This includes dance, music and singing, drama, Chinese opera and others. Their Extension and Continuing Education for Life (EXCEL) arm offers part-time programs for students of all ages. Located next to the Hong Kong Arts Centre in Wan Chai, HKAPA also hosts drama and dance productions, concerts and recitals throughout the year that are open to the public.

Music Lessons and Participation

Hong Kong offers an extensive support network for all those interested in music. Local Hong Kong students experience a broad study of music as early as their primary and secondary education years. As most parents favor music as an extracurricular activity for their children, a large percentage of Hong Kong youth will study one or more musical instruments throughout their academic life. There are various schools and institutes dedicated to the study of music. These include:

• Aspire Music 
• Baron School of Music 
• Hong Kong Music Academy
• Parkland Music Institute
• Parsons Music 
• Tom Lee Music

After something a little more traditional? Harmony Music in Mong Kok offers a variety of courses on the study of Chinese instruments.

The following groups offer opportunities for community participation:

• The Chopin Society of Hong Kong
• The Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts
• Hong Kong Chamber Music Society
• Hong Kong Composer’s Guild

Choir/Singing

Hong Kong people’s love of singing may catch you off guard. The city has more choral societies, choirs and a cappella groups than can be counted, and local schools often participate in intense competitions for the title “Best Choir of the Year.”

Those interested usually begin their pursuit at a relatively young age as an extracurricular activity. Private singing lessons are generally offered for small groups of two or three, since customization and flexibility of the training program is often required for best results. For adults, singing lessons may require an audition prior to being accepted by more prestigious tutors, as there is a benchmark that needs to be reached at those levels.

Singing lessons can be arranged at most music schools in Hong Kong, while the following groups offer opportunities for community participation:

• Hong Kong Bach Choir 
• Hong Kong Oratorio Society
• The Hong Kong Singers
• Hong Kong Voices
• Hong Kong Welsh Male Voice Choir

Sports and Fitness

For information on sports and fitness classes in Hong Kong, see Explore > Sports and Recreation.

Visual Arts and Crafts

Get hands on at a pottery class or work through your frustrations with life at a freestyle painting session. Hong Kong’s diversity of art classes offers something for everyone.

At the Hong Kong Art School (a division of the Hong Kong Arts Centre), you can get instruction in art appreciation, painting, ceramics, sculpture and photography and film, all offered as short courses. The school also offers bachelor’s and master’s degree programs.

Or try one of the niche studios and schools below:

Crafting

• Craft Hour
• The Crafties Workshops 

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