REFRIGERATION SPOTLIGHT
Williams brings reliability to Mandarin Oriental Mayfair
Whatever the menu, without reliable refrigeration, food service falls apart. For operations like Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, London, a fi ve-star hotel with a choice of superb restaurants and bars, refrigeration requirements are vast, and the range of necessary equipment is formidable.
“We hang and dry the ducks for 21 days, it gives you really crispy skin when you cook it, and the meat is very tender. We also have beautiful Welsh whole saddle of lamb, also aged for 21 days. The fl avour works really well with Korean ssamjang sauce.”
F
rom multiple coldrooms, refrigeration drawers, blast chillers, a dry meat ager, freezers, counters and cabinets, a trusted brand with a proven track record was needed for
the hotel’s ambitious kitchen project, which started pre- pandemic and was completed in the spring of 2024. That brand was Williams Refrigeration. The Galgorm Group carried out the work, and the consultant on the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair project was Humble Arnold Design. Mandarin Oriental Mayfair’s food off er includes its main
restaurant, Akira Back, which blends Japanese and Korean cuisine in mouth-wateringly creative dishes. It’s the fi rst UK venture of internationally acclaimed and award-winning chef Akira Back and has a separate sushi kitchen on full display to diners. Meanwhile, Dosa is the hotel’s new fl agship fi ne dining experience: a Korean restaurant limited to 14 seats in an open kitchen. There is also a lounge bar, a rooftop bar, and in-room dining available to hotel guests. It all adds up to about 800 covers, from breakfast to dinner. The entire operation is kitted out with Williams refrigeration. Jihun Maxime Kim is the executive head chef of Dosa and
Akira Back and is in overall charge of the culinary operations at Mandarin Oriental Mayfair. Like many chefs, he was drawn to the commercial kitchen through that underappreciated route: washing up. He took on a job as a waiter in a restaurant in Seoul, and when the kitchen porter failed to show up one day, Jihun had no choice but to step in. “I really liked the immediate reward; you feel like you saved the world,” he says. “That was the moment I had a ‘click’ with the kitchen, and I’ve really loved it ever since.” From there he went to culinary school in San Francisco,
followed by stints with many high-profi le chefs around the globe. London is his ‘eleventh city,’ and he says it’s one of the most competitive F&B markets in the world. “It’s almost chaotic.” When it comes to refrigeration for running a successful catering operation, for Jihun, it starts with reliability. “I want to sleep at night and come back to work without any surprises!” he says. “Refrigeration in a commercial kitchen is the most important factor in running a safe and successful restaurant operation. As well as being reliable, refrigeration has to be easy to clean, to make sure food safety is controlled. Also, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group globally is very focused on sustainability, so energy effi ciency is important.”
30 February 2025 •
www.acr-news.com
There are several coldrooms installed in the hotel, allowing for the safe storage of food and beverages, as well as the separation of diff erent types of foods. The coldrooms are water- cooled, rather than using the more conventional air-cooled systems, with pipes running between fl oors of the building and connecting to the hotel’s plant room. “The coldrooms are very important to receive goods and maintain freshness and quality. Having a viewing panel is useful for seeing what’s inside so we can minimise the frequency of opening doors.” Williams off ers multiple options with its coldrooms, such as bumper rails, internal release and foot operated doors, to help streamline a kitchen’s operations. The hotel coldrooms have ramps to make it easy to move trolleys around. There is also a separate coldroom to house refuse bins. “I
think it’s important to have a coldroom for refuse if you have multiple venues. It protects from biological hazards and contains smells.”
Download the ACR News app today
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
