So in my new year post I may have mentioned I’m a bit of a foodie. Well ok – we went to quiet a lot of restaurants last year as part of an year of celebrations at both having the same birthday with a zero at the end of it!
The first one of the new year was on Friday. A special occasion, being married for 17 years to the long suffering Mr Off the Hook (Mr OTH from now on), who puts up with copious amounts of wool and hooks all over the house (in exchange for wires and electrical gadgets).
A new restaurant opened in London on Tuesday the 9th January, and us being super efficient, I received an email and forwarded it onto Mr OTH who booked in for our anniversary, only 4 days later!
Where? Well it’s called Roganic, It’s Simon Rogan’s name, but the head chef this time is Ollie Marlow, as Simon is cooking at L’Enclume in Cumbria, which we are yet to visit but its definitely on a list. We’d met Simon Rogan about a year ago, when we had dinner, again for our anniversary at his London restaurant at the time Fera at Claridges.
Ollie we were lucky enough to meet when we went to Aulis – a great restaurant a couple of months ago, where we also met James the General Manager, and the Operations Chef, Harry. Aulis is very different as you eat in the kitchen, only 8 seats, and can chat to the chefs as they are working and see how the food is prepared.
But onto Roganic, the great thing here was we walked into the Restaurant, and James saw us and immediately recognised us and greeted us with an “I know you”. He came over to take the drinks order, and was great at remembering who we were, he made us feel very welcome.
We were there about 4 hours, with lots of beautiful looking food arriving at perfectly times intervals. A wine flight for Mr OTH, and Sancerre for me.
Here is the meal in photos.
Check out the wax seal too!
We could have waited until the end to open this, so each dish was a surprise, but the temptation was too much!
Drinks while we waited,
Before we started on the many courses of the menu.
Which also came with creamy cheesy mash with duck hearts and a duck leg terrine.
The food – its all about the food at restaurants like this. The food was delicious. We both had our favourites, mine being the celeriac and then the halibut, then the caramelised apple. Mr OTH loved the artichoke, and the burnt milk. All in all the food was amazing. Exactly what we’ve come to expect from a Simon Rogan Restaurant. The combination of in season ingredients and inspired cooking was evident.
We’ll be going back!
