Chef Chris Barratt at the Pub Deluxe, Galvin Hop

THE VENUE IS AMAZING – THE PERFECT BLEND OF OLD FASHIONED LONDON AND MODERN CITY SLICKERS WITH A DASH OF STEAM PUNK THROWN IN CREATING A WARM, INDUSTRIAL GLAMOUR THAT MEANS NO MATTER WHERE YOUR EYES REST, THERE’S ALWAYS SOMETHING CAPTIVATING TO LOOK AT.

For those that don’t already know, Galvin Hop
is the flagship of the newly-formed Galvin Pub Group on Spital Square next door to La Chapelle. Galvin HOP is a Pub Deluxe where the reshest craft beer rubs shoulders with simple but innovative pub food of the highest quality in a relaxed and vibrant environment.

A soon as we met Chef Chris, his infectious enthusiasm for his job, the venue and (praise the lord!) his Synergy Grill was instantly visible and didn’t abate for our entire visit.

We learnt how the team make everything from scratch each day at Galvin Hop – even the crisps and the popcorn. It’s a these little touches and extra effort that give the venue deep rooted character for every one of the senses.

“HAVING USED THIS I THINK IT’S THE NUTS. I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY DO. THERE’S NO REASON FOR ME TO SAY THIS. IT’S JUST REALLY GREAT.”

“IN THE MORNINGS IT’S INCREDIBLE… IT TAKES ME LONGER TO GET THE HOOVER UP AND DOWN THE STAIRS THAN IT DOES TO CLEAN THE GRILL.”
– Chef Chris Barrett

here’s what chris had to say about his synergy grill
“In the mornings it’s incredible. I come in, get Henry the Hoover out and give it a quick whip round. It takes me longer to get the hoover up and down the stairs than it does to clean the grill.” “It’s interesting too because it doesn’t kick out phenomenal heat.
You can have your hand over it and it’s not too hot.”

“I put salmon on the grill and we bar mark it both sides. It marks beautifully.”

“Like I say, I’ve got nothing to do with these guys. It makes no odds to me if this grill works or not. Having used this I think it’s the nuts. I really, really, really do. There’s no reason for me to say this. It’s just really great.”

After a positive meeting, we had coffee, juicy chargrilled steak cooked on Galvin Hop’s.

Synergy Grill (naturally) and sampled Galvin’s Hop’s infamous hot dogs served with fresh Maille truffle mustard.

The ‘dogs’ lived up to their glowing reputation – devilishly tasty, somehow retaining that authentic hot-dog taste whilst ‘Michelin-Starred’ up to a transcendent new hot-doggy level. Don’t try to think about what that tastes like; it will break your mind… pop down to Galvin Hop and try one instead.

The boys from Rib & Burgers swing by Synergy

Sunday brunch was recently a topic of hot debate as we seethed with jealousy and distain for Simon and Tim. Not just because they’re Simon and Tim but because they were sampling an entire table full of ribs and we were jealous. very jealous.

They were just sampling the usual pork ribs but lamb and beef too – all slathered in scrumptious looking sauce. ‘They get paid to do eat ribs’. I thought. ‘This is their life’.

Just a few weeks later we were standing in our newly refurbished demo kitchen. Our Marketing Manager’s face and hands were covered with rib sauce. It was in our new Sales Manager Carl’s beard, it was in our Ops Manager’s hair. It was even up the newly painted kitchen walls.

There’d been no accident or gas mishap, nor had we succumbed to a childish food fight or an argument. This is what happens when the boys from Ribs & Burgers, part of the Seagrass group, swing by to test out our Synergy Grills and bring a truck load of meat with them. It’s the sign of enjoying your food; really enjoying your food.

“(SYNERGY).. REFLECTS THE GRADED PREMIUM SELECTION OF OUR BUTCHER’S MEAT, THE RETENTION OF THE FLAVOURFUL AND NATURAL JUICES DURING THE GRILLING PROCESS AND THE EXPEDITIOUS DELIVERY OF TENDER, TASTY MEALS THAT OUR CUSTOMERS DESERVE”
– George Stathakopoulos

“THE GRILL IS THE HEART OF OUR KITCHEN OPERATIONS.”
– George Stathakopoulos

DESPITE HAVING SUCCESSFUL RESTAURANTS ALL OVER AUSTRALIA AND IN THE USA, THEY HAVE VENTURED ACROSS THE POND TO OPEN A NEW SITE IN TEDDINGTON, LONDON. HOW LUCKY ARE WE THAT THEY’VE BROUGHT THEIR RIBS TO GOOD OLD BLIGHTY!

Eating them isn’t a dainty affair but we’re not precious and wowee these ribs are tasty! Pork, beef and lamb ribs put the grill to the test, some with dry rub, some with a sticky sauce made from a secret family recipe. It really was the sauciest of sauces.

