Lilibet’s: A very British fantasy brought to life in Mayfair

Lilibet’s invites you to imagine what might have been if fate hadn’t intervened and a young Queen Elizabeth II, born at No. 17 Bruton Street, had instead inherited her grandparent’s home, hosted cocktail parties and society events, and regaled friends with stories of her travels. Inspired by Mayfair’s heritage, Lilibet’s is timeless, elegant and a little bit of fun with treasured keepsakes from faraway places layered alongside recent pieces to create a truly memorable dining experience.

Every dish is served with finesse, and with seasonality and sustainability in mind. Ross Shonhan explains, “We’re a seafood restaurant on an island that has some of the best seafood in the world,” so their offerings are sourced “from Scotland… and when the weather is turbulent there… from Devon and Cornwall.” All their vegetables, beef and pork are also sourced locally from small farms.

Ross Shonhan modestly introduces himself as a restaurateur and cook who began his career 30 years ago washing dishes in a butcher’s shop in Australia. But Ross’s love for food has taken him from working as Executive Chef at Nobu in Dallas, to Zuma London, and on to create the iconic Bone Daddies. Since then, Ross has gained global respect as a restaurateur and now, with Lilibet’s, we can clearly see his passion lies in creating unique and memorable experiences for his guests.

When asked why he chose Precision refrigeration equipment for Lilibet’s, Ross confessed, “When I started building my own restaurants, I had a lot of bad experiences… budgetary constraints… second hand [equipment]…. and had other brands of refrigeration, and I realised quite quickly the pain outstripped any short-term financial benefits. I heard of Precision, probably 10 years ago, it was put to me that they were the best… so I started buying Precision and the honest answer is I’ve not spec’d anything else since.”

Ross has built the kitchen at Lilibet’s for his chefs that he never built for himself, with products that have been on his wish list for years. For example, Precision Refrigeration’s wall cabinets and variable temperature drawers have always been thought of as “a bit of a luxury.” From a cook’s point of view, the HWU211 wall cabinets are “quite practical, [keeping] everything refrigerated at high level and [increasing] refrigeration capacity without increasing your footprint.”

As well as the VUBC121 stacked variable temperature drawers, the kitchen has MCU211 and MCU311 counter refrigerators in thoughtfully considered configurations of doors and banks of three drawers to ensure maximum efficiency in each section. “Those things can make a big difference to how good it is for the team to work in that environment,” says Ross, “and in this day and age kitchens have to be good places to work.”

Precision’s refrigeration solutions also play a key role front of house in enhancing the guest experience, with BBS1850 upright chillers for water, BBS900 bottle coolers behind the bar, as well as GFS600 frosters to ensure martinis and champagne are served in perfectly frosted glassware, and dedicated freezers for ice blocks for Lilibet’s signature cocktails.

The original house at 17 Bruton Street was unfortunately demolished and converted into an office block in the 1930s, so Ross worked with the landlord to transform it into a proper restaurant space. He explains, “I had to design it far in advance of even contemplating building it and worked with an independent kitchen design firm called CKP. They weren’t wedded to any brands and could give me great solutions to the problems that I had. They’d always recommended Precision historically, and did for this project, but,” he admits, “it wasn’t really a question. We knew we were going with Precision.” Ross sang the praises of CKP, who, in his opinion, went “above and beyond” for Lilibet’s.

For more details about the refrigeration featured, please visit www.precision-refrigeration.com or give us a call on +44 (0)1842 753994

When it comes to innovation in professional cooking technology, MKN continues to set the benchmark. The MKN FlexiChef® is a true all-in-one solution designed to revolutionise kitchen operations by combining flexibility, speed, and sustainability – all in one compact, intelligent system.

At the heart of its success lies SpaceClean®, the world’s first and only fully automated cleaning system for multifunctional pans. With a simple touch of a button, SpaceClean® delivers a fully integrated, hands-free wash cycle that eliminates the need for manual scrubbing. Using minimal water, the system completes a full intermediate clean in just two minutes, allowing operators to switch between cooking processes faster and more hygienically than ever before.

For busy kitchens, this innovation represents a significant leap in efficiency. Whether roasting, boiling, deep-frying, or high-speed cooking, the FlexiChef® adapts instantly to multiple cooking methods, reducing both downtime and labour. Combined with MKN’s intuitive MagicPilot® touchscreen interface, operators benefit from easy, repeatable results and the ability to run multiple cooking programmes throughout service.

