Chef Trip Launches Qook! In The UK

Eight leading chefs participated in a comprehensive two-day trip to Holland to mark the official launch of the Dutch premium kitchen suite brand Qook! into the UK hospitality market.

The event was organised by Qook!’s sole UK distributor, Peterborough-based KFE, in conjunction with manufacturer QBTEC, based in Woerden, Holland.

Chefs on the trip included Adam Smith, Woven by Adam Smith, Ascot; Eric Snaith, Titchwell Manor, King’s Lynn; Jason Wass, Stein’s Group, Cornwall; John Molnar, The Cod’s Scallops, Nottingham; Laurence Henry, The Martin’s Arms, Colston Basset; Lenny Carr-Roberts, Bugle Inn/The Fox, East Sussex; Mark Poynton, Caistor Hall, Norwich; and Simon Hulstone, The Elephant, Torquay.

Qook! is the leading brand of premium commercial kitchen suites in Europe, supplying high-end restaurants and hotels in Holland, Belgium, Germany and France. Its custom-made suites are manufactured from the highest quality, 5mm thick stainless steel and can be configured in wall or island configurations, in round or square designs, and without any joins for a flawless finish.

Qook! suites can incorporate any combination of equipment from worktables and sink units to extractor hoods and advanced cooking solutions such as deep fryers, warming drawers and convection ovens, to deliver a fully equipped kitchen tailored to professional requirements.

What sets Qook! apart is its ability to provide a cohesive solution throughout the kitchen. From the workstations to the chef’s pass, the same high quality finish and unmistakable Qook! design is applied, ensuring synergy throughout.

Day one featured visits to the Michelin-starred restaurant Inter Scaldes in Kruiningen, where chefs enjoyed a personal tasting menu from head chef Jerome Achtien and a private tour of the kitchen, including the Qook! suite. The next stop was Pesca, a unique seafood concept in Rotterdam, where customers buy their fish at market prices from the fishmongers, choose their sides, and a unique menu is created.

After a night of rest at the boutique Van Rossum Stadshotel in Woerden, chefs embarked on a tour of QBTEC’s state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities to witness the skill and expertise that goes into every custom-made Qook! suite. A final stop at fine dining restaurant Calva in Nootdorp saw chefs participate in an interactive workshop with master chef Tom Beckers, cooking a range of dishes including steak, cod and oysters on an Adieu grill built into a Qook! suite.

Commenting on the trip, Adam Smith, Head Chef at the Michelin-starred Woven at Coworth Park, says: “The Qook! kitchen we saw at Inter Scaldes is the sort of kitchen that all chefs dream of. It has everything you could want for and was absolutely beautiful. It’s obviously a restaurant that's aiming to be at the absolute top of the league of the gastronomic scene and it was special. It's very, very impressive.”

Discussing the opportunity to design a bespoke Qook! kitchen suite, Adam adds: “When you want to operate at the elite level and you want to work in restaurants that aspire to have fantastic accolades and be busy, with all cooking there is no rulebook. You choose how you want to work, and everybody will work slightly differently. To have that opportunity with Qook! to design something bespoke for yourself, to have the expertise and the knowledge of people who do that for a living all the time, I think is fantastic.”

Nikki Williams, Sales Director for Qook! by KFE, comments: “It was an amazing trip to Holland and it was great to see the chefs’ reactions to the superior quality of Qook! equipment. We are excited to bring Qook! to the UK and to introduce a new standard for commercial kitchens.”

Qook! is distributed in the UK by KFE, a trusted leader in foodservice equipment since 1996. Find out more here: www.qookbykfe.kitchen