Diners are treated to an imaginative culinary journey, with the menu including dishes such as pine-dipped fried reindeer moss, and an elaborate wild duck platter. “There’s a lot of technique in our recipes,” says Mr Martin. “But it’s all focussed on the taste, rather than just the technique.”

The focus on innovation and originality extends to every aspect of the restaurant’s design. Mr Martin worked with CHR Food Service Equipment to create a kitchen as innovative as the food it would produce. To begin with, Mana showcases an open plan kitchen concept with no barrier separating the chefs from the diners.

Mr Martin explains: “When you’re able to see exactly who you’re cooking for, and see their reactions to your food, it completely enhances the dynamic between the chefs and diners, and it’s fun for diners to watch too, of course.”

As well as this, the kitchen is also divided into temperature zones. “Each of the dishes we prepare has specific storage requirements for its individual ingredients,” says Mr Martin. “It’s not just about what we do with our produce when it hits the pan or gets in the oven; how we store the ingredients can have a huge effect on the dish’s quality. So making sure we had the right refrigeration equipment was a very important part of the design process.”

The need to have flexible refrigeration equipment is why Mana uses equipment from Precision. “Once we started comparing what different brands could do, the choice was simple.”

After careful consideration of Mana’s requirements, CHR and Mr Martin chose three of the HPU153 three drawer under counter units.

Alongside the rock-solid temperature control system for which Precision is famous, the customisation it can provide was a big part of the appeal. The Precision under counters at Mana are painted a powder-coated matt black, allowing them to blend in with the rest of the design of the restaurant. All Precision products can be matched to any RAL number, making it simple to create a unified design.

“Diners are always asking about our décor, and the refrigerators have definitely got their fair share of attention,” says Mr Martin.

The other customisation for the fridges at Mana consisted of having them fitted with drawers. There were several reasons for this, explains Mr Martin: “Firstly, they’re more space efficient; the drawers are much less likely to get in people’s way as they move around the kitchen. Secondly, with our temperature segregation scheme, drawers make it much easier to categorise and store ingredients according to our requirements.”

Another part of the refrigeration requirements at Mana involved installing a VUBC 121 variable temperature drawer in an Eco-Chef unit, a self-contained integrated cooking suite designed by CHR. The one at Mana is the largest made so far, and had to be customised to fit in with the rest of the equipment. The VUBC 121 unit allows for ingredient storage, right where chefs would need it.

“It’s obviously useful to have refrigerated storage even in the hot section of the kitchen. Precision was great at finding the exact right product we needed.”

The food at Mana is made with the finest British produce. Mr Martin concludes: “We put in a lot of effort making sure we find the best British ingredients. Similarly, we wanted to make sure we had the most reliable, robust equipment in a professional kitchen. Precision’s equipment is very high quality, and it’s also good to know we’re supporting British manufacturers when we buy them.”