Beyond performance, the environmental credentials are impressive. SpaceClean® reduces water usage by up to 40% compared to conventional manual cleaning, while energy-efficient design helps lower running costs – a crucial advantage as operators continue to focus on sustainability and cost control.

Already trusted by chefs and foodservice professionals across the UK and Europe, the FlexiChef® is proving to be a game-changer for those seeking smarter, cleaner, and more productive kitchens.

For more information or to book a demonstration, visit www.mkn.com or contact your local MKN dealer to experience the future of multifunctional cooking.

On Thursday 22nd January 2026 Parts Town UK’s Training Division will host their very first webinar alongside leading water filter manufacturer BRITA. 

Hear from Parts Town UK Training Centre Manager, Scott Barnfield and BRITA UK Manager, Chris Fay as they share insights and updates you won’t want to miss.

All are welcome and encouraged to attend the event to keep up to date with what’s happening at Parts Town UK and BRITA!

What to expect?

• Learn about upcoming industry training courses from Parts Town UK
• Discover BRITA’s latest products and offers
• Enjoy an interactive session with live Q&A
• Plus, prizes to be won on the day! All attendees will be put into a prize draw to be in with a chance of winning a Tool Kit and BRITA iQ Meter.

Event Details:

Date: Thursday 22nd January 2025
Time: 10am – 10.30am
Where: Online
Secure your spot: Click here to book your place

Retigo UK is kicking off 2026 with the launch of a new chef-led podcast.

The Mad Chef is by chefs, for chefs. Led by Retigo UK Culinary Consultant, Samuel Ashton, the monthly episodes provide raw chef chat, discussing the realities of working in a commercial kitchen – the good, the bad and the ugly.

Alongside Sam are fellow chefs Chris Beavis and Jordan Quantrell. Each with their own background, experiences and stories to tell about the real life of a chef, the trio have a no-filter approach to the podcast.

As well as the kitchen chat, the team are aiming to hit the road for site visits and to meet guest chefs across the UK, with the aim of showcasing the full capabilities of the Retigo combi oven range.

Explaining the concept of The Mad Chef podcast, Retigo UK Managing Director, Aneta Juroskova said, “We’ve been supporting service engineers across the industry via our WOW Training for some time now. About 12 months ago we started discussing how we could develop something similar for chefs, whilst also raising brand awareness amongst the chef community.

“We wanted to understand more about how chefs operate and so we visited several customers and Retigo users and spoke to them about the challenges they face in the kitchen. We then employed Sam, our Culinary Consultant, who has taught us a lot about chefs, their behaviours and how they work. The next step was deciding what to do with all the information we had gathered and how to present it. We knew, if executed correctly, we could have something unique to offer chefs, and so The Mad Chef was born.”

“It’s about graft, laughs and good taste”, says Sam. “Chefs don’t want a sleek, shiny marketing brochure or fancy sales pitches; they want no-nonsense talk, hands-on experience and the word of other chefs. The Mad Chef is about giving chefs just that; an honest chat, a chance to use the Retigo ovens and see what the Retigo brand is all about for themselves. It’s about collaboration, sharing ideas, trends and innovation. It’s about chef recognition.”

Aneta concludes, “We started working on this project last February and it’s been non-stop since! I must say that Sam and the boys have done a great job so far. We can’t wait to release the first episode this week and start engaging with the chef community. Follow TMC and stay tuned!”

The first episode goes out on Sunday 18^th January 2026.

Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/1FLdd9GKaQe0VvJYLhprEJ

This is a visualised podcast and can be watched on YouTube: @themadchefuk

The Mad Chef has its own profile on multiple platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify. You can find out more about the podcast and the three chef presenters on the website: themadchef.co.uk

Northcote, the luxury hotel located in the scenic Ribble Valley and boasting a Michelin-starred restaurant has upgraded its complement of Electrolux Professional Skyline combi ovens to the latest model. January will see Obsession 26 commence, with a medley of World Class chefs set to put the new ovens and full Electrolux Professional kitchen through its paces.

‘Although our previous ovens still deliver for us and move on within the Northcote operation, we’re delighted to transition to the latest Skyline models. We’ll continue to benefit from their performance but now with improved efficiency. It’s a timely upgrade as they will be in situ ahead of Obsession 2026, which will see all our guest chefs put them through their paces’ – Lisa Goodwin-Allen, Chef Patron-Director, Northcote

With the new Skyline combi oven, experience smarter cleaning with up to 33% less water and 22% less detergent compared to previous models (based on 10 GN1/1).

