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Roganic: it just keeps getting better

9/3/2012

6 Comments

 
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Roganic is a remarkable restaurant offering original food delivered by a talented chef and vibrant front of house team. On our reader survey page, Roganic was voted as the best London restaurant opening of 2011, beating Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in to second place (with Pollen Street Social third). It's not just us then who think Roganic is special.

Roganic, deemed a two year pop up on opening, is now about 8 months into its two year term and we've been lucky enough to eat there several times over that period. Setting a remarkably high standard from the first day it opened, our meal there yesterday nevertheless confirmed that Roganic just keeps getting better and better. 

The 10 course tasting menu (£80) is completely fantastic, but with all the little extras, they don't count the pre-dessert as a course for example, it's around 15 courses all in all. As we ponder the meal, we find it truly remarkable just how much effort goes in to every service. The attention to detail, the sheer number of ingredients that are used through the meal, the technique, the plating, it delivers the wow factor with every dish that arrives at the table, which is some achievement. 

But there are two more things that are even more remarkable: first, how original the menu is, you will never EVER get a 'me too' meal here, and second, just how Ben Spalding and team do it, putting out a menu of this quality night after night with only a small team in a small kitchen. Of course, hard work is a major contributing factor into making this meal what it is, but there's passion too and it's evident in every plate. We'll never get tired of saying what a brilliant talent Ben Spalding is in the kitchen and how he is currently producing some of the most interesting stuff on the London food scene today. Of course, as the diner, all you have to do is sit back and enjoy it.

Again, the menu is too extensive to go through dish by dish, so we've pictured it below for your viewing pleasures. Discussing the meal as we went and after, the usual 'what's your favourite dish' question comes up but it seems impossible to answer: the 52 hour braised Longhorn short rib is to die for, but there again, so is the langoustine wrapped in pig skin. Other 'sea' dishes include razor clams with fennel and squid toast which was divine, while huss (also known as the spiny dogfish) was magnificent. And vegetables? How about Spring King Leek baked in clay served with a bacon sauce?

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Sourdough cracker and horseradish cream
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Corned beef croquette, mustard mayonnaise, pickled carrot, apple and edible petals
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Jerusalem Artichokes cooked in soil overnight, malt and Crown Prince juice
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Langoustine wrapped in pig skin, carot, artichoke, buckthorn and stonecrop
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Caramelised cauliflower, sour cream, raisin, roasted lettuce and pennywort
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Poached and grilled King Oyster, pine, beetroot and coastal sea leaves
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52 hour braised Longhorn shortrib, parsnip, scurvy grass and smoked redcurrants
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Iced ginger beer
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Warm Bramley cake, liquorice curd, walnut and pink lady sorbet
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Yorkshire rhubarb, dried caramel, natural yoghurt and iced lemon thyme
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Marmalade cake, popped candy and fresh mint
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Savoury custard, pear puree, ginger crumb, atsina cress
Service is friendly, knowledgeable and enthusiastic, provided by a group of ever lovely people: @jonjcannon, @watermelonchang (Sandia), and @jacksettle1. 

A final summary hardly seems necessary, this was a stunning meal. Roganic, brilliant form the start, has got even better. If you have yet to go, time is running out (sort of), and you really don't want to miss it, you'll be kicking yourself.  



Return to homepage

Reader Survey

previous post: Tuddenham Mill

Related links

Roganic Website 

Roganic July 2011

Ben Spalding on Twitter

Ben Spalding dinner at CC 
Roganic on Urbanspoon
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6 Comments
Karohemd link
9/3/2012 06:05:47 am

I need to win the lottery so I don't have to spend my days working and instead going to more restaurants.
What is the scored parcel in one of the smaller photos?

Reply
thecriticalcouple
9/3/2012 06:10:58 am

the scored parcel is the leek wrapped in clay. what you're seeing there is the outside of the clay parcel.

Reply
chunk
10/3/2012 01:34:47 am

do you guys always use flash on your photography? I think that is what causes all the images to have that clinical, unnatural and cold feeling to them

Reply
thecriticalcoupe
10/3/2012 01:47:49 am

on many of the posts the flash isn't used. Roganic was a dinner late evening, it was dark and flash was the only viable option. pushing the ISO to the max is an option but leaves images that need to be extensively photoshopped giving unnatural colour tone as seen in the Bleeding Heart post where three of the four images are done that way.

Reply
Andrew link
10/3/2012 03:41:29 am

What's the iced ginger beer? It looks like an empty glass ... Or is it just a little bit of frozen ginger beer?

I always like seeing photos of Roganic: it's fun spotting all the tableware (inc the tables) re-cycled from L'Enclume.

Reply
thecriticalcouple
10/3/2012 08:57:23 am

iced ginger beer - it does what it says on the tin. however, it is translucent so can look like an empty glass.

Reply



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