Wild Animal Park; Jesse Dunford Wood, Parlour and Six Portland Road; Alex Webb, private chef and MasterChef: The Professionals Winner; Chris Hopkins, senior sous, Ormer Mayfair; Kim Ratcharoen, Anglo Thai; Toby Burrowes, head chef, Zuma.
Sponsors
Our headline sponsor for this event was Kopert Cress, joined by Diversey (Zenith Hygiene), ChefWorks , Gusbourne, WPA Healthcare and Udale Speciality Foods.
What the guests said
Kim Ratcharoen, who recently left Restaurant Gordon Ramsey, will be part of the team opening Anglo Thai next year, she said: "Today has been brilliant, it's a great way to meet other chefs in the industry as we are all always so busy!"
She added: "The sponsors were so passionate about what they do and really approachable - it's a great way to meet them."
"It's been a great way to network with chefs I don't know," explained Marty Lau from The Araki. "It had a really intimate atmosphere and as this was my first time at one of these events it made me feel really comfortable and I enjoyed it."
As with many of the chefs, Graham Garrett from The West House had 'been meaning to come for ages' to The Grill at The Dorchester. He said: "The food was great and Tom is a lovely guy - it's got to be daunting to cook fro 19 nother chefs, I wouldn't want to do it!"
Talking about the sponsors, Graham explained it's nice to talk to them in a relaxed environment. He said: "It's a good opportunity for us as chefs to expalin to suppliers what we want."
Former MasterChef: The Professionals Winner, Alex Webb, said: "The lunch was amazing. For me, I'm trying to open my own restaurant, so the networking with the sponsors was ideal. Getting to know them and they are going to send me some samples - it was great."
Allie Mount from our wine sponsor, Gusbourne, said: "The networking events really work for us as a huge part for us is educating about English wine, just being able to communicate the message that there is some really fantastic quality coming out of England is invaluable."
