ROGANIC – 4 is not too many!

The first food adventure of 2019 is ROGANIC! You know that saying – ‘‘two isn’t enough, third time is a charm but four too many’’? Well, I’ll tell you now, this does not apply to any restaurant belonging to Simon Rogan! My food affair? yes people, I am in a food relationship with Simon Rogan (PERIDOT!) Long may it last! This is the fourth time we have eaten in a Simon Rogan Restaurant. Listen! I have fallen in food love with this man all over again! At Roganic locally sourced produce is turned into mouth-watering delights. You know the chef about to come correct when you are served entrees like pumpkin based snacks with fermented pumpkin and pear juice. Your meal is about to be LIT.

The waiter gave us the sealed dinner menu for the 11 courses + wine. it’s kinda the norm in Simon’s restaurants. Neal and I reckon it’s a tactic to heighten your anticipation for the meal and so far, it has worked for us! You can open the menu before your meal or at any time during the meal, but what is the fun in that? It is pretty cool when the waiter and / or chef tells you about a dish you are about to tuck into.

We have realised that with every food adventure, there is that one thing that makes an experience special. A feeling that is etched in your memory and Simon Rogan’s restaurants always gives us this feeling! At Lenclume it was the ’55 bottle of red wine that accompanied cheese selection plus Simon (the man himself), shaved the truffles for one of the dishes (SCORE!!!!).  Rogan & Co was their breakfast spread, Aulis was having Chef Mel create and serve experimental dishes right before you! How can I not be in food love with this man? How??!!!

Roganic is the only other restaurant that serves the best bread; (aside from restaurant Feel Como and La Pentola) FACT! Yep! you read right, the bread here is unforgettable. We normally don’t have bread in restaurants because it can sometimes be a hit or a miss – either the bread is too hard, the butter too little or something! When I tell you the bread in Roganic is lush, it is LUSH!!! It is baked fresh in the kitchen, comes out looking liking a muffin – soft on the inside peppered with oatmeal and honey accompanied with butter so good that when you take your first bite you literally sigh!

Can I just say chicken skin is the BOMB! This is the second time having it in a restaurant. The first time was two years ago, when Simon Hulstone had a pop-up version of his restaurant – The Elephant at roof top garden John Lewis on Oxford street. Simon literally served us fried chicken skin aka crackling with sour cream and boi it tasted soo good! I was converted and made into a believer, alleluia!

Chef Goose took this concept even further by serving his chicken skin with a layer of thinly sliced carrots and cod roe. Do me a favour please? dig into your memory bank of fried chicken skin, you there? Yes? Now combine that taste with carrots and cod roe, still there? Bingo! kinda hard to visualise or imagine the taste from combining these 3 things ingredients right? I promise you, these WERK in a harmony of flavours! The cod roe and fatty taste of the chicken skin was the perfect base for the sweet tasting carrot slices.

The lamb belly and pudding was a surprise, we didn’t expect it to be on skewers! same with the mushroom, yeast oil and cured yolk, this was served in a broth!

Neal has the gift of the gab when it comes to pork belly – he knows it, cooks it and enjoys eating it. There was a huge grin on his face when the pork belly course was served. Pork belly can be served in a variety of ways – sticky barbecue sauce, dry with crispy crackling skin, a side of seasonal vegetables, stuffed. Chef Goose served his pork belly with beet root and sunflower! Did it work? Hell YES! The beetroot and sunflower were made into a kind of puree sauce which was served as a dollop on the top of the pork belly skewers and voila, pork belly on steroids! The other courses were equally delightful – artichoke, quail egg &rosemary, mackerel with cabbage and mussel, dry aged Cumbrian beef (so good), celeriac, whey, malt lamb belly and pudding.

The desserts though? We were given 2 utterly delicious desserts – tunworth, hazelnut, cranberry and chamomile, pear, verjus both accompanied with a glass of Gelber Muskateller wine. You already know how I feel about the muscat grape! To bring this meal to an end, some tea and petit fours. I mean come through chef Goose!

Like I said, 4 is not to many!

Cheers

Ndidi & Neal

P.S If you happen to be an eager beaver like we were and get to the restaurant way too early, opposite the restaurant is a nice coffee / farm shop called Daylesford farm. Their organic masala chai tea is exactly what you need before all that expected deliciousness in Roganic. Let me know if you give it a go.