“From a business point of view, the RATIONAL delivers an ideal solution. Customers want consistency, over time we have built up a reputation for good quality food. Our equipment needs to deliver that and the RATIONAL SelfCookingCenter® does.” - Oliver Paul, director
The Suffolk Food Hall shows how far the concept of a farm shop can be taken and how successful it can be. The food hall comprises of a farm shop, garden centre, traditional butchers, artisan bakers, fine wine merchant, fishmonger, deli, cafe and restaurant.
The site is situated in stunning scenery at the edge of the Orwell River near Ipswich and the restaurant has panoramic views over the Orwell Estuary and its bridge which is over a kilometer long. We are proud of our operation and since the site opened in 2007 we have won several awards including the Best Local Food in UK & Ireland 2011. The new Cookhouse building has been designed to be a flexible space, which can be used for private dining, receptions and educational visits.
The restaurant has 135 covers and the building can cope with up to 220 customers. On Fridays and Saturdays it is also open for dinner, as well as event catering and supplying food for the onsite cafe. We needed a solution that could offer flexibility and consistency.
Head Chef Mark Knowles formerly at Wembley Stadium, had used RATIONAL before, so when the new kitchen was being specified he knew exactly what he wanted. Once you have worked with RATIONAL you don’t want anything else. The SelfCookingCenter® is in use throughout the day says Mark Knowles.
There is no other piece of cooking equipment that is so versatile. We use it for roasts, Yorkshire pudding, fish cakes, onion tart, desserts …. You name it. We use the new Efficient LevelControl® function for our breakfast, we can cook everything at the same time in the unit; bacon, sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms and even fried eggs. It can do the whole lot in less than 6 minutes. In our restaurant style bistro/brasserie we sell a lot of meat, especially beef, much of which comes from our own herd of Red Poll, the native Suffolk breed. Our on-site butcher gives us some unusual cuts for example feather blade of beef. We slow cooked this overnight in the RATIONAL SelfCookingCenter® and it came out beautifully succulent, says Mark Knowles.