Kitchen W8 Picks up The 2021 Best Restaurant Award from The Eat Game Awards
Kitchen W8, Rebecca Mascarenhas and Phil Howard’s critically-acclaimed Michelin starred restaurant in the heart of Kensington, has been awarded the Eat Game Awards’ 2021 Best Restaurant or Pub Award in a dinner and ceremony held in London on 24 March 2022. Head Chef, Mark Kempson, who went to pick up the glittering prize with Assistant General Manager, Charlie Edwards was over the moon. “Being season-addicts at Kitchen W8, we’re huge fans of game, and every October we put on a 6-course game tasting menu to celebrate this wonderfully versatile and healthy meat. Throughout the seasons, you’ll see a wide variety of game dishes peppering our A La Carte Menu as well*. I’d like not only to thank Annette and her team at the Eat Game Awards, but also the people who voted for us. It’s a great honour and we shall do everything in our power to live up to the award.”
The Eat Game Awards’ Best Restaurant or Pub category was generously sponsored by the Fieldsports Journal, and the popular television personality, rural champion Adam Henson was on the judging panel of industry specialists. Competition was fierce, as game becomes a more mainstream choice in the UK for those who want to eat healthy, reasonably-priced, free range meat.
*Throughout the year, Mark will be offering up some special menus, in addition to the 6 course seasonally-changing tasting menu that adds to the regular offering at Kitchen W8. Exact dates will be confirmed in due course, so keep an eye on @kitchenw8, the website or sign up to the newsletter.
Haute Dogs, Sushi, Pastry & Butchery Star at Welsh College Taster Day
Maes Manor was full of Newport school students on Thursday 31st March who enjoyed masterclasses, food, drinks – and dancing at the Coleg Gwent Hospitality Industry Taster Day!
Organised by The Chefs’ Forum as part of its ongoing initiative to get school students to learn about hospitality the 2 hour morning session was fully booked.
Delicious Welsh produce was kindly sponsored by Wales’ leading foodservice supplier Castell Howell.
Emma Spender, Head Chef at Maes Manor gave a cookery demo which was followed by a sausage-making masterclass by Tim Hanks from Hanks’ Meat & Game. Next up was a sushi-making demo by Japanese expert Keiko Urakawa followed by a pastry demo by Bake Off: The Professionals 2021 winner Andrew Minto.
Students then enjoyed ‘haute’ dogs and participated in a sushi rolling competition. The event was open to students from years 8-11.
Catherine Farinha, Director of The Chefs’ Forum, said:
“We had a great day. The demos were superb and we even had music and dancing at the end. It was a great way to introduce the students to the world of hospitality and our chefs delivered an amazing array of different techniques and ideas.
“The point is that school students need to be inspired to enter 
hospitality and we were thrilled to be able to include chefs that they may have seen on the television: Andrew from Bake Off: The Professionals!”
Emma Spender, Head chef at Maes Manor gave a brilliant demonstration on how to cook the perfect steak. She said “I’m really looking forward to teaching in The Chefs’ Forum Academy at Coleg Gwent… it’s great to give back and it was so wonderful to have so many talented chefs in my kitchen today – the students were a real credit to their college too and the school children loved the whole experience!”
Helen Lawless. Head of School – Services to People at Coleg Gwent said:
“Once again The Chefs’ Forum pushed the boundaries of raising awareness of what we do here at Gwent. This is just the sort of event that makes it easier for us to attract students to study professional cookery and hospitality. We’re thrilled to be a Chefs’ Forum Academy and it is going from strength to strength.”
Photography and film by Gareth Davies Media.
No Doors Required. Adande Raises the Standard with New ‘B’ Energy Class Rating Grab-and-go Open-display Cabinet
Adande is pleased to introduce today its new, super energy efficient, open-display cabinet for retailers and food service operators.
Adande is pleased to introduce today next generation hold-the-cold refrigeration for hospitality, with its new BORA open-display refrigerated cabinet. The integral cabinet brings a new level of energy efficiency to open units of this type with the BORA achieving a B energy class rating, a rating only seen, until now, on refrigeration complete with glass doors. The energy efficiency achieved can save operators up to £1000 per year in electricity alone, per cabinet, compared to other existing open-display units. The Bora helps any company that sells chilled produce reduce their carbon footprint thereby supporting sustainability goals.
