Ross Shonhan chooses luxury refrigeration for Lilibet’s seafood restaurant.

Lilibet’s invites you to imagine what might have been if fate hadn’t intervened and a young Queen Elizabeth II, born at No. 17 Bruton Street, had instead inherited her grandparent’s home, hosted cocktail parties and society events, and regaled friends with stories of her travels. Inspired by Mayfair’s heritage, Lilibet’s is timeless, elegant and a little bit of fun with treasured keepsakes from faraway places layered alongside recent pieces to create a truly memorable dining experience.

Every dish is served with finesse, and with seasonality and sustainability in mind. Ross Shonhan explains, “We’re a seafood restaurant on an island that has some of the best seafood in the world,” so their offerings are sourced “from Scotland… and when the weather is turbulent there… from Devon and Cornwall.” All their vegetables, beef and pork are also sourced locally from small farms.

Ross Shonhan modestly introduces himself as a restaurateur and cook who began his career 30 years ago washing dishes in a butcher’s shop in Australia. But Ross’s love for food has taken him from working as Executive Chef at Nobu in Dallas, to Zuma London, and on to create the iconic Bone Daddies. Since then, Ross has gained global respect as a restaurateur and now, with Lilibet’s, we can clearly see his passion lies in creating unique and memorable experiences for his guests.

When asked why he chose Precision refrigeration equipment for Lilibet’s, Ross confessed, “When I started building my own restaurants, I had a lot of bad experiences… budgetary constraints… second hand [equipment]…. and had other brands of refrigeration, and I realised quite quickly the pain outstripped any short-term financial benefits. I heard of Precision, probably 10 years ago, it was put to me that they were the best… so I started buying Precision and the honest answer is I’ve not spec’d anything else since.”

Ross has built the kitchen at Lilibet’s for his chefs that he never built for himself, with products that have been on his wish list for years. For example, Precision Refrigeration’s wall cabinets and variable temperature drawers have always been thought of as “a bit of a luxury.” From a cook’s point of view, the HWU211 wall cabinets are “quite practical, [keeping] everything refrigerated at high level and [increasing] refrigeration capacity without increasing your footprint.”

As well as the VUBC121 stacked variable temperature drawers, the kitchen has MCU211 and MCU311 counter refrigerators in thoughtfully considered configurations of doors and banks of three drawers to ensure maximum efficiency in each section. “Those things can make a big difference to how good it is for the team to work in that environment,” says Ross, “and in this day and age kitchens have to be good places to work.”

Precision’s refrigeration solutions also play a key role front of house in enhancing the guest experience, with BBS1850 upright chillers for water, BBS900 bottle coolers behind the bar, as well as GFS600 frosters to ensure martinis and champagne are served in perfectly frosted glassware, and dedicated freezers for ice blocks for Lilibet’s signature cocktails.

The original house at 17 Bruton Street was unfortunately demolished and converted into an office block in the 1930s, so Ross worked with the landlord to transform it into a proper restaurant space. He explains, “I had to design it far in advance of even contemplating building it and worked with an independent kitchen design firm called CKP. They weren’t wedded to any brands and could give me great solutions to the problems that I had. They’d always recommended Precision historically, and did for this project, but,” he admits, “it wasn’t really a question. We knew we were going with Precision.” Ross sang the praises of CKP, who, in his opinion, went “above and beyond” for Lilibet’s.