Simon Rogan puts the Rogan in Roganic. The joke aside, that might mean something to you or it might not; for us, as we've said a number a times already on this blog, it means a lot since we think that Simon Rogan is the most talented chef in the UK today. For sure, we are huge fans of former Head Chef Ben Spalding (see our March 2012 post here), but following Ben's departure, Simon has spent more time in London in the Roganic kitchen culminating most recently in a whole new menu. We needed no further incentive to re-visit Roganic despite having been there just over a month ago.
While Roganic has always been termed the sister restaurant to the award winning L'enclume, Simon's redevelopment of the Roganic menu takes the restaurant just that little bit closer to it and since L'enclume is our favourite restaurant in the UK, there should be little surprise on anyone's part that we found the new menu at Roganic exceptional. It is worth noting too, and we've said it before in our recent L'enclume post, that Simon has increasingly built a highly accomplished team around him that includes Roux Scholars Mark Birchall and Dan Cox. In turn, this means that there's a deep talent pool to draw on for L'enclume and Roganic maintaining the standard for both restaurants at all time.
Foodwise at Roganic, much is familiar to the returning diner: there's a couple of little amuses including a brilliant smoked pork and eel croquette, and first class breads which have been changed now to include onion & thyme and wholemeal & ale alongside the long standing favourite pumpernickel, while the butter, a product of Cartmel, is exclusive to Rogan's restaurants. It's bread that you really could enjoy all day but with the full tasting menu to follow, it didn't seem wise to fill up too early. There's milkshake and a doughnut at the end too.
In between though, the menu is signature Rogan: well known and familiar ingredients perfectly done (there's five flavoured monkfish, lobster, lamb), the farmed and the foraged (meadowsweet, coastal herbs, hedge garlic, sweet cicely) and the funky (a golden egg filled with chicken sauce, beef tongue in coal oil, dehydrated sponge). Most importantly though, non of it is simply for show, or indeed showing off, it all works on pretty much every level: the technique, the flavours and the sheer joy of the meal. Our meal at Roganic was today, as we have found all of Simon Rogan's food to be, faultless.
The pictures below tell the story.
While Roganic has always been termed the sister restaurant to the award winning L'enclume, Simon's redevelopment of the Roganic menu takes the restaurant just that little bit closer to it and since L'enclume is our favourite restaurant in the UK, there should be little surprise on anyone's part that we found the new menu at Roganic exceptional. It is worth noting too, and we've said it before in our recent L'enclume post, that Simon has increasingly built a highly accomplished team around him that includes Roux Scholars Mark Birchall and Dan Cox. In turn, this means that there's a deep talent pool to draw on for L'enclume and Roganic maintaining the standard for both restaurants at all time.
Foodwise at Roganic, much is familiar to the returning diner: there's a couple of little amuses including a brilliant smoked pork and eel croquette, and first class breads which have been changed now to include onion & thyme and wholemeal & ale alongside the long standing favourite pumpernickel, while the butter, a product of Cartmel, is exclusive to Rogan's restaurants. It's bread that you really could enjoy all day but with the full tasting menu to follow, it didn't seem wise to fill up too early. There's milkshake and a doughnut at the end too.
In between though, the menu is signature Rogan: well known and familiar ingredients perfectly done (there's five flavoured monkfish, lobster, lamb), the farmed and the foraged (meadowsweet, coastal herbs, hedge garlic, sweet cicely) and the funky (a golden egg filled with chicken sauce, beef tongue in coal oil, dehydrated sponge). Most importantly though, non of it is simply for show, or indeed showing off, it all works on pretty much every level: the technique, the flavours and the sheer joy of the meal. Our meal at Roganic was today, as we have found all of Simon Rogan's food to be, faultless.
The pictures below tell the story.
Onion biscuit with nettle cream and shallot jam
Smoked pork and eel croquettes
onion & thyme, wholemeal and ale, pumpernickel
Burnt cream of English mushrooms, ramsons and cheese drops
Grown up egg yolk from the golden egg, celeriac, sorrel and garlic cream
surprise! inside the egg is chicken sauce
Spring broth with carrot dumplings, sea kale shoots and pearl barley
as above
Beef tongue in coal oil, mustard, turnip tops and onions
Crispy seaweed mashed potatoes, ham hock, wild leek and fennel
Cornish lobster, oyster, apple, pickled kohlrabi and coastal herbs
Grilled salad smoked over embers, truffle custard and cobnuts
Five flavoured monkfish, razor clams, vinegar and hazelnut
Herdwick lamb flank, sweetbread, salsify, hedge garlic and velvet caps
Sweet cheese, water celery, artichoke and malt
Rhubarb with meadowsweet, cream cake and sweet cicely
Rowan shoot milkshake with lemon curd brioche donut
Bourbon biscuit ice cream lollies
When we finished our meal, we were in agreement: Roganic is the most exciting restaurant in London currently in our view and it's the best restaurant in London currently. For those unable (or unwilling) to make the journey to Cumbria to eat at L'enclume, Roganic was always the next best thing but following the new menu, it's now closer than ever. Perfect.
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Related links
Roganic website
CC post Roganic March 2012
CC post L'enclume
Return to homepage
Related links
Roganic website
CC post Roganic March 2012
CC post L'enclume
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