This month we took The Staff Canteen Live 2017 to Manchester as Adam Reid hosted our chefs and sponsors at his restaurant Adam Reid at The French.

We were joined by 15  chefs and six of our sponsors at the newly refurbished and relaunched restaurant which Adam took over after Simon Rogan's departure last year. He treated us to canapes and a six-course menu which included his famous Golden Empire dessert from his time on Great British Menu. 

The chefs in attendance were: Darren Goodwin, head chef, Lythe Hill Hotel; Nick Evans, head chef, Northcote Manor; Mark Fletcher, head chef, Mere Golf Resort; Andrew Nutter, Head Chef, Nutters; Ernst Van Zyl, Chef Patron, Hanging Gate Pub; Steven Burgess, Managing Director, Northern Fields; Danny Parker, Head Chef, House of Tides; Bryan Townson, Pastry Chef; Anthony Wright, Head Chef, L20 School; Steven Smith, Chef Patron, Freemason Arms; Stuart Duff, Executive Chef, Hilton Deansgate; Craig Malone, Head Chef, Nunsmere Hall Hotel; Rupert Rowley, Head Chef, Fischers at Baslow Hall; Nathaniel Farrell, Executive Chef, Mercure Piccadilly and Brian Sparks, Head Chef, The Midland.

As with all of our networking lunches, guests enjoyed champagne on arrival supplied by the day's main sponsor, Pommery Champagne, and canapes, including cod's roe and squid ink crackers. 

The chefs headed into the kitchen for a tour with Adam before sitting down for lunch, each course was introduced and paired with wine; they included crispy trotter which was paired with Pommery Cuvee Louise 2002, sprouting broccoli and salt aged duck which was served with Nestle CHEF stock and finally a selection of Birchall teas.

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Nick Evans, head chef at Northcote said: "It's a fantastic event with fantastic food and it's fantastic to meet fellow chefs within the North West. It's such a relaxed environment and it's great to meet suppliers out of your work environment."

Danny Parker, head chef at House of Tides added: "I've really enjoyed the day, and it's not just great to meet up with other chefs I've enjoyed meeting the suppliers as well.  It's nice to just have a chat about the products they sell with no pressure, you can take their card and give them a call once your back in your restaurant - I think they will definitely get more business from chefs that way."

He continued: "I think the location of these lunches is massively important too, it doesn't necessarily have to be a Michelin-starred place or somewhere fancy; just somewhere that chefs want to eat."

Our main sponsor for this month's networking lunch was Pommery Champagne and the director for Pommery UK, Sara Hicks, said: "As with all The Staff Canteen networking lunches there is a great representation of chefs who are all very engaged, it's so difficult to get them out of their kitchens but they all seem to have enjoyed it. 

"It's all about wine and food matching so for us to be able to present the different cuvees and explain how they pair with the food really brings it to life."

She added: "It's great that they are all now aware of my product but it's even better that I've been able to share in their conversations while enjoying great food and dissecting the wine and dishes together - it's been really good fun."

The lunch was sponsored by Birchall Tea, Nestle CHEF, Charvet, Santa Maria, Pommery, HIT Training and Beacon Design.

Our next networking lunches will be held at Celtic Manor on May 8, Kitchen W8 on June 12 and The Black Swan at Oldstead on July 10.

>>> Register for the next TSCLive Networking Lunch at Celtic Manor here!