The Staff Canteen Live 2023: Networking lunch at Café Spice Namasté

cyrus todiwala and his team at lONDON'S Café Spice Namasté excited guests with A SUPERB January 2023 networking lunch.

We invited chefs from across London 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

Attending were Alex Standen, Head Chef, The Concorde Room Heathrow; Alex Jacquemin, Recruitment Consultant, Search Consultancy; Shuko Oda, Head Chef, Koya; Anthony Fletcher, former Executive Chef, The Ned; Joshua Ausena, Sous Chef, The Dorchester; Clementine Bielenberg, Private Chef; Geanina Rugina, Head Chef, Louie; Hayden Groves Chef Consultant; Rie Lorentzen, Head of Food, Ole & Steen; James Holah, Group Executive Head Chef, Angela Hartnett Ltd; Carlos Martinez, Executive Chef, Baker & Spice; Thomas Rhodes, Executive Chef, England Rugby RFU; Mursal Saiq, Director and Co-founder, Cue Point; Omri McNabb, Head Chef, The Palomar.

Sponsors

Chef Works, Udale, Lightspeed, Hobart, Nyetimber

What the guests said

Alex Smith, from Lightspeed attended. He said: "For me it was a completely different perspective. Going from working in restaurants and hosting these events and seeing it from the otherside to being involved, for me it's super inclusive, a great opportunity to meet the chefs and people you wouldn't normally get to have a meaningful conversation with."

Discussing the benefits of the event, He said: "Something that was always clear to me and why I wanted to work in hospitality, we're used to making impact over the table. Sharing food, sharing drink, sharing personal experiences; it's part of who we are as human beings and any opportunity to do more of that can solidify more relationships."

Henry Boyle, from Nyetimber, said: "It's a fantastic occasion to meet lots of top professionals within the industry, people who really love and care about their food, and an amazing opportunity to try some amazing produce along the way."

Shuko Oda, Co-founder and Executive Chef at Koya said: "It's been a very pleasant afternoon meeting new chefs and other industry people. All the sponsors were very informative too." 

Mursal Saiq, Director and Co-founder, Cue Point London said: "Today has been incredible. Being at one of my favourite restaurants with Pervin and Cyrus at Café Spice and meeting all these incredible people across the industry; the inclusivity, the diversity within everything they've had to provide, and the reality of the industry and the reality of all of the different people it takes to create what we do, especially after Covid and after Brexit. Having The Staff Canteen put on something like this that is so intergral to our survival as well as for connecting with each other has been one of those experiences that has been hard because of Covid, so it's been really great to get the ball rolling for 2023."

Alex Standen, Head Chef, The Concorde Room Heathrow said: "It's been a brilliant day to meet like minded chefs from across the industry and network with people that you might not have ever have met before, create contacts, and that creates conversations that you never where it may go for you and your team."

He added: "Getting the sponsors to move around the table so you get to speak to people from every different walk of the hospitality industry works perfectly, but it also gives you the chance to create proper conversations that may lead to work collaborations for you or your team in the future. 

Carlos Martinez, Executive Chef, Baker & Spice, said: "Today I have found it very interesting to see Indian cuisine taken to another level, to meet suppliers that we know but never see the face of, and really, the people we've been around have been very nice. No pressure, very friendly, just lovely. It's been a really lovely afternoon."