With a contented smile on my face I realised we were living the Sunday Brunch dream. Then steaks came out, then the burgers. This was better than the Sunday Brunch dream.

Their philosophy that: “We believe honest food and genuine hospitality can help feed a better world.
So muster up some mates, place your order, grab yourself a table, order a drink and relax while we prepare your food fresh to order.” Is an actualisation of the boys’ natural demeanour which combined with their secret family recipes simply must be the
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key to their success. Here’s what George Stathakopoulos, Managing Director of Seagrass for the UK has to say about the Synergy Grill:

“The grill is the heart of our kitchen operations. It’s an integral component of our product and service offering that reflects: the graded premium selection of our butcher’s meat, the retention of the flavourful and natural juices during the grilling process, and; the expeditious delivery of tender, tasty meals that our customers deserve. This is precisely the reason why we have specified the Synergy grills for our casual dining restaurants.”

Head chef Stevie Robson at The Cookhouse, Suffolk

The Cookhouse is situated in an area of outstanding natural beauty at the Suffolk food hall in Ipswich. All dishes are made on-site using locally sourced ingredients, however the team decided to revamp their menu with a succulent new grill. We caught up with head chef Stevie Robson to find out what’s occurring.

Chef Stevie Robson commented: “The restaurant has been open for four years. The business spent £3 million converting the old silage clamp which used to be here when this was a working farm.”

And what a building it is! The restaurant itself is set in a well-designed barn overlooking the river with an open view of the kitchen and vegetable boxes and milk churns carefully positioned around the place.

The rest of the complex offers cookery courses, Pilates lessons, a butchery selling their very own Red Poll beef, a from scratch bakery, home and garden centre and an artist’s studio. All set under the beautiful Orwell Bridge – everything good your soul needs all in one place.

From The Cookhouse restaurant Stevie heads up the kitchen which looks out over the River Orwell, the landmark Orwell Bridge and nearby paddocks where the cows graze. To the right sunlight glitters on the river, tiny white sails balanced on top of it as they head to the river mouth and into the green hills on the horizon. It’s not a bad spot for a restaurant and their ethos is pretty cool too:

“We want to cook really good quality meat that’s either our own or locally sourced, cooked really simply.”

As well as being a family destination during the daytime, The Cookhouse’s new grill and burger nights open up their premises so new groups of gastronauts can make the most of the beautiful food and soak up the views during long summer nights.

Stevie explained, “We had the idea for our new grill and burger nights but when we started cooking beautiful meat on our old grill, it didn’t do it justice.”

“There are so many things I like about the Synergy Grill such as the ease of turning it on and off.

When you compare that to lighting charcoal every morning, it seems ludicrous. Because it is only one consistent temperature all the time, you don’t have to worry about maintaining the temperature of the charcoal.

In addition to all that work you’ve got to adhere to much stricter fire regulations and it pushes your insurance premiums up.”

It saves a lot of money

“Synergy Grills save so much money in gas. Gas and electricity are our two biggest overheads so anything we can do to save on that is a massive bonus.”

“Now we’ve got the gas savings, we’ve got the  ease and we always knew were going to get better results because we’d seen them for ourselves already.”

The perfect caramelised steak

“The one thing we couldn’t get on our steaks with our old grill is a slightly caramelised, almost golden crust on the outside. When you cut through it, you want it to be really soft in the middle with an almost crust on the outside. That was the one thing our boss, who is a steak fanatic, was really looking for.

I purposefully cooked a steak on the SG630 at the demo and it was exactly what he had hoped for.”

It’s so easy to clean

“We come in and give the Synergy a quick hoover, put the shelves on and we’re good to go. Within 10 minutes of arriving to work, it’s ready to put on. The kitchen porters absolutely love not having to clean the fat tray.”

Burgers are much juicier

There haven’t been any negatives about the  Synergy Grill. We have burger nights once a month and a few people have even asked if we’ve changed our burger recipe because they’re so much juicier.

Beachside Grill at Saunton Sands

WE HEAD TO DEVON TO TALK TO THE LAID-BACK & LOVELY BEACHSIDE GRILL AT SAUNTON SANDS

Beachside Grill is part of a larger hotel complex called Saunton Sands, it’s the type of art deco, seaside establishment Hercule Poirot would visit for some sea air and R&R to ‘stimulate the little grey cells’ with an old fashioned sense of class and charm. A well-dressed doorman greets you on the way in and as you round the door to reception, the Tardis that is Saunton Sands unfolds before your very eyes.

Saunton Sands is more resort than hotel with two swimming pools, a spa and a club for kids. The hotel has a fine dining restaurant with the formality of cruise ship dining and a less formal Lounge but they aren’t what I’m here for. I’m here for dining option number three: Beachside Grill.