Borne of Adande DNA, the Bora like all Adande refrigeration, ‘Holds-the-Cold’. Powered by Adande’s Aircell patented air management technology, the new cabinet consistently holds the cold air in place, barring it from falling out. This delivers both a stable temperature and precisely controlled humidity which keeps food fresher for longer, reducing food waste.
The energy efficiency and advanced design of the unit, combined with use of a natural refrigerant, R290, means the Bora has one of the lowest impacts on the environment of any modern refrigerated cabinet.
In what is yet more good news for operators, the Bora also holds more produce and has high merchandising capacity for its footprint. It has been designed for convenience at every level with the unit fitting comfortably under a standard door frame, making transport easier. The Bora has also been designed to be a low maintenance refrigerator and as such it contains a reversing fan which keeps the condenser clean to maintain operating performance.
The cabinet comes in a black or stainless-steel finish (a white finish is also available). Customers may also choose from a wider range of colours, to match a company’s brand colours or product promotion, for example.
Global Sales Director, Karl Hodgson: “We are really pleased to be able to launch today the new Bora open-display cabinet. The B energy class label rating is a concrete achievement and leads the way for UK retail refrigeration. I thank all of the team at Adande for their work to develop it into the best open-display cabinet on the market. It will undoubtedly save money for customers, in electricity, food waste, and maintenance costs, plus help increase revenue with its large display areas and open-access for shoppers and buyers. I am thrilled that the HRC show is the first venue we can show it, given its suitability to hotels, and restaurants alike. We are taking orders at the show, so do come and see us on stand 419.”
The Bora is available to order from today, and will now replace the Adande Sarma cabinet. The Bora range qualifies for the super deduction tax scheme introduced last year by the UK government. See www.gov.uk/guidance/super-deduction for details.
Chotto Matte Founders Going the Extra Mile for #Ukraine
Determined to do more than just raise money for Ukraine, global restaurateur Kurt Zdesar has embarked on a 1300-mile journey to deliver medical supplies to a hospital in the southwest of the country.
Accompanied by Gini Zdesar (Kurt’s beloved wife), his sister-in-law, Joss and a Ukrainian guide, Alex. The quartet are driving 4 ex-ambulances loaded with medical supplies and hope to cross the border in the coming days.
Chefs’ Forum director Catherine Farinha caught up with Zdesar en route as he was crossing Germany.
“We’ve been going 13hrs now and we’re heading for Poland,” Zdesar said. “From there we’ll do one final shop and then head for Ukraine. The plan is to skirt round Lviv and head for Ternopil Municipal City Hospital in Ternopil Oblast.
“We’ve got a GoFundMe page and have so far raised close to £40,000. I have put in a significant sum also myself. Some of that will pay for petrol but the vast bulk will be, and has been, spent on the actual supplies we are delivering.
“I want to get the supplies there as fast as possible and the best way to do that is to just drive and get the job done.”
Kurt has sent The Chefs’ Form his live location via WhatsApp, so we can keep track on the team’s progress.
The funding page describes the items being taken in terms of everyday items they want to collect:
- Clothes,
- Toiletries (i.e., Sanitary Products, Nappies, Toothbrushes, Soap, baby wipes etc.)
- Sleeping bags, blankets, and warm clothing such as gloves and hats.
- Non-perishable foods (baby formula, canned food)
- Power Banks.
- Torches.
- Etc.
Here is a list of medical & Emergency products we want to collect:
- 1. Turnstiles
- 2. Materials for tamponing
- 3. Dressing material
- 4. Nasopharyngeal tubes
- 6. Conicotomy kits
- 7. Ambu bag
- 8. Occlusive dressings
- 9. Bandages hemostatic Combat Gauze and Combat Rapid I l. Decompressive needles
- 13. Catheters l4J
- 14. Intravenous disposable equipment 15. Belts for fixing the pelvis
- 16. Neck collars
- 17. Fracttre tires of different sizes & Evacuation slings
- 20. Tactical backpacks
- 2l. Dexamethasone
- 22. Antibiotics
- 23. Tranexamic acid
- 24. Tramadol, Ketanov. Nalbuphine
- 25 Suture material, needle holders
- 26: Nasal drops, eye drops
- Burn-treating topical gel bandages.
For more information and to help make a difference, visit the link to the GoFundMe page: https://gofund.me/7f637b7f
Six Colleges go Through to the Finals of Zest Quest Asia 2022
Six colleges will compete in a live cook-off next month to decide who will be the new Zest Quest Asia champions.