Thanks to the new wash cycles, you’ll save up to 33% on water, 43% on detergent, and 25% on energy — delivering powerful performance with significantly lower operating costs. *

*Based on Internal test done in Electrolux Professional Laboratory comparing actual SkyLine 20 GN1/1 electric Combi Oven with boiler vs the previous version.

Visit the website to discover more – www.electroluxprofessional.com/gb/commercial-kitchen-equipment/skyline-combi-oven/

Our ovens have become more technically accurate with temperature control, and better insulated for heat efficiency, with the trend to move toward electric power over gas for lowering carbon footprint and future proofing the kitchen. The demand for quality pizza offering has definitely increased, with many businesses adding this to their existing restaurant or take away menu.

We offer compact 45cm belt conveyor ovens and single/ twin deck pizza ovens. We only offer electric options as this is the future requirement, especially if trying to comply with the TM65 carbon footprint initiative.

The conveyor ovens are forced air, so this de- skills & simplifies the operation for the customer, lowering the requirement for experienced pizza chefs, maintaining consistency and volume output.  Both our deck ovens and conveyor ovens can be stacked up to three units high, enabling maximum output from the same footprint, in a busy kitchen/takeaway. The dough quality and production is essential to the quality of the end result, so with the increased availability of fantastic ready-made frozen dough balls or even pre-formed pizza bases from millers and food production companies, this helps operators produce quality product, with reduced preparation time and minimised wastage.

We do also have dedicated spiral dough mixers and new heated pizza press to complement our ovens, for traditional style concepts that prefer to produce their own dough or special bread recipes. Our mixers are a very simple operation one or two speed, adjustable cut,  with fixed head and bowls. They have heavy-duty, high-performance dough hooks and motors, aiding the production of fantastic silky pizza & bread dough.

As mentioned previously, staffing pressures can be relieved by producing machines that are easy to operate, taking the skill out of the baking process for the operator, helping reduce the number of skilled staff to provide the same high quality product. Quality ingredients can be purchased/ frozen and used on demand, reducing the need for more staff to produce the raw product and minimising wastage.  Machines that are versatile and can be used to cook./bake other restaurant items, such as garlic breads/ cheesy Nachos/ crock dishes for tapas style cooking of fast cook product, such as garlic prawns etc.. can reduce the amount of other equipment required in the kitchen concept for the owner, again maximising the food production output.

For Power/ Performance/ Reliability / Efficiency and Sustainability, buy Blue Seal!

For catering equipment maintenance companies, efficiency is everything. From urgent breakdowns to planned compliance checks, every job requires clear communication between field engineers and office teams. Yet in many businesses, outdated processes create barriers that cost time, money, and customer satisfaction.

Service Geeni, a ceda Associate Member, provides FSM (Field Service Management) software that connects engineers in the field with office staff in real time, reducing paperwork, and ensuring SLAs are consistently met.

Why Communication Matters

In a busy catering equipment maintenance company, the office team acts as mission control. They receive customer calls, book jobs, schedule engineers, and keep clients updated. Engineers, meanwhile, are on the front line – travelling between sites, diagnosing faults, and carrying out repairs.

Without seamless communication, things can quickly go wrong:

• Engineers arriving late because of schedule changes they didn’t see.
• Jobs delayed because office staff didn’t know parts were missing.
• Customers frustrated by lack of updates.
• SLAs missed due to admin bottlenecks.

It’s not that teams aren’t working hard – it’s that information isn’t flowing smoothly between them.

“We speak to equipment maintenance companies every week who tell us the same story,” explains Steven Lindsay, Senior Software Sales Consultant. “Their engineers are skilled and their office teams are dedicated, but poor communication slows everything down. That’s exactly the issue our platform solves.”

From Paperwork to Real-Time Updates

Traditionally, engineers carried job sheets that needed to be filled out manually and returned to the office. Office teams would then type up notes, update systems, and contact customers. This process created delays, duplication, and inevitable human error.

FSM software replaces these manual steps with a real-time digital workflow. Engineers access job details on the mobile app, log progress as they go, and upload photos or notes instantly. Office staff see updates as they happen, without chasing phone calls or waiting for paperwork to come back.

This streamlined approach means:

• No delays between job completion and office updates.
• Accurate records for compliance and reporting.
• Fewer admin hours spent re-typing handwritten notes.
• Customers kept informed with timely updates.

