Located in Winchester’s Guildhall, Shoal takes the British classic to new heights with stylish and welcoming surroundings, a friendly atmosphere and locally sourced, quality food.
Under the stewardship of chef patron Lenny Carr-Roberts, the takeaway and restaurant offer a choice of fish and chips, freshly baked pies and gelato that is made using local milk and which is churned and pasteurised on site every day.
When planning the Shoal concept, Lenny called upon the services of kitchen designers HCE, who he had used to kit out his pub, The Fox in nearby Crawley. “It was an easy decision to choose HCE to come and do Shoal because the job they had done at The Fox was great, the aftercare was just phenomenal,” he says. “Six months after the job, if something broke, they came in right away and it was done. If something needed to be fabricated, it was done. The aftercare was just superb, that relationship we had with them was brilliant so when it came to commissioning people to come and do Shoal, it was the same team.”
Unlike the previous job, Shoal presented some challenges, as Lenny explains: “Shoal was different because we were dealing with a huge frying range, a back kitchen and a front kitchen. Design wise everything had to be pretty, it had to look great, work efficiently and be quiet enough for it to be an open kitchen.”
HCE’s project management skills and vast experience really came into play when designing the back kitchen, as Lenny explains: “We designed the back kitchens with Rational combis iVarios – which is a massive pressure cooker – so we needed HCE’s design skills to fit everything in. In addition, making fresh gelato everyday was something we had never done before and HCE really helped us to work with the Carpigiani guys which was really helpful.”
Creating a kitchen that can cater for large volumes requires multiple highly skilled teams and HCE seamlessly delivered, with Lenny adding: “They aren’t just kitchen fitters, they will design it for you.”
HCE 02380 271010 www.hce-catering.co.uk
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