The Staff Canteen Live 2017 Networking Lunch at Freemasons at Wiswell

For our final networking lunch of the year, we headed to Steve Smith's award winning Freemasons at Wiswell.

• When did Steve Smith open the Freemasons at Wiswell?
• Features with Steve Smith
• Read more about The Staff Canteen Networking Lunches

Our chefs enjoyed a four course meal and snacks courtesy of chef Steve Smith and his team, along with matching wines and Pommery Champagne.

The chefs

Chefs in attendance this month included: Paul Leonard, head chef at the Burlington Restaurant, Devonshire Arms; former Michelin-starred chef Paul Heathcote MBE; Anthony Wright, head chef at L20 Hotel School; Paul Askew, chef owner of The Art School; Adam Harper, head chef at Rowleys Restaurant, Graham Floyd, head chef at Twelve Restaurant; Martin Frickle, sous chef at The Forest Side;  Oli Martin, head chef at Hipping Hall; Chris Ormshaw who took part in this year's MasterChef: The Professionals and is junior sous at Australasia Manchester; Kieran Smith, head chef at Michelin-starred The Box Tree; Richard Johns, chef owner of Rascills; Hrishikesh Desai, executive chef of Gilpin Hotel and Lake House and Lewis Spencer, sous at Michelin-starred Moor Hall. 

The menu at the Freemasons at Wiswell

On arrival chefs and sponsors were treated to a champagne reception provided by Pommery Champagne, they took a tour of the kitchen with Steve and met his team before taking a seat in the fantastic upstairs dining room.

They were then served some of Steve's signature snacks including wild game nuggets with pine mayo and the very indulgent truffeled Lancashire cheese hot dog - all served with Pommery champagne.

Then it was on to the suckling pig which was paired with Aspall Cider and boasted a tribute to guest Paul Heathcote in the form of his black pudding. The guests enjoyed cod and roe deer before the spectacular Amalfi Lemon. Steve and his chefs brought out the desserts along with bowls of coconuts and limes which they then added dry ice to and the whole table was filled with the intense, fresh smell of citrus.

What the chefs and sponsors had to say about The Staff Canteen live networking lunch at the Freemasons at Wiswell

We welcomed new sponsor Lactalis Professional to the second season of our Networking Lunches, and Brand Manager Hazel Frier said: "The food has been amazing and it's been a really interesting experience to talk to chefs who are out there working with our products. It's really good way to meet chefs, it's a foodie environment so there is a lot to talk about and you can really understand the challenges they face in the cheffing world. 

"We've been talking about what they think are the next up and coming trends and it's very interesting to listen to the opinions of the people who experience them first hand."

It was also Suzanne Grant's first Networking Lunch, she is the regional lead for HIT Chef Academy and a trainer assessor for HIT training, and she found it interesting to hear the chefs views on training and recruitment. She said: "It's nice to hear people's plans for the future and they all seem to have the same problems - high staff turnover for example."

She added: "The lunch is a good way to talk to chefs, it's nice to see people  face to face and as it's a small group you can talk to the all - it's not like you're trying to get around 100 people."

Everyone was in agreement that the menu was fantastic and the food was faultless, Paul Heathcote said: "The company has been great and the food goes without saying! I think just having people around a table talking about topics within the industry from recruitment, TripAdvisor which we spent half an hour on, or just talking about food and people's careers, is just a great way to spend a Monday afternoon."

Chris Ormshaw from Australasia in Manchester added: "Some of the calibre of the chefs who come to these events, you don't get many chances to sit down with these guys and have  a conversation so it's a great idea."    

The lunch was sponsored by HIT Training, Pommery, ChefWorks UK, The Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers and Lactalis Professional.

• The next The Staff Canteen Live Networking Lunch will be at Pike and Pine, January 15. Register your interest for the event here.