A vegan cooking class at the Avenue Cookery School, London

Whilst not vegan, I've been interested in vegan eating for a while and definitely think there are a lot of benefits to plant-based living, even if you only do it part-time.

But I know a lot of people think vegans can't eat anything interesting and that they're impossible to feed - that's just not true.

And one place where they know that for sure is the Avenue Cookery School in Wandsworth here in London.

After work one wintry evening I made my way across the city to attend the Avenue's vegan cookery class with a group of fellow foodies.

With a Christmas tree in the corner and bunting strung round the room, it was a charming set-up.

I donned my apron, enjoyed a glass of wine and some divine bread, and took my seat at one of the work stations as head chef, teacher and owner Diana commenced the evening.

The Avenue is a family-run cookery school which I just loved - Diana's children Richard and Sophie were on hand to help out over the course of the evening and the bants between them all really made the course feel warm and friendly.

Diana herself is the star of the show though - she's such a character and made us all laugh over and over again as she talked us through what we were going to make and shared little tips.

One thing I'm definitely going to do in future is use salt to smash chopped garlic into garlic paste - what a handy trick, I thought.

We were making three courses and so luckily were cooking in groups otherwise we'd have been there all night.

First up, we made our pudding: avocado chocolate mousse.

It wasn't my first time making avo choc mousse (quelle surprise) so was looking forward to it already. Diana and Richard were on hand to help out though.

Next we got to work on our starter and main: falafel salad with tahini houmous dressing, and sesame-crusted tofu on a vegetable stir-fry with sweet chilli dressing.

We chopped and blended and fried, all whilst chatting, singing along to a fab soundtrack, and sipping wine.

And soon it was time to plate up and sit down at the prettily laid table.

I absolutely loved the falafel and houmous - granted some of our falafels were a bit crumbly and oily, but they were still scrumptious.

As we ate, our chopped stir-fry veg and sesame-crusted tofu were fried up for us.

The main definitely had potential but unfortunately the coriander in the dressing just made it a bit tricky for me.

I really liked the texture of the sesame coating on the tofu, but to be fair I think it's pretty hard to make tofu exceptionally delicious.

And finally it was pudding time (the best of times)...

The chocolate mousse was smooth and not overly sweet so we were given the option of stirring in a little maple syrup - obviously I did. And it was delicious.

They were rich, but I could still totally have eaten five.

It had been an awfully good fun evening and I do recommend checking out the Avenue's other classes - they have loads so you're bound to find something to tickle your tastebuds.

I was invited to the Avenue as a guest but all opinions are totally honest.