Rochelle Canteen
Rochelle School
Arnold Circus
London E2 7ES
Background: One of the inevitable consequences of moving to a new city, or country
even, is that your existing friends and family try to set you up on friend
dates. On one such occasion, when my
mother and her friend connected their daughters ‘who were looking for friends
in London’, I met up with a girl who had been living in London for no less than
8 years, thinking she was helping out a newcomer (3 years deep). That relationship was not meant to be and I
believe our respective relationships with our mothers suffered as well. It does happen every so often that you are
connected by someone else and it just works.
In London it has happen three times, this particular time it was my
step-brother Lopo who put me in touch with Rachel, a foodie, setting up her own catering
business who is a super cool East London chick and we ate a great, simply meal
together and just chatted and chatted forever.
The plan was to meet in Shoreditch, no small task in the snow (this post
is about as current as the January snow storms), at a place called Rochelle
Canteen. I took the Hammersmith and City
line, which means it’s a miracle I made it all, and even found the restaurant
which is located in a schoolyard behind a wall with no sign (further indication
that I am a genius).
The Meal: The menu is simple and to the
point. The ambience is no
different. No nonsense. We were there for lunch, ordered starter and a
main (see why I like this girl), we split the Oxtail Soup and the Roast
Sirloin & Horseradish. Oxtail
soup is one of those menu items that I cannot get enough of.Though how I try, I cannot not order it. The most popular way of serving it is usually
in a consommé type broth, though usually more robust in flavour than a typical broth, with a dumpling
or something with some of the meat. This
was not that. It was Osso bucco in a
soup; hearty and soulful, truly not what I was expecting but really
delicious. The roast beef, was well
roast beef. But perfectly cooked, the way you wish most of the roast beef you
will ever have would be cooked.
For the main course, Rachel
chose the Braised Faggot & Peas
and I went with the Black Bream, Leek and
Green Sauce. Being a prudish
American I could never order a meal called Faggot but it was very good and not
at all what I was expecting. I have always been under the impression that the non-pejorative term meant a bundle of sticks, therefore I was, perhaps foolishly, expecting a bundle of something rather than basically one big meatball. At New Year’s I resolved to eat more fish,
this was one of my inaugural meals and I was not to be disappointed. The skin was perfectly crispy while the flesh
was tender and moist. As for the sides,
well you might comment on a sort of lacklustre colour profile going on, they were
the best that the dead of winter will lend to a restaurant trying to source
local and in season food.
For desert (yep, it was
that type of meal) we split the Prune
& Almond Tart. Since childhood,
I have avoided the prune like the plague associating it with regulating one’s
tummy. My views have now shifted. For a dried fruit it still holds onto a bit
of the succulence of the original fruit and the combination with the almond was
great.
Closing Thoughts: Rochelle
Canteen, tucked away in a school yard, serves good solid fare. It was a pleasant excursion from West London
and a great casual place to meet a new friend.
Also its BYOB with a £5 corkage fee.
Silverware: Fittingly school
canteen like
Silverspoons: 8/10
Damage: Don’t she paid,
but I am guessing pretty reasonable
