Rogan and Co

Rogan and Co is the more casual sister of l’Enclume, and is literally next door to it. The restaurant opened in 2008, gaining a Michelin star in 2018. The head chef was Thomas Reeves, who after working at L’Enclume moved to Maaemo until 2021, then came back to the UK and became sous chef of Rogan and Co and was then promoted to head chef since 2022. The restaurant is set in a 14th-century building with some original beams visible in the ceiling. It can seat 39 covers at any one time and has well-spaced tables. The menu was a la carte, with a short selection of dishes at each stage. It was priced at £95.

The wine list had 69 labels and ranged in price from £38 to £198, with a median price of £71 and an average markup to retail price of 3.9 times, which would raise eyebrows even in Mayfair. Sample references were Corralillo Gewurtztraminer 2023 from Matetic Vineyards in Chile, at £40 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £16, Kloof Street Mullineux Chenin Blanc 2023 from Swartland in South Africa at £68 compared to its retail price of £18, and Beautiful Chaos Syrah 2021 from Marlborough in New Zealand at £76 for a wine that will set you back £26 in the high street. For those with the means, there was La Cote Gerard Boulay Sancerre 2022 from the Loire at £149 compared to its retail price of £56, and Papillon Cabernet Sauvignon Blend 2020 from Orin Swift in California at £198 for a wine whose current market value is £91.

The meal began with some snacks. Lovage oil with tomato water was harmless, but I wonder whether it would have been better without the oil, as the tomato flavour itself was good, and the addition of the lovage produced something that was a little over oily. I preferred the other two snacks. A Cheddar scone with pickled allium, cream and chive flowers had good cheese flavour and a scone with pleasing texture. Rye cracker with mixed mushroom (chestnut, field mushrooms) parfait and red baron onion jam was enjoyable. The canapés averaged 15/20.Parker House roll was coated with warm honey glaze with sea salt, made in the l’Enclume bakery. This was lovely bread, the touch of salt a nice balance to the sweetness of the honey glaze, the texture of the bread soft and fluffy.

Terrine of King Edwards potatoes came with caramelised whey, onion, preserved cobra beans, aquavit gel, caramelised shallot puree, Old Winchester cheese crisp, garlic split with chilli and garlic oil. This was a really good dish, the potato flavour excellent, the caramelised shallot particularly nice, the various elements providing a blend of textures and harmonious flavours (easily 16/20).

My main course was lop-eared pork (a breed of pig noted for its dropping ears) from Jim Beary of Gaythorne farm near Penrith. Roast loin and roast cap of pork was served with a choucroute with pancetta, crisp pork skin, apple ketchup, grilled Duncan cabbage and a sauce made of the roasting bones with pickled mustard seeds and braised pork jowl. The pork had very good flavour and the different elements of pork were harmonious, with the crisp pork skin adding an extra texture. The apple ketchup was very good, and the only flaw was that the cabbage was very salty, even for me (15/20).

Cod was marinated in mirin, miso and sake, grilled and served with cream potato (mash) and kombu jam, with lightly fried tempura cod cheek. The dish was finished with a sauce of Morecambe Bay shrimps with compressed kohlrabi. This was a very good dish, the fish carefully cooked and the elements combining well (16/20).

Pre-dessert had a base of courgette sorbet topped with green apple foam, rapeseed oil from Eden Yard in Penrith in the Lake District. Courgette has a fairly bland flavour so the dominant flavour was the apple, which was a relief. I am not sure what the rapeseed oil really added (13/20). Why not just serve an apple sorbet? I am not a fan of vegetables or herbs in my dessert, though I have had much weirder combinations than this around the world (blackberry and coriander in Marseilles springs to mind, at least in the darkest corners of my nightmares). 

An apple cake dessert had a base layer of spiced apple cake topped with Granny Smith apple compote, Wrayhome yoghurt sorbet, spiced cream, freeze dried blackberry powder and burnt milk tuiles. The dish was finished with blackcurrant juice with redcurrants, both fruits grown on the l’Enclume farm. This was a pleasant dessert with a mix of textures and flavours. I’m not sure what the burnt tuiles really added other than a texture, and for me I could have done with a little more apple flavour and a little less yoghurt. Still, the fruits were a useful addition and went well with the cake (15/20). Coffee was from Dark Woods Coffee, the same as at l’Enclume, and was good. This came with a beetroot pastille coated in perilla (shiso) sugar, perilla jam and perilla leaf. Essentially, it was a pate de fruit but with vegetables rather than fruit. Although I personally would have preferred something more classical as the flavour in my pate de fruit, this worked well enough. 

Service was excellent, led by the charming manageress Kayleigh. The bill came to £160 each with some glasses of wine. If you shared a modest bottle of wine then a typical cost per person might be around £155. I enjoyed my meat at Rogan and Co, which has a relaxed feel, friendly service and technically very capable cooking.