Sheffield teacher recognised with Oxford award for being an ‘inspiration’ to students

With facilities worth £3.5 million, gadgets most chefs can only dream of utilising and views across the city centre, the sky-high Hallam View may also be the best equipped.

“When I was in the industry I would have loved half of this”, said senior lecturer and former chef Norman Dinsdale, as he oversaw a busy lunchtime service where hospitality students learn how to run a restaurant.

“I used to be the executive chef at Lords cricket ground, we served thousands of people every day. The use of these machines would have cut costs and we could have done so much more.

“It’s probably the best equipped kitchen in Sheffield as well (as being the most little known) .”

Those machines range from gleaming ‘self cooking centres’ utilising steam, dry heat and both to cook almost any dish, to live canapé stations. Cheeses lie maturing in a fridge while a different piece of kit can separate solids and liquids, for use in intensely flavoured soups and sorbets. Other toys include a new food printer.

“You can put in chocolate, marzipan or pasta and it will print what you want”, adds Norman. “We’ve brought in some of the local chefs to have a go and they have been in awe.”

The Star was invited behind the scenes for the Feast of Fish, one of five restaurant sessions run by the students as part of the hospitality management and business management degrees, where university staff and visitors could enjoy three courses for £8.

The benefit to level five students is in learning how to manage a busy restaurant scenario, from costings to cooking. Other recent events include a separate pop up public restaurant with renowned chef Max Fischer from Michelin starred Fischer’s.

Despite a brief backlog of orders, there were no major clangers, with impeccable service and well presented food, from the warming fish soup packed with crab to the ginger flavoured crème brûlée. Away from the restaurant, students were busy on the other side of the business, research.

Teams are working with major supermarkets on projects, including one to reduce the amount of sugar in chocolate digestives by 20 per cent. Their recipes were being put to the test in a special sensory suite, where tasters mark their thoughts on an iPad.

The students had created 200 digestives for the cause.

How many had they eaten, though? “Far too many”, was the answer.