Birthday lunch at Roganic!!

It was my birthday on Sat and my loving hubby planned a wonderful day out for me! The weather was perfect too as the sun was out with a cool breeze so it wasn't too hot. (Yes, thought I grew up in Singapore, I somehow can't take the heat! haha) First up was lunch at one of the most exciting restaurant in London at the moment, Roganic. This was followed by a musical, Dreamboats and Petticoats then dinner at the always yummy Bincho Yakitori. 


It was our first time at the 2 year London popup, Roganic and it's always exciting to visit a new restaurant especially after reading rave reviews about it!!! We also recently watched owner and chef Simon Rogan win the North West heat in the Great British Menu and he has been called the most innovative chef in the country at the moment so these all added the level of excitement!! They are still considered a popup at the moment at they are in the midst of looking for new premises so we may get to see an even prettier restaurant in the near future! 

When we first stepped into the restaurant, we were greeted by Richard, the smiliest Maitre D ever!!! I'm not kidding as I've never seen a Maitre D smile that much before and it feels as though he's your good friend. Throughout our meal, Richard and his team provided very friendly, quick yet non obtrusive service. Definitely a job well done! The restaurant, on the whole, has a very relaxed feel about it which makes for a very comfortable dining experience. 


There's a choice of 3 menus, 3 courses(£29), 6 courses(£55) or 10 courses(£55). As we had a musical to catch, we decided that 10 courses would take a little too long and so decided on the 6 courses menu. 


A few minutes after placing our order, we were served 2 amuse bouches. Rosemary crispbread with Goats cheese and Hay smoked Pork belly balls. I could really taste the smokiness infused into the Pork belly and that together with the goats cheese thoroughly excited my palette and prepared it for what was coming up!!

Rosemary Crispbread with Goat's cheese

Hay smoked Pork belly

 A selected of homemade bread rolls and sensational Roganic experience began..

The carrot 'soup' has combination of different textural flavours that simply dances in the mouth.

Carrot with ham fat, tarragon and pickled celery

Next up was a very intense mushroom broth, balanced with a mild tasting buffalo curd.

Mushroom broth with buffalo curds, salsify and water mint

Sea scallops cooked to perfection, combined with some very interesting tasting seaweed

Sea scallop, oyster, seaweed and watercress

One thing that Roganic does very well is to put together texture and flavours that compliments each other. Saltiness of the Lemon sole, creaminess of the bone marrow, tartness of the roasted tomatoes, chewiness of the buckwheat all works very well together in a single mouthful. 

Lemon Sole with smoked marrow, roasted bone sauce, nasturtium and buckwheat

The Herdwick lamb is another case in point. This strong tasting lamb is nicely mellowed out with the creamy sweetbread. I really enjoyed this dish, but my hubby on the hand felt found the lamb a little too intense as he didn't like the texture of sweetbread and rather not eat it. Without it, the dish wasn't as balanced as it should have been. Chefs put a lot of thought into every dish usually every ingredient, no matter how small, plays an important part in pulling a dish together. 

Herdwick lamb flank, sweetbread, hedge garlic and velvet caps

The dessert was superb, and definitely showcases the rhubarb! It was really refreshing and just right as it was hot outside.

Rhubarb with meadowsweet, cream cake and sweet cicely

And then we thought we were done but no.... they still had a little more up their sleeves. 
Along came the Douglas Fir milkshake and lemon curd donuts. I've seen Doughlas fir being used on TV before but have never tasted it so it was a very nice surprise to taste this fragrant pine flavoured milkshake.

Douglas Fir milkshake and Lemon curd donut

There was then the White chocolate coated chocolate bourbon biscuit parfait that brought the meal to a very sweet ending.

Even with the high expectations we brought along to Roganic, we were not disappointed and constantly amazed with beautiful plates of food, burst of flavours that was truly a sight and taste extravaganza! 

We'll definitely go back for the 10 courses when the menu changes and hopefully make it to his other restaurants, L'enclume and Rogan & Co in the Lake District in the very near future!

Roganic

19 Blandford St

London

W1U 3DH