The final dining experience is in a separate building from the hotel. You leave the set of Hercule Poirot, walk past a manicured lawn, through a white picket fence and down a hill towards the beach (yes, it is really as delightful as it sounds) until you arrive at the surf shack style Beachside Grill overlooking the sea. This restaurant couldn’t be more different to the formal dining experiences of the main hotel. Here, you can work up an appetite surfing the Devon waves, ditch your surfboard and re-fuel at this laid-back beachside restaurant. The relaxed, uplifting sounds of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and George Ezra drift into the air whilst the décor is comprised of colours and textures that mimic the surrounding beachside in beautiful speckled ceramics, driftwood and the odd nautical touch. There’s something calming about being surrounded by people that seem content with life and when you look out over the view of the sea with a glass of wine in hand, you realise why. This is what the staff at Beachside Grill emanate. They’re a Hell of a lot of fun, generous in humour as well as extremely kind… and boy do they know about food!

Grilled lobster, lip smacking sirloin steak, marbled and juicy ribeye, seabass, halloumi, chargrilled veg, grilled seabass and grilled jumbo shrimp warm your cockles after a day on the waves. It’s surf and turf heaven.

“SYNERGY AND THE BEACHSIDE GRILL WORK HAND IN HAND FOR THE STYLE OF SERVICE WE’RE DOING AND THE FAST TURNOVER OF CUSTOMERS WE HAVE HERE IT’S LIKE IT’S MADE FOR US.”

– Dez Turland

BEST OF ALL, THEIR MEAT AND FISH IS LIGHTLY SMOKED IN THEIR HOME MADE SMOKER & THEN CHARGRILLED ON A SYNERGY GRILL – AN APPROACH TO GRILLING THAT NO OTHER RESTAURANT IN THE OFFERS.

I caught up with Dez Turland, Development Chef Saunton Sands and Jake Bawn, Head Chef Beachside Grill to find out the ethos behind the restaurant as well as find out what they think of their Synergy Grill.
Why choose Synergy over other grills on the market?
Jake – Size really. With the volume of customers we gethere, it can be quite busy. We need a grill that can cope with the pressure of it and our Synergy Grill is perfect.
Has anyone noticed you’ve switched grills?
Dez – Everyone knows we’ve got one down here now. We based our entire place around the Synergy Grill.
Is it reliable?
Jake – It’s the most reliable bit of kit I’ve ever had.
Dez – Here it can be quiet one minute and the nextminute we’ve got 100 covers in so we need somethingthat’s reliable, easy to maintain and easy to clean at theend of a busy day.
What are your plus points about your Synergy Grill?
Jake – We’ve got an SG1300 which has three burners. We like that the burners turn on independently. In themorning we usually turn one or two on and then stickthe third one on when it gets busy. It only takes about15 minutes to heat up.
Dez – It’s really easy because when you get busy there’sno waiting to light charcoal. We did look at variousoptions when we were choosing a grill. The idea ofthe Beachside Grill was a grill restaurant with a newidentity. We looked at different types of grills. Synergy came out top. It ticked all the boxes for everything we want which is quick, instant heat, great flavours,easy maintenance, easy service and a good price which always pleases the bosses. It’s not as expensive as other grills. One we did look at was double the price and it wasn’t practical to put it in. Synergy ticked every single box for us.
Has it helped business?
Dez – Our Synergy Grill provides a faster cooking time. The quicker you cook something, the higher theturnover of customers, the more you can do which keeps the bosses happy. If you’ve got a grill that takes an hour to get hot and once it’s hot it takes longer to cook something on and then all of a sudden there’s a queue of people all wanting steak, you’re introuble. The quicker you can get those steaks cookedand get the tables turned over the more profit we make. Plus high heat and great gas consumption means our bills are lower.
Jake – It’s not like we do two services for a few hours at each time, the grill is on from 7am until 9pm which was again, not mentioning the brand we looked at but with them you had to put in the charcoal, light it up and they would only burn for 3-4 hours and you have to keep topping it up, turning it over. It wouldn’t have really been practical and I think it churned out 450 degrees of heat which would’ve made our kitchen insanely hot.
Dez – We looked for something that was appropriate for what we were doing and Synergy was the best on the market. Synergy and the Beachside Grill work hand in hand. For the style of service we’re doing and the fast turnover of customers we have here it’s like it’s made for us. We could carry on looking for a grill for 5-10 years and I don’t think we’d find a product that suits us better.
AT THE END OF THE DAY, WE’VE GOT CUSTOMERS THAT COME BACK AND BACK AND BACK. WHAT COULD BE BETTER?

As Hercule Poirot would say, ‘Bon!’.