Moving forward to the final round are student chefs from Colchester Institute, Loughborough College, North Hertfordshire College, The Sheffield College, University College Birmingham, and Westminster Kingsway College.
The winners will be announced at the Zest Quest Asia 2022 Gala Dinner and Awards Night to be held on Friday, 8th April 2022 at the Hilton London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5, following the cook-off earlier in the day hosted by the hotel’s signature restaurant, Mr Todiwala’s Kitchen.
Founded in 2013 by restaurateurs Cyrus and Pervin Todiwala in collaboration with the Master Chefs of Great Britain, Zest Quest Asia has grown in prestige to become a fixture of the college competition calendar. An educational and cultural trip of a lifetime awaits the overall winners, with the team of three students, accompanied by their tutor, immersing themselves in the cuisine and food traditions of an exciting Asian destination only revealed at the Gala Dinner and Awards Night. To-date, Zest Quest Asia champions have experienced the sights, sounds and tastes of Japan, India, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, the Philippines and Thailand.
There are also a number of additional prizes at stake, offering winners the chance to experience master classes, sponsored tours, and other immersive activities where they can learn more about the techniques and produce found in Asian cookery and cuisine.
Cyrus Todiwala said, ‘Once again we were bowled over by the quality of the entries, and we were pleased to see that the interest in Zest Quest Asia among the colleges and students was as strong as ever. This year the finalists will be challenged even further during the cook off, as they will be asked to demonstrate their use of technology and what they can do with some very interesting and innovative ingredients.
“We’re also pleased to announce that we have a new Chairman of Judges, with the sad passing of the great Andrew Bennett last year. Stepping into Andrew’s shoes is another brilliant chef, Steve Munkley, one of the best competition judges in the world. Steve has helped us to judge Zest Quest Asia for many years. So, our finalists know that their performance in the competition will be held up to the highest standards. Good luck to them all, and I hope the parents, colleges, and every corner of the industry will join us at the Gala Dinner to celebrate these amazing young chefs!”
Zest Quest Asia 2022 enjoys significant support from industry. Sponsors include Panasonic, Tilda, Hilton, Don Papa Rum, Cobra, Bidfood, Schwartz, Glengoyne, Meiko and Tibard.
Tickets are now on sale for the Gala Dinner and Awards Night at the Hilton London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5. Tickets are £90pp and £850 for a table of 10. Tickets can be purchased at: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/mcculloughmoore/659878
Gower College Becomes the Third Chefs’ Forum Academy in Wales
The Chefs’ Forum Academy is growing with Gower College in Swansea the latest to join the initiative which enables catering colleges to access the content, chefs and framework of The Chefs’ Forum.
“We are very excited to be joining The Chefs’ Forum and look forward to all the benefits the Academy will bring,” said Mark Clement, Curriculum Leader, Gower College.
Chefs’ Forum Director Catherine Farinha said: “I am thrilled to bits to welcome Gower to our growing Academy family. We have a fantastic programme of events lined up that I truly believe will benefit the students and the college as a whole.
“With our move into content production with The Chefs’ Knowledge and an enhanced list of chefs who are excited to get into the colleges to teach – the Academy is a growing force in chef education.
“We are doing so much work in Wales at the moment with both colleges and Welsh produce and ingredients. We recently held a Welsh Seafood lunch at L’Oscar restaurant in London, where 70 chefs came to taste Welsh seafood provided by the Welsh Seafood Cluster.
Last Tuesday saw our Sustainability Lunch be held at The Coast restaurant, Saundersfoot, where we showcased Welsh wine and produce to top Welsh chefs who attended.
It’s incredible how effective these events are at promoting excellence to our chef friends throughout the country.
“Following on from that we’re working on more events and campaigns with Game Meat Wales and will be staging Hospitality Industry Taster Days at all of our Welsh colleges over the next few months.”
Ruth Hansom Heats up the Roux Scholarship 2022
There hasn’t been a female winner of The Roux Scholarship since Irish chef Mercy Fenton won in 1994. Over the years there have been plenty of female chef entrants but not one who had such an opportunity as Ruth Hansom this year.
Hansom is head chef of her own kitchen, The Princess of Shoreditch, so she can take the time to enter and compete and practice her craft. But, it goes deeper than that. Hanson trained at The Ritz under John Williams and is no stranger to the classical cuisine that underpins the Roux Scholarship.
