Rogues

Originally a Bethnal Green pop-up, Rogues is the production of chefs Zac Whittle and Freddie Sheen, who met while working at Galvin La Chapelle, and found their great minds thinking alike. In due course, they upgraded to this simply furnished but comfortable venue near Cambridge Heath station and set about offering this patch of east London something that is neither reconstructed French bistro food nor conceptual art. The menu is classified into 'bites', 'plates' and 'finishers', with some dishes asterisked for their translation into the components of an all-course tasting menu. From the snacks, potato rösti topped with prawn, apple and spring onion was 'half prawn toast, half fish and chips, and as enjoyable as both', while another East Asian titbit sees a Maldon oyster dressed in sesame, soy and kombu. From the variously sized bigger plates, there might be wonderfully fresh, clear-flavoured chalk stream trout with chunks of blood-orange, sour cream, dried sorrel and pickled cucumber. When we visited, the day-boat fish was cod 'collar' with agretti in katsu sauce, served with a stimulating side of crudités and almond houmous. Meat might be Duroc pork chop in beer-butter sauce, covered in vivid radicchio, and partnered with a plate of asparagus and sprouting broccoli in XO butter with preserved lemon, its savoury and sour punch offsetting the rich meat. As a finale, there are some supremely indulgent desserts, including rhubarb trifle flavoured with magnolia flower and constructed from white-chocolate custard, a shower of pistachios and a topping of whipped cream and puffed rice. There are craft beers and cocktails to ponder, prior to a deep dive into a wine list that is sorted into light, medium and full-bodied specimens, with good growers stalking the lines. Our old-vine Chiroubles 2019 from Eric and Pauline Morin reminded us what a joy mature cru Beaujolais can be.