Flagship venue relies on Rational to keep standards high
The Royal Foresters is a pub, restaurant and hotel in Ascot, owned by Oakman Inns, a family owned group with 25 venues. It purchased the Royal Foresters in 2016 and began a modernisation programme soon after, which saw the construction of a modern, stylish restaurant attached to the sympathetically restored Victorian bar. Ross Pike, Oakman Inn’s chef director, explains the ethos. “We’re very easy going here, we want a relaxed environment regardless of whether you come dressed up to the nines or more casually.
“Our menu draws inspiration from Mediterranean cuisine, we try to keep things simple but with big flavours,” says Ross. “We’re open from half seven in the morning to eleven at night, 365 days a year. Picking the right equipment is vital, we’ve got to know it can work at our pace.”
Oakman Inns has Rational SelfCookingCenters in every one of its venues. “Obviously I was aware of Rational before I joined Oakman,” says Ross. “But since I’ve been here I’ve really discovered what the company’s cooking appliances are capable of.” Since the Royal Foresters was being designed as Oakman’s flagship venue, Ross wanted to ensure it had the best equipment available. “Adding a Rational VarioCookingCenter (VCC) just seemed like an obvious choice!”
Rational’s VarioCookingCenter (VCC) and SelfCookingCenter (SCC) are capable of replacing a wide range of traditional appliances. The VCC combines the functions of tilting pans, boilers, deep fat fryers and more, while the SCC can roast, grill, bake, steam, stew and poach food.
“While we’ve got strong Mediterranean influences, we’re still a British pub,” says Ross. “So serving a great roast dinner on Sunday is vital – it’s about 20% of our weekly business.”
“The SelfCookingCenter is superb for that, we put beef and pork in there on Saturday night and set it on a twelve hour cooking program. It comes out amazingly tender and moist,” says Ross. “Perfectly cooked every time!”
This consistency is down to Rational’s advanced control systems. Both the VCC and SCC have a comprehensive range of pre-programmed recipes installed, which can be fully customised via the simple to use touchscreen. Internal sensors constantly monitor the food’s conditions and adjust to take account for changes, which ensures perfect results every time.
“Consistency of results is fundamental,” says Ross. “We work out all the variables of our menu in our development kitchen first. Once we’ve got it locked down, we can make accurate estimates of the costings – from staff time to energy use, which makes planning a lot simpler.”
Conor McKinney, the Executive Head Chef of the Royal Foresters, is a Rational enthusiast too. “For example, the VCC heats up much faster than a regular pan, and it retains its temperature far better once you start cooking. There’s no worry about any fluctuations causing the food to burn, you can program what you want and know that’s exactly what you’ll get once it finishes,” he says. “This means that we can get on with other work, without having to constantly stand over what’s cooking.”
Both the VarioCookingCenter and the SelfCookingCenter are easy to clean. Conor is enthusiastic about the ease of cleaning the VCC, “There’s not much to it, there’s no awkward nooks or crannies in the pans for food to hide in, just slosh some water into them and wipe down, very easy.”
It’s a similar story with the SelfCookingCenter, says Ross. “Cleaning the SCC is so easy. You just drop the tablets in, start it off and give it a quick wipe down once it’s finished, and it’s as good as new and ready to go again.”
“The VCC also reduces extra cleaning by streamlining the prep,” says Conor. “With traditional equipment you’d need multiple pots and pans to get everything ready, and then to transfer the food between appliances. Using the VCC basically removes most of that from the equation, which saves so much time and bother, along with storage space.”
When introducing modern equipment into a professional environment, training is vital. “Rational are particularly good with the support they provide,” says Ross. “Every time we’ve opened up a new kitchen they’ve come to the premises and helped train up the team. They make it easy to understand and learning all the tips and tricks helps enormously.”
Conor agrees. “It’s good to know that if we have issues we can get them resolved the same day in most cases.” “The training provided is superb – being able to keep discovering new things about equipment that you’ve been using every day, for years, really brings home the power Rational adds to our kitchens!”