The Staff Canteen Live 2018 Networking Lunch at City Social

This month The Staff Canteen Live Networking Lunch was hosted by Michelin-starred City Social and our headline sponsor was Seafood from Norway.

• Read more about The Staff Canteen Networking Lunches
• The next The Staff Canteen Live Networking Lunch will be at Norse in Harrogate on Monday, March 12. Register your interest for the event here.

Our chefs and sponsors joined us at City Social for a four course meal by head chef Dan Welna and his team plus some of the best lunch views in London! 

The chefs

We had a fantastic guest list this month for our second visit to City Social (they hosted us for the launch of our Networking Lunches in 2016) and the chefs who attended were, Matt Worswick, executive chef, Matt Worswick at The Latymer; Marianne Lumb, chef owner, Restaurant Marianne; Julien Thevenot, group executive pastry chef, Rhubarb Food Design; Tom De Keyser, head chef, The Coach; Jamie Park, head chef, The Frog E1; 

Tom Griffiths, chef owner, Flank; Kirk Haworth, chef owner, Plates; Sophie Michell, executive chef, Home House; Graeme Campbell, executive chef, London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square; Rob Kennedy, culinary director, Compass Group; Joo Won, head chef, Galvin at Windows; Tom Peters, senior sous, Roux at Parliament Square; Andrea Secchi, executive chef, Bonnie Gull; Mark Frodenlund, chef patron, Marcus and John Chantarasak, head chef, Som Saa.

The menu at City social

Thanks to our sponsor Pommery, guests were treated to glasses of champagne on arrival and a fantastic selection of canapes. As with all our lunches the chefs and sponsors got the chance to take a look behind the scenes in the City Social kitchen before sitting down to the first course of yellowfin tuna tataki, cucumber salad, radish, avocado and ponzu dressing. Koppert Cress supplied micro herbs on several of the dishes and the main course was skrei cod supplied by the headline sponsor, Seafood from Norway. To finish was the apple tarte tatin served with a maple glaze thanks to pure Canadian Maple Syrup.

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

Hans Frode Kielland Asmyhr from Seafood from Norway who headlined this event said: "I've enjoyed today a lot and it's an activity I believe strongly in. Myself and Seafood from Norway believe in bringing people together and it's important as food suppliers to meet with chefs. It's also important to tell the story behind the food and these lunches are a brilliant idea and a way to do that because chefs actually get to taste the dish which is using the suppliers product."

He added: "The networking lunches are something other suppliers should look in to. we thought it was a good idea to work with The Staff Canteen on this, especially because it is not only London based. The lunches take place all over the UK and I think that it is important not to be too London focused."

Paul Da Costa Greaves from Koppert Kress agreed saying: "It's good to actually sit down with the chefs to discuss and explain how Koppert Cress sees the world in terms of sustainability, how we work clean and natural. It's important for the chefs to have that confirmation of what Koppert Cress is about."

Getting 15 chefs in one room on their day off is no easy task! But as always they all enjoyed networking with others in the industry. John Chantarasak, head chef, Som Saa said: "It's been amazing. I'm relatively new-school in this environment of fairly punchy, Michelin boys. I've known about a lot of them and eaten in their restaurants but I've never met them in person so that's been really nice. You don't get much free time in this industry and this has been fantastic. 

He added: "Going in to the kitchen and meeting the chefs is a really nice touch too. You get to see how much better they have it here than in your own kitchen!"

Rob Kennedy, culinary director for Compass Group said: "It was really good today and it's fantastic to be hosted by The Staff Canteen with such a wide range of chefs from across the business. From Michelin stars to contract catering all getting together to network - moving forward I think it's really important for industry to do this. When you see produce and ingredients from the different suppliers who support our business, and you sit next to them and get more in to the depth of what they do and how they can support you in various things from recipes to clothing to syrups - it was really interesting and an advantage thanks to today's lunch."

Graeme Campbell, Executive Chef at London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square said: "The whole experience was fantastic. Great to meet others in the industry from varied aspects and also some good contacts for suppliers too."  

The lunch was sponsored by Seafood from Norway, ChefWorks UK,  HIT Training, Champagne Pommery,  Koppert Cress, Maple from Canada UK and Lactalis Professional.