A place of useful resort

Athanor installation at the City of London club.

A place of ‘useful resort to those of known respectability in the City’, the City of London Club has been providing comfort to its members since 1832. The oldest of the London clubs, its notable members have included Sir Arthur Wellesley – the Duke of Wellington – and Sir Robert Peel.

Thanks to a refurbished kitchen overseen by SHW Design and Implementation and a new Athanor cook suite from Grande Cuisine, the club continue to provide hospitality for its members for years to come.

Located on Old Broad Street in the City, mid-way between Liverpool Street and Bank stations, the City of London Club enjoys a range of facilities including meeting rooms for business, banqueting suites, private function rooms and a City roof terrace. The sedate and decorous building was saved from the bulldozer by listing in 1974 and restored to past glories in 1980.

According to early minutes of the club, it offers the “convenience of procuring refreshments with comfort”. That is still the order of the day now. Executive chef Adrian Matthews helps deliver a range of dining options to the Club’s members and their guests.

Adrian Matthews has held the position of Head Chef at the Club since 2004. He sources and cooks the best of British produce that the seasons have to offer. He serves a varied selection of both classical and modern British Cuisines with game being hugely popular with the club members.

To maintain its exacting standards of cuisine, the club recently refurbished its kitchen with the help of design consultants SHW Design and equipment suppliers, Grande Cuisine. As part of the re-design, a bespoke cook suite from Athanor was specified.

The Athanor bespoke peninsular cook suite helps to maximise work flows in a relatively tight space. It allows Adrian to precisely manage workflows around three sides. This configuration also provides the optimum balance between storage, work area and functionality; creating storage and cooking space without disrupting workflows around the kitchen.

The peninsular cook suite comprises four Plaque Athanor twin zone plancha / cook plates which can be used as both a solid top heat source or as a direct cooking surface for meat, fish and vegetable items.

Two cast iron lined pass through roasting and services ovens add maximum flexibility to the range. Also included is an integrated multi cooker unit for chaufont cooking, steaming or bain marie.

In addition to the Athanor suite, Grande Cuisine supplied two table-top induction hobs for the ancillary areas of the kitchen and two quick-therm salamander grills – one mounted on above the range and the second in an ancillary service area.

The new range is complemented by hot drawers to give added flexibility during service for holding items at the optimum temperature for service. The Club’s chefs can now deliver enhanced banqueting and dining options for members and their guests.

Athanor is an ideal solution for high-quality kitchens. For more information on how Grande Cuisine can assist you in developing an award-winning commercial kitchen call us today on 01908 745540.