There’s no question that the competition is a tough gig for any chef. The competition starts with a paper round and then 18 semi finalists cook their entry at two colleges: UCB in Birmingham and University of West London in Ealing. The judging is exact and punishing which is why only certain kitchens tend to put forward entrants.
Entrants were down this year with many establishments unable to complete entries due to staff and time shortages. The key elements of the requested dish were Dover sole either on or off the bone, brown shrimps and homemade pasta as one of the garnishes.
So, a fascinating heat will take place on the 24th March with the chefs below battling it out for the eight places in the final, which takes place on the 11th April at Westminster Kingsway College.
The semi-finalists
- Luke Ahearne, Corrigan Collection, London
- Harry Donnelly, The RAF Club, London
- Oliver Dovey, Baxterstorey, London
- Luke Emmess, The Wykeham Arms, Winchester
- Nicholas Paul Fitzgerald, Nico Fitzgerald Restaurants, London
- Ruth Hansom, The Princess of Shoreditch, London
- Yiannis Mexis, Hide, London
- Kamil Novak, The Dysart Petersham, Surrey
- George Ormond, Murano, London
- Liam Pride, Trinity Restaurant, Cambridge
- Christos Sidiropoulos, Flemings Mayfair Hotel, London
- George Whitelock, Angler Restaurant, London
- Kieran Bradley, The Vineyard Hotel Stockcross, Newbury
- Michael Chwu, The Kitchin, Leith, Edinburgh
- Jonathan Ferguson, The Glenturret Lalique Restaurant, Crieff, Scotland
- Jake Hassall, Restaurant Martin Wishart, Edinburgh
- Steven Newton, Coast Restaurant, Pembrokeshire
- Adam Pitfield, Driftwood Hotel, Porscatho, Cornwall
All You Need to Know to be a Brilliant Chef
The Chefs’ Knowledge is a new book for student and junior chefs that teaches, explains and reveals the key aspects to being a chef from how to be the best commis and the real way to use a knife all the way through to having an understanding of the 100 dishes that every chef should know.
Put together by The Chefs’ Forum and written by editor Chandos Elletson The Chefs’ Knowledge is a journey of discovery for young chefs to learn from as they set out on their career. Learning at college is an important step but to get onto the right path in professional kitchens some hard truths need to be accepted and learned.
The Chefs’ Knowledge is a book of lessons and recipes by chefs for chefs. We have chosen a stellar list of working professionals who are at the top of their game. From industry veterans Mark Hix, Henry Harris, Jesse Dunford Wood, Graham Garrett and Michael Dutnall you’ll learn the classics the way they are done at the highest level – and why they are so important.
But, the repertoire has changed over the last few decades and today the dishes and techniques you need to know go far beyond the old classic French. Today you need an understanding of dishes from Italy, Spain, North Africa, The Middle East, India, Asia, China and Japan.
So, our key list of the 100 dishes every chef should know includes classic dishes from all those regions meaning that readers can get a real sense of where food is right now and how to adapt it as you get more experienced.
If there is one truth a junior chef should know right at the beginning of their career it is this: walk before you run. Get yourself into a good kitchen and listen. Soak it up and learn the craft one step at a time – and don’t be in a hurry for glory. That’s advice from two Michelin star chef and Great British Menu hero Daniel Clifford of Cambridge’s Midsummer House.
The Chefs’ Knowledge is filled with advice from leading chefs. You’ll find twenty interviews with nuggets of gold littered through the book making The Chefs’ Knowledge a must-read for every aspiring chef.
Pre-order your copy now: www.thechefsforum-payments.co.uk
Devon’s Chefs Dominate Great British Menu and a Nod to Local Venison
Three female chefs from the Southwest were involved in a cook-off on Great British Menu last night. The trio demonstrated in one heat how far female chefs have come and, at the same time, venison featured in some of the dishes dedicated to 100 years of Great British Broadcasting.
Charlotte Vincent from The Five Bells at Clyst Hydon was up against fellow chefs Olivia Barry from Adelina Yard in Bristol and Elly Wentworth from The Angel in Dartmouth. The prize is to represent the Southwest in the final banquet of series 17 of the hit TV show.
Charlotte Vincent cooked venison which was supplied by Devon-based Curtis Pitts Deer Services who also supplies venison to Elly Wentworth.
Charlotte said
“I’m so proud to be using Curtis Pitts. I like to know the meat’s provenance and that it’s sustainable and ethical. His ethos is incredible and being just round the corner from the pub is less food miles from farm to fork.”