Keeping Everyone in Sync

The impact of connected communication goes beyond reducing paperwork. For catering equipment maintenance companies, it transforms the way field and office teams work together.

• Instant job updates: Engineers can see new or rescheduled jobs immediately, reducing wasted journeys.
• Progress tracking: Office staff can view job status in real time, making it easy to answer customer queries without phoning engineers.
• Parts management: If a job requires a part, the engineer can flag it instantly, triggering the office to order stock and re-schedule efficiently.
• SLA monitoring: With all information centralised, managers can see which jobs are on track and where intervention is needed to stay compliant.

Better for Engineers, Better for Customers

For engineers, the benefit is clear: less time chasing paperwork and more time doing the work they’re trained for. Having job details, asset history, and instructions at their fingertips helps them complete tasks faster and more accurately.

For customers, the improvement is equally valuable: jobs completed on time, fewer delays, and a professional, consistent service.

“When communication improves, first-time fix rates go up and SLA performance improves,” says Adrian Clark, Key Account Director. “It’s a win-win – engineers are happier, and customers notice the difference.”

Real-World Impact

The benefits of real-time communication aren’t just theoretical. Service Geeni customers are already seeing measurable improvements. One FSM customer slashed office paperwork by 84% in just six months by moving from manual job sheets to digital updates.

For catering equipment maintenance companies, the impact would be very similar — less admin for office staff, engineers spending more time on the tools, and faster, clearer updates for customers.

Looking Ahead

As catering equipment becomes more complex and customer expectations rise, the pressure on maintenance companies will only increase. Clear, real-time communication is no longer a “nice to have” – it’s essential for staying competitive.

Service Geeni’s focus is on giving ceda members the tools to meet these demands: helping engineers and office staff work as one team, connected through a single, easy-to-use platform.

Learn More

To find out how Service Geeni FSM software can help your catering equipment maintenance company improve communication, reduce paperwork, and hit SLAs consistently:

Book a demo with Service Geeni

As we approach the festive season, we’d like to take a moment to thank you for your continued partnership and support throughout 2025. It’s been a fantastic year working alongside you, and we’re looking forward to even greater things in 2026.

Please note our holiday schedule:

• Last dispatch: Monday, 23rd December 2025
• Office closure: 12 pm on Tuesday, 24th December 2025
• We reopen: Thursday, 2nd January 2026

Wishing you and your teams a restful break and a prosperous New Year.

Warm regards, The Adande Team

Setting a new benchmark in professional rice cooking.

Driving innovation in the commercial cooking equipment sector, Panasonic Professional Kitchen has launched its brand new SR-PGE54 Pro IH Rice Cooker – a high-performance solution which is designed to deliver rice with enhanced sweetness, greater flavour, exceptional texture and a uniform consistency.

SR-PGE54 Pro IH Rice Cooker:

• 5.4-litre (30 cup) capacity: Ideal for restaurants, catering services and large production kitchens.
• Durable by design: A diamond-coated non-stick inner pot improves heat conductivity and provides long-lasting performance while remaining easy to clean.
• High-powered: Powerful induction heating (IH) delivers rapid and even heat across the pot. An alternating convection system generates inner and outer heat currents, moving the rice dynamically to ensure distinct, fully cooked grains.
• Easy to use: An intuitive, upward-facing LED control panel delivers clear cooking stage indicators, while an audible buzzer alerts the operator to the end of a cook cycle.
• Multiple cook settings: Choose from hard, normal or soft and six cooking modes – white rice, rinse-free, brown rice, sushi rice, mixed rice and porridge for added flexibility.

With today’s chefs demanding consistency and quality, the Pro IH Rice Cooker is engineered to deliver exactly that.

Using optimised convection, the IH Rice Cooker forms a uniform moisture layer to give rice a noticeably glossier finish, while the residual heat stability from the induction technology reduces stickiness and gives a firmer texture.

For more information:

Email: commercial.ovens@eu.panasonic.com

Novameta is expanding its range of quick-service restaurant solutions and introducing the Multi Cold Variable-Dimension Refrigerated Table to the market. It’s a unique multifunctional system that can be fully adapted to each customer’s specific needs. Multi Cold can integrate anything from GN containers to a beer keg or other essential kitchen accessories.

We believe this multifunctional concept opens up new possibilities for our clients and brings a new level of flexibility to professional kitchen design.

For more information, contact our Regional Manager Valdas Stonys: valdas@novameta.lt