Nice to know you
My second, and sadly, my last ever visit to Roganic. (First visit here) The two years pop up finally came to an end with all tables booked up months in advance, Simone Rogan has created such a stunning little pop up restaurant in Blandford Street, I was so glad I managed to get hold of a table to experience his top notch British cuisine one more time.
This time around we went for the 10 course menu, the menu had completely changed from my last visit which I think is essential for a top end restaurant, you work with what is fresh and in season rather than a fixed menu. Below are the stand out dishes for the evening in text:
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| amuse bouche 1 |
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| amuse bouche 2 |
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| bread |
First course of peas and sugar snaps with calamint show the ability of how vegetables can create such an outstanding dish, the peas were fresh, lightly sweetened along with the sugar snaps and held together with the peppery calamint. It was simple but full of flavours. Light and refreshing, a great dish to kick off the menu.
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| peas and sugar snaps with calamint |
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| beetroot dumplings |
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| carrots and ox tongue |
The best dish of the evening was raw mackerel in coal oil, youghurt and rye. How the kitchen came up with such an amazing concept?! The fresh and juicy mackerel covered in coal oil produced such a tasting sensation, the smokiness from the coal oil really worked well with the fish. The youghurt gave it a touch of softness and the rye added a little extra in texture and earthy aroma, exceptional.
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| raw mackerel in coal oil |
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| scallop with turnips |
Pollock in brown butter, smoked roe and fennel was another beautiful dish, it was Pollock at its finest. Perfectly cooked using water bath, soft, sweet and moist. Cut like butter but retaining the delicate texture of a piece of pollock. The smoked roe added a tiny hint of smokiness and blended perfectly with the butter.
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| Pollock in brown butter, smoked roe and fennel |
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| Pugh's piglet |
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| Strawberries with sweet cicely |
It was a truly memorable evening, the food was just so innovative but at the same time managed to keep all the essential flavours and characteristics of British ingredients. If Roganic wasn't a pop up, without a doubt this place could easily pick up a Michelin star if not 2, food here is right at the top compared to all the other 2 star restaurants in London. Staff were wonderful just like last time, warm, kind, very knowledgeable and know how to engage customers. They spoke with so much passion and enthusiasm for the business, Simon really has eyes for talent and knows how to look after them, he is clearly one of the best the UK has to offer and I just can't wait when he returns to London. Goodbye Roganic, you will be missed.
Food 8
Service 7
Ambience 4
Value 7
£120 per head with 2 glass of wine
19 Blandford St, London,
Greater London W1U 3DH
www.roganic.co.uk
Tom, it was a fab meal wasn't it. Summer produce has an underlying sweetness and the fresh mackerel with coal oil was a good contrast with the previous dishes. I liked the new potatoes with onion ash and lovage emulsion for the same reason. Lovage has a celery-curry flavour which is delicious, it's a same we Brits don't use it so much in our cooking.
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