Curtis Pitts, Director of Curtis Pitts Deer Services said
“It was a real honour to supply our wild fallow loin to the Great British Menu. It makes me very proud to see not one, but two of our much-valued customers showcasing the wild produce we take great care in harvesting from across the Southwest.”
The dish, named “Dig for victory” was “a tip of the hat to the wartime speech on a declaration of war made by Neville Chamberlain. It was spine chilling and a poignant moment of British broadcasting on the radio,” said Vincent.
The dish of venison with turnip & carrot with a beef fat pastry pie was awarded a 7 by judge Paul Ainsworth but was not enough to keep her in the heat.
Elly Wentworth is also a longstanding customer of Curtis Pitts, she said
“It was great to see Charlotte showcasing Curtis’ venison, I was one of Curtis’ first customers and I think his produce is top-drawer. He is so impressive for his age and handles every element of the business himself as a self-taught businessman. It is great that his excellent produce is now getting the recognition from top chefs across the Southwest and beyond.”
Elly Wentworth & Olivia Barry, who both scored double 8’s, will go forward and we would like to take this opportunity to wish them both the very best of luck!
Curtis Pitts’ venison is available to buy online www.curtispittsdeerservices.com and a Chefs’ Larder price list is available upon request.
St Patrick’s Day Sponsorship and Chefs’ Forum Academy Students Finding Jobs in Top Kitchens!
The purpose of The Chefs’ Forum Academy is to bridge the gap between professional kitchens and college classrooms, as well as helping colleges secure valuable ingredients sponsorship.
It is also something to shout about when our college masterclasses turn into jobs;
Chefs Michael Dutnall of The RAF Club and Jordan Sclare of Chotto Matte have both taken part in Academy events at West London College and now their kitchens have been opened-up to three students.
Today is St Patrick’s Day, so it was amazing to be able to help secure the generous sponsorship of 12kg of Irish beef rib from leading catering butcher, Fairfax Meadow. It is this commercial insight, combined with sales and marketing expertise that helps The Chefs’ Forum team drive down the food cost for college events and enables the students to cook with the finest ingredients.
West London College also benefitted recently from top quality Welsh lobster being supplied to the college by the Welsh Seafood Cluster for a masterclass with Tom Westerland, Head Chef at Crockers Henley.
Both beef rib and lobster are ingredients that college budgets simply don’t permit, so it is so rewarding to involve trade suppliers to help the college in this way.
Two NVQ2 Professional Cookery students, Ratmir Plokhov and Laurie Ballard, both took part in Michael Dutnall’s talk to catering students and they have both been taken on at The RAF Club. Ratmir has secured a trade test and Laurie has got work experience.
Ratmir told The Chefs’ Forum
“I’m so happy to be working at The RAF Club! I completed a trade test which was a very different experience to anything I had done before. It was a great learning experience and I was able to complete it with confidence in a really supportive environment.”
After working at a Chefs’ Forum Academy event student George Jones-Leonard, NVQ1 Professional Cookery, has secured a job at Chotto Matte on the days that he is not at college and Patrycja Ludzkowska recently graduated level 2 Patisserie & Confectionery is now working at LOUIE London in the pastry session.
Head of Curriculum at West London College, Denise Charles, said:
“Being part of The Chefs’ Forum Academy gives students the opportunity to network with guest Chefs and Front of House experts. Students are gaining valuable work experience and jobs after the masterclasses which just shows how important it is to get the two sides of the industry to meet in the middle.
“Our students are keen, open-minded and excited to get to work in the industry and meeting and working with guest chefs and front of house experts is really helping them to develop.”
Catherine Farinha, Director of The Chefs’ Forum said: “This is such good news. In our tenth year it is so satisfying to hear that students are graduating into good kitchens through our academies. But we are going further than that. Through the colleges we are opening the doors to school students too with special taster days.
“In April we have a taster day at West London College where Michael Dutnall of The RAF Club, Jesse Dunford Wood from Parlour and Poppy O’Toole from Poppy Cooks will be demonstrating and introducing the students to the chef world. And Japanese sushi expert Keiko Urakawa will be making sushi.
“These taster days are a great way of introducing school students to the hospitality profession and they are a now a big part of the Academy.”
For more information about launching a Chefs’ Forum Academy at your college, chefs wishing to join the guest lecturing team, or brands wishing to sponsor The Chefs’ Forum Academies, please email catherine@redcherry.uk.com
