The Staff Canteen Live 2022: Networking Lunch at The Angel

Elly Wentworth and her team at The Angel in Dartmouth excited guests with their brilliant October 2022 networking lunch.

We invited chefs from around Dartmouth to join us and our sponsors for drinks and tasting menu.

Ingredients throughout the menu, as well as the wine pairings, were provided by some of the events' sponsors.

Chefs

Luca Berardino, Chef Owner, Andria; David Gillham, Head chef, Radius 7; Olivier Certain, Head Chef, Masons Arms; Ben Drake, Head Chef, The Elephant; Donna Berry, Chef Owner, Spelt; Paul Berry, Chef Owner, The Swan Bampton; Fay Hutchinson, Head Chef, Lilac; Andrew Watson, Head Chef, Robin Wylde;  Simon Hulstone, Chef Owner, The Elephant; Craig Whicker, Chef, Rosa; David Hughes, Executive Chef, Ashford Manor Hotel; Chris Tanner, Owner, Barbican Kitche. 

Sponsors

Supporting the event were ChefWorks; Seafood from Norway; Valentine Equipment; Udale and Nyetimber. 

What the guests said

Victoria Braathen, from the Norwegian Seafood Council attended. She said: "I think it's been fantastic. Having these networking opportunities, meetings directly with chefs, having that one to one interaction, getting to know them, what's important to them; it's been fantastic. I really treasured this day."

Discussing the benefits of the event, Victoria said: "I think having events like this can be like an eye-opening in many ways, doing even more product presentation, explaining more about a region. We obviously love to bring chefs to Norway, educating them on the origin and explaining where the fish comes from and how it's being treated all the way to the market, so just working closely together I think is really key and in that way you're absolutely doing some very good facilitation."

She added: "I think from our side at least, we definitely want to see how we can reach out to the chefs and see if we can continue that conversation as well."

Steve Elliott, from Valentine Equipment Ltd, said: "Today's networking lunch has been exactly as described. It's been fantastic. It's been lovely to talk to all the chefs from the area, get to know what their businesses are and their challenges. It's been very beneficial."

Sophie Robertson, Brand Ambassador at Nyetimber, said: "I loved it, it was amazing. The food was incredible, the guests were really interesting contacts, some really interesting backgrounds, some really interesting spaces and different restaurants, lots of different types of venues so it was really worth it."

Ben Drake, Senior Sous Chef at The Elephant in Torquay said: "Fabulous lunch, really delicious beautiful local produce beautiful sunny day so what more could you ask for. You get to meet everyone and everyone's been very engaged."

Discussing his favourite course, Ben said: "I think the scallop was stunning, beautiful combination of flavors."

Jenna Rossiter, Business Development Manager at Chef Works, said: "It was absolutely brilliant. The service, the food, and to meet chefs that I've not met before, and I have also met some in the past as well so it's nice to see them. It's just nice to sit down and it always flows so well. You get to chat to everybody and just see how their business has done over the seasons."

She added: "You get to chat to people in a relaxed atmosphere, tell them about new products that we've got, listen to them and their ideas, so it's very important to us."