Cafe Cecilia, London E8: ‘Hot but with a homespun edge’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants

‘It’s so on-trend, I half-expected Cafe Cecilia to be a dull dud. But it’s not’

Cafe Cecilia in Hackney, east London, put to the test the question that strangers often ask me, which is: “So, can you get a table anywhere at any time?” The answer is complex, but, for shorthand, I always reply: “Yes!”, when I really mean: “Usually yes, but sometimes no, depending on myriad variables, including the ‘hotness’ of the establishment in question, the pliability of its maître d’ and, of course, my own cunning while trying to inveigle my way in.”

For now, let’s concentrate on hotness, which has nothing to do with its suitability for the peri-menopausal, but rather the almost tangible fervour that surrounds certain new openings. Cafe Cecilia, which recently appeared just off Broadway Market on a relatively charmless side road close to an old gasworks, is run by Max Rocha, a chef with connections to the River Cafe and St John, and heavy links to the fashion industry, with both his father and sister, John and Simone, being much-loved designers. This type of buzz inevitably leads to all 15 or so tables being booked up for weeks in advance, while every lunchtime another tempting array of social media reports seep into the ether, showing us the likes of pig’s head, sage and potato pie, cuttlefish with orzo, pork braised in milk with fresh coco beans, raspberry galette and Guinness by the can.

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from The Guardian https://ift.tt/3Fnc8mS