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| Hake, Monk's Beard & butter sauce at Rochelle Canteen |
I've written about Rochelle Canteen before but, hard as it is for me to believe, that was almost three years ago. I liked it very much then but now Anna Tobias is in charge of the kitchen and cooking so beautifully that I have to take you with me on a return to Rochelle.
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| Confit Duck Leg with Lentils at Rochelle Canteen |
It's not the easiest place to find. You're looking for a former bike-shed in an old school yard with walls too high to see over. You do a circuit, or two, of lovely Arnold Circus and look for a door set in the wall marked "Boys". Press the bell and you're buzzed through to the partly-lawned yard. It's a space that used to echo to the cries and laughter of the children of the surrounding Boundary Estate. These days the school has retrenched to a building diagonally across the Circus and the old Victorian brick building has a new lease of life housing arts and media businesses and exhibition spaces. Rochelle serves as a "Canteen" for them and for those intrepid good-food hunters amongst us who don't mind sharing bare tables and, sometimes, high decibel levels.
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| Hake with laverbread butter at Rochelle Canteen |
Head Chef, Anna Tobias, arrived at Rochelle Canteen in 2013 from Rose Gray and Ruth Roger's The River Cafe. Anna's cooking stays true to the style of Rochelle's owners - Margot Henderson and Melanie Arnold - but there's a new confidence and a particular sympathy in the handling of fish. You can expect 5 starters and 5 mains. There's often a dish of rillettes or a terrine; maybe smoked cod's roe or brandade; when the season is right there may be a perfect plate of asparagus with hollandaise or samphire with brown shrimp. Mains might be a gutsy Rabbit Stew; a Smoked Eel, Leek and Parsley Pie; maybe some Sweetbreads; a vegetable-based option or two; and, possibly, a simply cooked Sole or Fillet of Pollock. Vegetables are highly valued - some of the veg, as well as herbs, are grown in raised beds in the schoolyard. Puddings are often classics, so you might find a Lemon Posset; an Eton Mess; a Chocolate Tart; or their might be a Lemon Sponge Pudding.
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| Apple Fritters with Caramel Ice Cream at Rochelle Canteen |
On recent visits I've enjoyed a bowl of Brandade with a soft boiled egg and sourdough toast; a Crab and Little Gem Lettuce salad; a perfectly cooked fillet of Hake served with Monk's Beard and butter sauce; meltingly tender Confit Duck leg with lentils and watercress; another fantastic piece of meaty Hake, this time with laverbread butter; sweet/sharp Apple fritters with caramel ice cream; an Apple Galette with vanilla ice cream; and a heavenly Rhubarb trifle.
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| Apple Galette & Vanilla Ice Cream and Rhubarb Trifle at Rochelle Canteen |
Being located in a former school, Rochelle Canteen is restricted to opening for breakfast, lunch and tea Monday to Friday only. Restrictions also mean there is no drinks licence but you can take a bottle with you and pay a very reasonable £5 corkage charge. Handily you can pick up a bottle at Leila's Shop, a half circuit of Arnold Circus away on Calvert Avenue.
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| Turkish Coffee Cake & Espresso at Rochelle Canteen |
Rochelle Canteen
Rochelle School
Arnold Circus
London E2 7ES
Tel +44 (0)20 7729 5677
