Sumit Chakrabarty is executive chef at the prestigious Rutland Hall Hotel & Spa in Leicestershire, home to Blossoms restaurant. Heading up a passionate team of seven chefs and three porters within the confines of its bustling 40 square foot kitchen, he has the job of ensuring guests are served the high quality food they expect. That, of course, can only happen if its kitchen design and equipment is meticulously thought out – as he explains in his own words…
I’m a big believer in empowering the kitchen brigade by providing them with the optimum tools to thrive.
Like all modern and successful commercial kitchen layouts, the space must consider the intricacies of all culinary processes, from preparation time and ensuring that food is cooked to perfection, to faster service and better customer satisfaction.
At Blossoms, for example, we have a dedicated larder for cold prep, allowing us to perfectly store and prepare cold dishes, while a designated dessert preparation zone ensures our sweet offerings are crafted with precision and care.
Another section is reserved for raw meat preparation and cooking, maintaining optimal hygiene and safety standards, and a space for sauces and garnishes allows us to put the final touches on our dishes, enhancing flavours and presentation.
Finally, ample cold and dry storage ensures our ingredients are stored at the right temperatures and in the right conditions, guaranteeing their freshness.
This thoughtful and well-organised layout plays a significant role in supporting our incredible team and their unwavering work ethic. It ensures that each team member can seamlessly transition between different stages of the cooking process, from preparation to cooking and garnishing, without any hindrance.
A comprehensive kitchen design can then be supplemented with an array of state-of-the-art equipment to enable the brigade to perform their tasks to the highest level.
After all, quality equipment contributes directly to food quality, and when customers consistently enjoy well-prepared dishes, they are more likely to become repeat customers, ultimately contributing to the restaurant’s success and growth.
Personally, in my many years of learning from the best in kitchens across the UK and overseas, I’ve found that the key to building a passionate team that takes pride in their culinary creations is to give them the platform from which they can truly achieve great things.
Modern equipment
Modern kitchen appliances equipped with precise temperature controls and cooking timers ensure that each dish is cooked uniformly, maintaining consistent taste and texture, which is crucial for a successful dining experience.
While advanced equipment like combi ovens and sous-vide machines enable chefs to control the cooking environment accurately, resulting in more flavourful and tender dishes. It’s this sort of innovative equipment that allows my team to be ambitious and creative with their dishes.
In every kitchen space, specific equipment emerges as indispensable, and at the forefront of Blossoms is the Rational oven. This versatile piece of equipment is the heartbeat of our kitchen, offering an impressive range of programmes that cater to various modern cooking techniques.
From roasting and baking to grilling and slow cooking, the oven is a workhorse that significantly enhances our culinary abilities. Its multifunctionality empowers us to explore and experiment, giving us the flexibility to create a diverse range of dishes with precision and efficiency.
It’s not an overstatement to say it’s the linchpin that holds our culinary operations together, ensuring that our dishes are consistently of the highest quality. The diverse functionalities it offers streamline our cooking processes, allowing us to craft each dish with meticulous care and attention.
Furthermore, being trained in classical French cuisine, the Rational oven has been essential in empowering me to reinvigorate the hotel’s food offering, providing a refined, international twist that guests have come to know, love, and expect with each visit.
Like the Rational oven, most modern kitchen equipment is designed with easy-to-clean features and materials that meet stringent health and safety standards, ensuring that the food prepared is safe for consumption. Quality, commercial-grade equipment is also built to last longer, reducing the frequency of repairs and replacements, ultimately saving money for the restaurant over time.
This brings me on to sustainability, which is no longer a buzz word; it’s a practice we are all looking to implement in our day-to-day operations. For the kitchen brigade, this means conscious usage practices of equipment.
Kitchen teams need to be educated on how to use every appliance mindfully, focusing on energy efficiency and waste reduction wherever possible.
This, of course, aligns with the broader ethos of responsible and environmentally-friendly culinary practices, and at Blossoms and Rutland Hall, I’m proud to be spearheading these practices with my team, who are just as committed as I am.
Design foresight
The launch of Blossoms in 2022 presented an opportunity to design our kitchen in a manner that seamlessly accommodated a variety of food offerings. We always aim to provide delicious, internationally inspired food through drawing on the team’s collective skills and experience.
To achieve this, every piece of equipment was carefully selected and acquired, aligning perfectly with the culinary experience that we wanted to deliver.
This foresight in design has been a fundamental factor in our ability to adapt to changing menus and diverse culinary preferences. I’m a huge advocate of the kitchen being a place to experiment and be inspired while having fun, that’s the Blossoms philosophy and I’m proud to have created such a special culture.
Looking ahead, we have exciting plans for the kitchen to evolve further with an expansion that mirrors the growth of our business.
We aim to introduce additional cold rooms, facilitating optimal storage for our ingredients. Additionally, a designated butcher area is on the horizon, enhancing our capabilities and efficiency in handling and preparing meat.
These improvements underline our commitment to operational enhancement and delivering exceptional services to our guests. Being the leader of such a dedicated and enthusiastic team makes the journey that bit more exciting – when you have everyone’s buy-in it creates a culture of unison and that’s what makes a good kitchen brigade a great one.
I cannot emphasise enough the pivotal role that well-chosen equipment and a thoughtfully designed kitchen play in enhancing the efficiency and productivity of a restaurant’s culinary team.
And with sustainability at the forefront of all our minds, being woven into strategic plans for future growth, kitchen teams utilising quality, commercial-grade equipment will be poised for continued success and heightened proficiency, ensuring that every dish created is a masterpiece.
If you give a kitchen brigade the tools to succeed, they will reward you. The feedback we receive, such as our 155 5-star reviews on TripAdvisor, is evidence of that.
Sumit Chakrabarty is the executive chef at Rutland Hall Hotel, a luxury lakeside holiday destination located in the heart of Rutland offering a tranquil countryside experience with views over Rutland Water.
Dear Che Chakrabarty
Wonderful read.
Thank you, Vita
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