Café Deco

91
Falstaff Online International 2021 - Restaurants

A quiet confidence emanates from the menus of Café Deco – its stark simplicity and understated elegance assures the diner that everything is going to be alright. Chef/owner Anna Tobias has serious industry kudos running through her culinary DNA, from working with titan Jeremy Lee at Blueprint Café, regular stints at The River Café, to her first Head Chef role at Rochelle Canteen, the hidden gem in a Shoreditch schoolyard. Her first solo gig was always going to be keenly watched by those tracking the stars of the London cheffing scene. Now she has come roaring out of the traps with the kind of spot that lucky Bloomsbury residents will be delighted to call their ‘local’, an oasis of calm a short stagger from Tottenham Court Road. It’s a neighbourhood restaurant that rewards repeated weekly visits, the menu shifting subtly – and temptingly – every day. Over the last couple of years, Tobias has continued to have stints at the River Café, as well as a residency at Clapton wine bar P. Franco, an incubator for several chefs who have gone on to open their own venues. During this time, she has become known for championing ‘brown food’ on Instagram: unfussy plates of home-cooking which value flavour rather than looks: anything from anchovy toast to Scotch broth. The Café Deco venture is a collaboration with 40 Maltby Street, the restaurant and wine bar which has done much to lead the renaissance of the dining scene in the environs of Borough Market. Opening first as a takeaway towards the end of 2020, my first taste of Café Deco had me revelling in a fat slab of tortilla wedged between bouncy fresh focaccia, a slick of garlicky aioli helping things merrily along – worth the indecent double-carbing. The focaccia was such a star, not a mere vessel for the excellent tortilla, that I asked Anna where it was from: “It’s our own focaccia”, she said. Of course it was, and it showed. Now able to open for full table service, the details shine through everywhere: from the homemade sourdough bread and tangy butter to the strikingly retro-labelled and extremely mineral Loire sparkling water Source Parot, drawn from the volcanic rocks of the Monts du Forez and naturally carbonated. A plate of new-season asparagus, Jersey Royal potatoes, and the silkiest, diaphanous Italian ham encapsulates the Café Deco credo, a confident strut of distinct elements jiving alongside each other – the ham is exceptional, lacy sweet fat, satin-textured. Potted shrimp is a classic, flawlessly delivered, the shrimps studded into a butter rich with cayenne pepper, blushingly orange, alongside some pickled slivers of cucumber. On this visit, it takes extreme self-discipline not to also order the ravishing sounding lamb faggots with creamed nettles and onion gravy – next time. Another visit sees me dropping in for a dish that perfectly encapsulates Tobias’ ethos of generosity of flavour trumping cheffy artifice: a plate of buckwheat and mushroom cabbage rolls, the most thrilling plate of ‘peasant food’ I’ve had all year. I am soothed by these parcels of green, stuffed with buckwheat grains, topped with a rich slurry of tomato sauce that could just have easily been the finest ‘sugo di pomodoro’ in a plate of pasta at The River Café – kitchen skills singing from the plate, a handful of ingredients, a bewitching symphony. There are Café Deco jams and preserves, jarred items to take-away, such as minestrone, lamb meatballs with orzo, and chocolate and prune tartlets cutely laid out on the bar. Wine is a big focus too, with the whole list available for off-sales. I find myself feverishly checking their Instagram page each day for what may be on the menu, to see if I can be tempted (oh yes, I can) by even a quick drive-by takeaway, which could be asparagus frittata or cheese and spring onion quiche one day, a sausage and cime di rapa focaccia on another. Waldorf Salad; watercress soup; eggs mayonnaise; deep fried Gubbeen and potato salad; gnudi and wild garlic pesto; cicoria and borlotti bean stew; mint choc-chip ice-cream; crème caramel. It’s the kind of menu that tugs you in, holds you tight, refuses to let you go. Homely cooking with an unerring sense of focus and sure handed ethos. Get there. Return. Repeat. It’s the kind of local that is worth travelling for…wherever you live. Reviewed by Zeren Wilson in May 2021

49 /50 Food
19 /20 Service
15 /20 Wine
8 /10 Style
91
Falstaff Magazine International Nr. 0/2021 - SixPack

The highly anticipated first restaurant from chef-owner Anna Tobias has finally opened in Bloomsbury, London, and already feels like it has been here for years. Her culinary CV includes some of the industry’s titans, including time in the kitchens of The River Café and veteran Jeremy Lee, as well as her first head chef role at Rochelle Canteen, the hidden-away schoolyard Shoreditch gem from Margot Henderson and Melanie Arnold. A vocal champion of ‘brown food,’ Anna delights in putting the kind of items on her menus that are all about comfort and cos- seting flavours, rather than the indulgence of Instagram-orientated gimmickry. You’ll find the joys of lovingly made quiches alongside simple plates that sing with the clarity of their ingredients, such as a dish of asparagus, Jersey Royals, and the silkiest Italian ham, adorned with a blob of butter. Or how about buckwheat- and mushroom- stuffed cabbage rolls, an unas- hamed peasant dish sauced with a tomato sugo that a nonna in Palermo would be proud to serve. A confidently strutting menu continues with lamb faggots with creamed nettles and gravy; pork tonnato; eggs mayonnaise; braised artichokes with carrots, saffron and dill; chicken and wild garlic pie. Des- serts offer the classics of crème caramel, or treacle tart and rhubarb trifle. Jams, pre- serves, soups and more are available to takeaway, and the bustle of the room and outside tables has the feel of a genuine neighbourhood joint – a modern classic has arrived.

49 /50 Food
19 /20 Service
15 /20 Wine
8 /10 Style
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