TSCLive Networking Lunch in association with Alaska Seafood at Adam Reid at The French

We were in Manchester for the first Networking Lunch in association with Alaska Seafood 360 which was held at Adam Reid at The French.

• Read more about The Staff Canteen Networking Lunches
• Get Adam Reid's Alaska Seafood recipes

Our chefs enjoyed champagne and canapes and a three course meal courtesy of chef patron Adam Reid and his team along with matching wines.

The chefs

Chefs in attendance were Kieran Smith, head chef, The Boxtree; Sam Walker, sous chef, The Boxtree; Nathaniel Farrell, executive chef, Mercure Piccadilly; Joe Lavery, sous chef, Mercure Piccadilly; Mark Ellis, chef owner, Allium; Adam Steel, sous chef, Allium; Paul Heathcote, chef owner, Heathcote & Co Catering; Jeremy Shaw, chef owner, The Red Lion at Bobbington; Eve Townson, development chef, Hydes Brewery in Salford; Mike Carr, chef owner, Restaurant 92; Kevin Kindland, head chef, Weetwood Hall Leeds; Paul Askew, chef owner, The Art School;  Vincent Premel –Cabic, sous chef, The Art School; Steven Smith, chef owner, Freemasons at Wiswell; Gareth Rayner, head chef, Middleton Lodge; Mehdi Amiri, executive chef, Swinton Park; Darren Goodwin, head chef, Lythe Hill Hotel; Ernst Van Zyl; Andrew Nutter, chef owner, Nutters Restaurant; Nathan Kelly, sous chef, The Star Inn at Harome; Josh Overington, chef owner, Le Cochon Aveugle; Karl Whittaker, sous chef, Le Cochon Aveugle; Rikki Vidamour, head chef, Northern Fields; Neil Bentick, chef owner, Skosh; Sam Willis, sous chef, Skosh; Graham Floyd, head chef, Twelve Restaurant; Kane Parker, sous chef, Twelve Restaurant; Oliver Kon, sous chef, Horto at Rudding Park; Chris Bassett, head chef, Hispi and Mike Shaw, chef owner, The White Hart.

The menu and virtual reality tour of Alaska

This lunch was in association with Alaska Seafood and it was the perfect opportunity for them to let the 30 chefs taste the products they offer for themselves. Adam Reid, who already uses what they have on offer, made a selection of snacks including pollock fritters with fermented tomato, peppered pollock with pickled radish and pollock pie. The first course was a fantastic hot smoked wild Alaska Black Cod, confit yolk, salt baked swede and brown onion broth. This was followed by wild Alaska halibut, baked in beef and onion butter, crispy cavolo and ramson caper pesto - a firm favourite with all of the guests.

For the first time at one of our networking lunches, chefs were able to take a virtual reality tour of Alaska using the Alaska Seafood 360 app and they could see first-hand where the fish is bred, reared and caught.

Paul Askew, chef owner of The Art School in Liverpool said: "I thought the App was a wonderful touch and gave us all the opportunity to see the Alaskan fishing industry at work and the natural beauty of the place itself.It certainly changed my view of Alaskan Seafood for the better." 

What the chefs and Alaska Seafood had to say about The Staff Canteen Live networking lunch at Adam Reid at The French.

Katie Petherbridge, from We Are Lotus PR , representing Alaska Seafood, said: "Thanks to all at The Staff Canteen for helping us to host such a great Alaska Seafood lunch. Adam Reid did a great job showcasing the range of fine fresh Alaska seafood - from abundant wild Alaska pollock to meaty halibut to the very VIP black cod, every dish was a winner."

She added: "It was a great opportunity for us to chat to a broad range of chefs, to understand their product and commercial needs and understand evolving trends in the industry.

"It was a hugely successful event for us, can’t wait for the next one!"

Mehdi Amiri, executive chef at Swinton Park said: "The lunch by Adam at The French was a fantastic experience for myself and all of the industry professionals who attended, a real showcase of quality products with an emphasis on ethical, sustainable based sourcing.

"The versatility and variety of Alaska Seafood products that we had tasted were innovative and well executed. The Alaska Seafood app was an extremely contemporary approach to the entire experience and a personal highlight."

Mark Ellis, chef owner of Allium continued: "It was a privilege to be invited to the Alaska Seafood  lunch at The French. It was great to network and discuss the products with not only the reps but other chefs, and the food and wine as well as service were first class.

 Also at the lunch was Paul Heathcote who thought Alaska Seafood was a 'great product cooked with  the creativity that you would expect from Adam Reid'. 

Nathanial Farrell, executive chef of the Mercure Picadilly said: "It was really great to meet the Alaskan Seafood ladies, their view on sustainability really changed my way of thinking. I will now endeavour to use their product moving forward. The virtual reality app was such a cool way of showing off their product and the environment it comes from, I even took it home and let my daughter play with it. Great device and talking point away from the fantastic food on offer."

Kieran Smith, head chef of The Box Tree agreed saying: "The vr app was pretty cool, it was interesting to see the boat in action in such beautiful surroundings."

And finally Josh Overington, chef owner of Le Cochon Aveugle said: "I was really impressed with the quality of the Alaska seafood, high standard produce like this is hard to come by. All of us in the industry know, actually traveling ourselves to Alaska is a long shot, the virtual reality app is great as you get to see the location of these products."