For two people who run restaurants closely linked with the creative and art worlds, Margot Henderson and Melanie Arnold aren’t too hot on branding. The duo behind Rochelle Canteen in Shoreditch don’t like to shout about their presence. In fact it’s possible that you will have walked past their original site on numerous occasions without even knowing of its existence, given the fact that it occupies the space of a former bike shed at Rochelle School and you have to ring a doorbell to gain entry.
And so it is with their recently opened second canteen at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) on London’s The Mall, another creative space to have adopted the pair’s gutsy and simplistic style of cooking. There’s no mention of it on the doors to the art gallery – strict rules govern what signs can be put up along the queen’s driveway – and no helpful signage directing you to it once you’ve crossed the threshold. One wonders whether Henderson and Arnold actually want any customers.
Yet they do, and they have them. On a Tuesday lunch a week into its launch, the bright space overlooking The Mall is bustling with people, the majority of whom are tucking into a rather delectable pheasant, prune and trotter pie. If the original Rochelle Canteen was London’s worst kept secret, then the cat is already well and truly out of the bag about its new sibling. That said, the pair are under no illusions as to the challenges they face with their low-profile venture. The Mall is a very different place to Shoreditch and while flying under the radar in what has become a very foodie area of London might have been to their advantage when they opened there in 2004, they admit that they can’t expect the same thing to happen this time round.
“You’ve got people in Soho running around going to Bao and Xu and every other new opening and god knows if they are going to come down here,” says Henderson. “Maybe. Shoreditch is like Soho, it’s very foodie, but it’s less so down here. The game plan is that people will want to come and have lunch at the ICA rather than just eat here because they’ve come to the gallery.
“She’s just down here,” she adds, pointing towards Buckingham Palace and the seat of our monarch. “I’m desperate to send her [the queen] round a roast chicken. She can have it on the house.”
The move to The Mall
So why The Mall for the second iteration of Rochelle Canteen? Wouldn’t somewhere a bit edgier than the queen’s front garden be better suited to a low-key restaurant such as this.
There are myriad reasons, the pair explain, not least the continued link with the art world. In Shoreditch, Rochelle is part of a creative hub, with the school’s former classrooms and old gymnasium home to a thriving community of artists and creative industries, and with the ICA this tradition of feeding the art world continues.
“This is a great fit for us because of our connection with the art world – we’ve worked with it for a long time,” says Henderson. “They are our friends and they like our food. They eat out a lot and they enjoy simplicity; they don’t want to eat anything too fancy and so they appreciate what we do.”
A kinship with the art world aside, the ICA also provided some compelling business reasons as to why the pair should choose it for their second spot. Henderson and Arnold say they had been looking for site number two for some time, but that high rents and business rates for standalone sites had proved prohibitive. With their new place the pair have gone into partnership with the ICA, which funded the kitchen build (“we have a Rational oven,” says Henderson proudly”) and which takes rent payments from them. “It’s meant to be a win-win situation,” says Henderson.“We put the people in, benefit from the space and the great address, and they benefit from having a good food offer.”
What really makes Rochelle such a good fit, however, is the catering side of the enterprise. The restaurant is also responsible for the catering of events being held at the gallery, whether it be for Bryan Ferry’s birthday party, launches or even weddings. While this bolt-on aspect would have most chefs running for the hills, catering has long been part of their mix via their Arnold & Henderson events catering arm.
“Catering is a major part of our business,” says Arnold. “We’re used to running a restaurant and catering and understand how the two link and help each other. It’s a good combination.” This side of the business also gives Henderson and her team the chance to cook beyond the seasonal British food for which Rochelle is known. From Indian and Venezuela cuisine - “I’ve discovered that I’m pretty good at empanadas,” says Henderson – to Asian and Lebanese, the team has already cooked a wide variety of food for the gallery’s clients.
Ahead of the curve
With their art gallery space, Henderson and Arnold are part of a movement towards improving the quality of the food and drink offer in creative spaces. Other recent examples include The Other Naughty Piglet, a restaurant on the first floor of The Other Palace theatre in Victoria and The Bridge Theatre by London’s Tower Bridge, which has food supplied by St John (run by Henderson’s husband Fergus, see The art of food – three creative places that take their food offer seriously).
“Food is an important source of revenue for a lot of galleries, so they got used to trying to get as much as possible from the restaurant spaces in there without worrying about quality,” says Arnold, who welcomes the fact that more and more places are now moving away from this approach. “These have tended to be brands that could afford to be in there and which have economies of scale. [The ICA, however] took a punt on us being smaller.”
When Henderson and Arnold do something it’s worth taking note. The pair have been at the vanguard of a number of key movements in London’s – and indeed the UK’s – food scene over the years ever since they worked alongside their husbands at the hugely influential The French House in Soho. The pair worked there together after Henderson’s husband Fergus and Arnold’s husband Jon Spiteri left to open St John with Trevor Gulliver, cooking the kind of no-frills food that is still so popular today.
When they eventually moved on themselves in 2004 they went east to Shoreditch, well before it became the foodie hangout it is today. Rochelle’s communal seating and family-style service was also well ahead of the curve.
