Space invasion

23 November 2001 by
Space invasion

The White Hart in Coggeshall had to stay in operation while the kitchen was renovated, which meant a complicated dance around existing equipment. Carmen Konopka does the quick-step.

Continuing to trade while a new kitchen is being fitted is no easy task, particularly if, as at the White Hart in Coggeshall, Essex, there is nowhere suitable to install a purpose-made temporary kitchen.

The White Hart is an 18-bedroom timbered inn, part of which was a guildhall built in 1420. It is owned by Old English Inns, which has just been acquired by Greene King. "We considered a temporary kitchen building," says general manager Sergio Rifugio, "but there was nowhere we could put one without the waiting staff having to go outside to reach the restaurant."

So, using equipment borrowed from kitchen designer and installer TFR Design, a temporary kitchen was set up in the area normally used by waiting staff as a still room, requiring a substantial rerouting of the gas supply. Meanwhile, the beverage machines, fridges and other equipment from this area were moved into the dry goods store which, in turn, ended up in Rifugio's office. "It meant we all suffered, but it was the best we could come up with," he says.

Sous chef Mark Walsh found cooking in the long, thin still room rather difficult. "It was like working in a railway carriage," he says. "We coped by keeping our mise en place up to date and staying really tidy." It was also necessary to reduce the number of dishes on the Italian-themed menu for the nine-week duration of the work, so the 80-cover à la carte restaurant offered six starters instead of the usual 12, and six mains instead of 15-20. The bar menu was also cut back to one-third of its normal size.

Designing the new £120,000 kitchen from scratch was a joy for Rifugio and head chef Mark Farthing, working with TFR Design, which drew up the plans and did all the installation work. "Front of house had taken priority and very little had been spent on the kitchen for the past 10-12 years," says Rifugio. "Basically, the kitchen was worn out."

Main priority

In designing the new kitchen, the main priority was to give chefs more space to exercise their creativity and to increase the amount of plated dishes, where there was a mix of plated items and silver service. Also, Rifugio wants to develop function business. "Our old kitchen couldn't really cope with large parties because it was too small and not equipped for them," he says.

However, enlarging the kitchen was a challenge in such an old building and with such a narrow, irregular space. To make extra space for the main cooking area, which had to remain in the centre of the kitchen because of ventilation, the coldroom was moved into a building adjoining the kitchen that previously housed the staff toilets. This meant that dishwashing and potwashing could be moved to the space where the coldstore had been. The dirties dump in this area was carefully positioned so that waiting staff can easily drop off used dishes on their way to collect meals from the servery. Moving dishwashing and potwashing, in turn, gave more space to the prep areas for vegetables, cold food and pastry. Outside the kitchen, the chefs' changing room was shrunk so that a toilet could be fitted in.

The main cooking area is made up of an island group of individual appliances. Among them are several stainless-steel benches, providing lots of work space for the chefs, and particularly useful when they plate up dishes.

A key element is the pasta boiler. The White Hart makes all its own pasta from scratch - including spaghetti, linguine, pappardelle, lasagne, penne and tagliatelle - so the pasta boiler is essential.

During service, the head chef or sous chef works on the side closest to the heated servery. Dishes are all cooked to order, so equipment here includes plenty of gas hobs for fast and flexible cooking. The oven under the hobs is used most during service, rather than the combi-oven on the other side. Near by is an angled garnish rack so the chef can grab ingredients without having to move far.

The other side of the cooking area is used by the vegetable chef, who also carries out the fish prep. The range here has a solid top because it is mainly used for big pots of stock and soup. Its oven takes bigger trays than the combi-oven, so is useful for large quantities of items such as boulangère potatoes. For vegetables, there is a combi-oven (also used for baking and other tasks), and there is a twin-basket fryer for chips.

White cladding has been used on all the walls to provide easy-clean surfaces and to increase the brightness of what would otherwise be a dark area. White cladding has also been put on the ceiling, which is rather low and so more likely to get dirty. Lots of strip lighting has been installed so there are no dark corners. There is also a non-slip floor with radiused corners to eliminate dirt-traps. And a floor drain in the corner means that spills are easily mopped away.

One part of the kitchen due to be tackled imminently is the waiters' area. The temporary cooking appliances are being removed and new equipment, including a wine refrigerator, will be fitted for the waiting staff. And more working space will be created by swapping the old upright fridges for under-counter models with work surfaces on top.

Suppliers

  • Blue Seal 0121-327 5575
  • Lincat 01522 875555
  • Mareno UK 01707 361770
  • Rational UK 01582 480300
  • TFR Design 01799 586423
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