We have a new stove!

I may be slightly over excited about getting a new stove. However, as you know, a lot of changes are happening to The Oxford Blue, including the redesign of the pub itself and with that, the installation of my new kitchen. With the stove having been made, and the building work beginning imminently, it means that my dream of creating a pub-restaurant of my own is becoming a reality.

So let me tell you a bit about my stove.

We’ve been working very closely with Clive Groom of CNG who is re-designing the kitchen for us, who in turn got us in touch with Stephen Hobbs at Grande Cuisine Ltd who recommended Athanor to us.

Steven and The Stove
– Chef Proprietor Steven Ellis
The Athanor factory is a small company based in Lyon, France. They build bespoke and tailor-made cooking suites for the world’s top chefs. This month I decided to take a trip to the Athanor factory to meet the team and learn a bit more about what they do to make these highly sought-after stoves.

The business has been open for around five years and its owner, Djamel has extensive knowledge in making custom-made cooking suites. He has made stoves for some of Britain’s top chefs such as Tom Kerridge, Andrew Pern and Jason Atherton in the past and now he has made one for me.

Every purpose-built stove Djamel and his team make is handmade. Their service is very much consumer-focused, which made it a great experience collaborating with them.

When I arrived I was greeted by the owner, Djamel Debousse, who has helped me in the design of the stove, and with our combined efforts and experience, the stove is both practical and efficient for the day-to-day running of The Oxford Blue. The item has been purposely made for the pub, which will make the kitchen procedures a lot more sufficent.

The stove itself is fully electric and will not be dependable on gas at all, thus making it much more user-friendly, which makes it more efficient than a gas stove.

I am very pleased with how the stove turned out and am very impressed with the skill and creativity of the team at the Athanor factory and would like to say a massive thank you to Clive Stephen and Djamel who have been indispensable in the making of this creation.

I can’t wait to be cooking on it very soon.