Charlotte’s W5

Restaurant Kitchen
Ealing Broadway, London.

Quality, provenance, sustainability and value are foremost at this restaurant

When we were asked to design and install an open kitchen for Charlotte’s W5, the third restaurant in Alex Wretham’s highly successful group, the project was a little more challenging than the previous two that Nelson had also supplied.

This, the latest restaurant, is a large, mainly naturally lit, space with the entire kitchen completely open to the restaurant area. Therefore, very careful consideration had to be given to the equipment so that residual cooking odours didn’t permeate the atmosphere and that the heat generated by the equipment was minimal. As Charlotte’s W5 is open for breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner from 8.00am right through until 11.30pm, this was vital.

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Working closely with Alex and his head chef, we came up with a design based entirely on electric equipment. The main cook line, on the back wall, centres on two bespoke induction suites, separated by a pair of stacked combination ovens. On one side, the induction top is inset with a fryer, slider and plancha grill while, on the other side, the induction hob includes a slider, three plancha grills, a sous vide water bath and a further inset fryer. A third combination oven and two rise and fall grills complete the main run of equipment.

The pass is even longer than the cook line as it mirrors the back wall in length before curving back on itself. Beneath the countertop are several fridges including two drawer-style models, a freezer and a hot cupboard.

To maintain the clear, symmetrical look of the pass, a uniformly spaced run of twenty one lamps hangs overhead. However, although they all appear identical, eleven are heated while the remainder are ambient thus, effectively, splitting the pass into cold and hot zones.

Preparation and dishwashing are confined to a large upstairs area, also kitted out by Nelson, and accessed by two discreet lifts – one for soiled crockery and pans and the other for prepped food and cleaned items.

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