The Staff Canteen Live 2018 Networking Lunch at Pike and Pine

Our first Networking Lunch of 2018 was at Matt Gillan's Pike and Pine (Redroaster by day) in Brighton.

• When did Matt Gillan open Pike and Pine?
• Features with Matt Gillan
• Read more about The Staff Canteen Networking Lunches

Matt Gillan and his team kindly closed the cafe-restaurant especially for The Staff Canteen Networking Lunch. He and his team prepared an incredible six-course menu with matching wines, followed by teas and coffees.

The chefs

Chefs in attendance this month were: Michael Bremner, chef owner, 64 Degrees; Steven Edwards, chef owner, etch; Alun Sperring, chef owner, The Chilli Pickle; Laura Petersen, head pastry chef, The Salt Room; Duncan Ray, chef owner, The Little Fish Market; Jamie Halsall, head chef, Cin Cin; Douglas Mcmaster, chef owner, Silo; Isaac Bartlett-Copeland, chef owner, Isaac At; Matthew Price, head chef, The Vineyard at Stockcross; Antonio Bianco, executive chef, Riddle and Finns; Ben Mckellar, chef owner, Gingerman Restaurant Group; Michael Sutherland, head chef, The Star Inn; Kurt Cutajar, executive chef, Brighton Hilton Metropole; Alan Parker, head chef, West Beach Bar & Kitchen - British Airways i360 and Richard Mann, head chef, The Camellia at South Lodge Hotel.

The menu at Pike and Pine

Chefs and sponsors enjoyed Pommery Champagne upon arrival and they got chatting to one another. A selection of snacks were also served at the reception, including: deep fried pork belly with capers and dashi; a beetroot tartare cracker with lime and pickles; and trout carpaccio topped with mirin and cucumber.

As Pike and Pine has an open kitchen, the guests lined up at the hot plate and Matt talked them through how they run the restaurant before everyone sat down for lunch.

The first course was spiced pork noodle with kiwi fruit and pork scratchings. Next, a Skrei dish with fish supplied from Seafood from Norway, served with salt baked kohlrabi, mustard beans and tarragon. The meat course was a duck dish with banana puree, cashew crumble, salsify and anchovy. This was followed by glazed ribblesdale goat's cheese with watermelon and bee pollen. For dessert, Matt served a chocolate curd with lemon sponge, pistachio ice cream and preserved lemon. Finally, guests enjoyed a chat over Redroaster coffees and tea.

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

The headline sponsor for January's networking lunch was Chef Works. Commercial Director Neil Boston said: "Today was probably the Networking Lunch that I've enjoyed the most because it's been really relaxed, everyone has been open and talkative. We've had some great discussions. Brighton has clearly got a really buzzing food scene and the great thing is, all the guys round the table here have got different concepts. They're all doing a different thing, which speaks volumes about Brighton and from our point of view, it's really quite interesting. The food was fabulous, but I'm supposed to be on a massive health kick and I've eaten all these naughty things. I particularly loved the duck leg, with banana and cashews - that combination was perfect!"

Derren Mallett, chef trainer at HIT Training agreed: "I think it's a great opportunity to network with chefs from lots of different backgrounds, at different levels. I'm local to here so to talk to these guys about apprenticeships - a lot of them have already used our services and hired our apprentices, so it's great to hear how they've developed those chefs. It is interesting to hear about local food trends and find out how their restaurants are going too. Brighton is a lot more exciting to eat out in now - over the last eighteen months, since a lot of these guys around the table opened their restaurants, it's been pretty exciting locally."

Chefs were also in agreement that Matt's food was exciting. Kurt Cutajar, executive chef at Brighton Hilton Metropole said: "From menu to plate, Matt exceeded every expectation. When you see combinations like that on a menu, you're not sure but it was amazing. It was great to catch up with a few guys I've worked with, and speak to a few I haven't met yet. We don't get to do this a lot as chefs, we might see each other on Instagram or stuff like that so it's good to catch up and share ideas."

Jamie Halsall, head chef at Cin Cin agreed: "I really enjoyed the food and seeing people that I haven't had a chance to catch up with in a while. We got to talk about things we don't usually talk about in our day jobs, because we work such long hours." He added: "If you could create an event like this every Monday, that would be amazing!"

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

• The next The Staff Canteen Live Networking Lunch will be at City Social on Monday, February 12. Register your interest for the event here.