At their new restaurant, feasting is less of a theme, with the menu broken up into four parts. First there’s snacks, including bread; olives; rillettes and pickled cucumber; and radishes and smoked cod’s roe, followed by starters such as fried sprats with tartare sauce; harissa quail and aioli; and celeriac soup and back fat. Mains include the aforementioned popular pie as well as mussels and chips; fennel sausages with polenta; and a Barnsley chop with purple sprouting broccoli and anchovy.
Indeed, not much has changed in the pair’s approach since The French House days. “When we were at The French House people wanted to change the way they were cooking,” says Henderson. “They wanted to cook in a more simple way and only use a garnish if necessary. It was very good timing for us as it was the end of nouvelle cuisine – Alastair Little had started this move, but Fergus took it a step further – and people were fed up with boning everything out.”
Dishes from The French House and Rochelle Canteen’s early days still prevail, such as quail. “When we started in Shoreditch we were just serving soups and salads and a few quails – it’s always good to start with quails on the menu – and they have stayed,” says Henderson, who adds she is just biding her time before she puts the boiled ham and parsley sauce served at The French House on the menu at the new Rochelle Canteen. “I also want to do the prune and almond tart soon,” she adds.
A changing scene
Rochelle Canteen might be an oasis of consistency in a fast-moving restaurant world – with Henderson and Arnold sticking to what they know – but they are appreciative of how the industry has changed since they started out.
“There’s some impressive things going on in the industry,” says Henderson. “There were impressive restaurants when we were younger, but they were more classic and old school than now. Today people are looking deeply into where they come from and who they are and focusing on one thing. It’s exciting times for the restaurant world.”
They are also very aware of the increased competition now on their doorsteps, either in Shoreditch or up the road in Soho. “It looks like restaurateurs have all been at restaurant design school,” adds Henderson. “Restaurants are much slicker now, they look slicker. There’s a lot of people who are really enjoying being restaurateurs now. When we were younger you did it because you couldn’t do anything else. Now people set out to work in restaurants as a proper career choice.”
As experienced hands, do they feel distant from this more modern breed of chef and restaurateur? On the contrary, they are embracing it. Rochelle has become a true family enterprise, with Arnold’s son Fin heading up the bar and Henderson’s youngest daughter about to embark on a stint on the pastry section. “It’s exciting to have your family around you – but it feels very old fashioned,” says Henderson.
Indeed, family has always been a part of Rochelle Canteen’s story. Henderson and Arnold both had three young children when they first opened in Shoreditch and were accustomed to having them around. How did they manage juggling motherhood with running a restaurant?
“I wasn’t in the kitchen the whole time, I couldn’t have been,” says Henderson. “We’ve always had chefs. I love restaurants and I love cooking but I can’t do every night with hundreds of dockets coming in, I just start freaking out. When you’ve got three children you’ve got to drop everything for them. In a kitchen people rely on you and that’s a difficult thing to do, which is why you need other people.”
And how have they managed to stay friends and business partners for all this time? It’s partly down their division of labour, with Arnold taking a more operational role while Henderson is more involved with the food, but also to a love for being on the other side of the hospitality business.
“We go out and get drunk,” says Arnold. “If you can go out for a few drink drinks and then bang on at each other it’s always good for communication. And we don’t always get it right and then we have to go out and get really drunk. [Then] it works.”
The art of food – three creative places that take their restaurants seriously
Gallery Cafe – Manchester Art Gallery
Former chef at highly-rated restaurant Aumbry, Mary-Ellen McTague took over the food offer at the cafe in Manchester’s Art Gallery in June this year. Working with not-for-profit community interest company Real Junk Food Manchester, which makes use of that would otherwise go to waste, McTague creates a daily changing menu of healthy and affordable food. The cafe even offers a pay-as-you-feel menu for children to reinforce the idea that the art gallery is a civic space in the heart of the city that’s open to all and to help families that struggle with the cost of eating out.
The Other Naughty Piglet – The Other Palace
The team behind Naughty Piglets in Brixton took over the irst loor of The Other Palace theatre in London’s Victoria. Specifically chosen by theatre owner Andrew Lloyd Webber, the restaurant has won critical acclaim for its creative menu – XO linguine with cured egg yolk; Orkney scallops, lardo and pumpkin – and its strong list of natural wines that sets it apart from your typical theatre restaurant.
Foyer Bar and Cafe – The Bridge Theatre
Anything that Margot Henderson can do, husband Fergus can do too. St John has teamed up with this new theatre to serve food there, including its madeleines – made freshly and hot for the interval – as well as a changing roster of sandwiches that include cold roast lamb and aioli and egg mayonnaise and cress. There’s also small plates such as terrine; smoked mackerel with horseradish; globe artichokes; and potted beef, and snacks such as anchovy twists, crispy pig skin and radishes and butter.
This is a web version of an article that first appeared in the November issue of Restaurant magazine, the leading title for the UK's restaurant industry. For more features, comment, interviews and in-depth analysis of the restaurant sector subscribe to Restaurant magazine here.