We’ve taken The Staff Canteen Live 2016 to Hotelympia at Excel London and we’ve brought some of the finest names in the industry with us.
For our debut at Hotelympia we decided we needed some of the biggest names in the indsuty on our stage to showcase their amazing talents. On day one of The Staff Canteen Live 2016, we were joined by Claude Bosi, Daniel Clifford, Graham Hornigold and Nathan Outlaw. Visitors to the show were able to watch the Michelin-starred chefs make consomme, cook squid micro cakes, prepare lemon sole and make chocolate ganache.
And not only did they get to see them in action they got a taster of some of their fantastic food too.
Claude Bosi from two Michlein-starred Hibiscus said: "We want to come out of the kicthen and show people what we are doing and share our philosophy. It's great place to mix with young chefs who may be too scared to come to the restaurant."
Claude made winter vegetable dumplings and toasted rice consomme and was followed by Daniel Clifford of Midsummer House. Daniel, who holds two Michelin stars, made a turbot dish with salt baked clams, tempura samphire, cuttlefish and a squid ink and seaweed microcake. He says being a part of The Staff Canteen Live is always a lot of fun and this time he was joined on stage by his development chef Greg Clarke. Greg showed us how quickly you can make the squid ink cake.
Daniel said: "I remember coming to Hotelympia when I was 17 and not only did I get to watch my heroes but I got to see the stoves I wanted to cook on. Young chefs who come here get a lot from it and for me it's about giving back - although I still get nervous before the demos because I like my kitchen and I like being on my own!"
This week we are bringing 16 of the UK's top chefs to Hotelympia with a staggering 24 Michelin stars between them. The Staff Canteen Live – Skillery supported by the Craft Guild of Chefs, held in conjunction with speciality produce supplier, Westlands and Robot Coupe, Steelite, TRUEFoods, Adande, Franke coffee, Norwegian seafood and Ritter Courivaud; will be running regular sessions every day of the four-day show with a changing line-up of chefs providing visitors with interactive demonstrations, recipe guidance and cooking tips.
Nathan Outlaw was on stage with his head chef at Outlaw's at The Capital, Tom Brown, and Nathan said: "As well as showing people what we do we want to promote simplicity in cooking and really great fish."
He added: "Demos are vital for the industry because young chefs and students can learn new skills and techniques as well as getting to see what other chefs are doing. Hotelympia was the first event I went to when I was 14 and it had a lot to do with why I became a chef."
Finishing off the first day was Graham Hornigold, executive pastry chef for the Hakkasan Group. He said: "I've supported The Staff Canteen since it's inception - it was the first chef website I knew about! The live shows are great for the industry it allows young chefs to see what they can achieve and it gives them an opportunity to talk to us and even ask for a job!"
The Staff Canteen Live will be back tomorrow. If you can't be at Hotelympia follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and watch all the demos live on our YouTube channel.
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And not only did they get to see them in action they got a 
