Margot Henderson’s Shoreditch Sanctuary Shines

New Zealand-born Margot Henderson’s Shoreditch establishment, Rochelle Canteen, which she co-founded with Briton Melanie Arnold 17 years ago, is reviewed by the Evening Standard’s chief restaurant critic, Jimi Famurewa.

“Here, beyond the hidden buzzer entrance, were smiling-eyed servers, a cross-generational bohemian crowd and the familiar clatter of a professional kitchen opening up the throttle,” Famurewa writes. “Here, above all, was warmth of every description, cooking touched by a quiet, calming cleverness and, across the next two hours or so, a comeback lunch of artfully cultivated, all-weather brilliance.

“Tactile, sensuous dishes are another lodestar for Henderson and longstanding head chef Ben Coombs.

“There was perfectly matched wine, too (a crisp, inhalable François Crochet Sancerre from the mostly French list) and, finally, a pudding that set this already unforgettable meal off into some unseen upper stratosphere. It was a square of warm, butterscotch-soaked gingerloaf –with the thinnest little scrim of a crunchy crust.

“There is sanctuary and magic within Rochelle Canteen’s walled kingdom.”

Original article by Jimi Famurewa, Evening Standard, April 14, 2021.

Photo by Daniel Hambury.