Ruth Rogers
Ruth Rogers
A legendary chef who launched The River Cafe in 1987 with Rose Gray, Ruth Rogers continues to set the bar for seasonal Italian cooking in the UK alongside her all-star team of head chefs Sian Wyn Owen, Joseph Trivelli and Danny Bohan.
Ruth Rogers – Lady Ruth Rogers CBE to give her her full title; simply ‘Ruthie’ to those that know her – is a name forever associated with Italian food in the UK. The River Cafe, the Hammersmith restaurant she opened with Rose Gray in 1987, showed Londoners just how rich and varied Italian cuisine could be, going beyond the heavy pizza and pasta dishes associated with the country and bringing seasonal, produce-led dishes to the fore at a time when few others were.
Born in New York, Ruth came to England during her second year of college in the 1960s, deciding to stay put in London to study design. A few years later she met architect Richard Rogers and they eventually married in 1973. When Richard was tasked with building the Pompidou Centre in Paris, the two of them moved to the city, which is where Ruth got her first taste of seasonal cooking, visiting the local markets. When they returned to London, Robert started putting together plans for his firm’s offices in Hammersmith; as part of the blueprints, there was a space ready to be turned into a canteen for the firm’s employees. Ruth and her friend Rose Gray decided to take the lead and run it themselves.
There was just one issue, however – apart from Rose’s six-month stint working in a restaurant in New York, they had very little professional cooking experience. The two of them had always enjoyed cooking for friends and family, but a professional kitchen is, of course, a different beast. What they did have, however, was a deep love for seasonal food, something Ruth had enjoyed so much in France and Rose had experienced living in Italy. With help from Richard’s Italian mother Dada, who was a fantastic cook, they opened The River Cafe in 1987.
While the food they were serving at the beginning was mostly for workers who weren’t interested in much more than a sandwich, they did things properly – using extra virgin olive oil for mayonnaises, sourcing Italian cheeses and even planting wild rocket in the terrace outside. What began as a canteen soon turned into a popular spot for locals at lunch; opening for dinner followed a year later. The rest of London started to visit, then those from further afield. A few years after opening, despite their lack of experience, Ruth and Rose found themselves at the helm of one of the city’s most in-demand restaurants. Cooking the simple, seasonal food they’d fallen in love with, they meticulously sought out suppliers who could bring them what they wanted from Europe. Over the years they started using UK-based suppliers too, finding what they needed to make their dishes sing with flavour.
‘When we started the restaurant it was very Tuscan-based – it was what we knew and some of us had family there,’ says Ruth. ‘But then we started to get to know more about the other parts of Italy. We’d visit Piedmont to learn about the wine, naturally picking up on the polenta and local cuisine there. We’d journey down south to Puglia and see the vegetables and tuna and chickpeas, or learn about Ligurian cuisine during other trips. Tuscany has always been at the heart of The River Cafe but we’ve spread out over the years. Someone once said they see The River Cafe as its own extra little region of Italy, as we have our own identity now, which I really like.’
Today, The River Cafe continues to be an institution for both those in the industry and those who eat there. When Rose passed away in 2010, Ruth stayed on as the sole owner and figurehead of the restaurant, surrounded by an incredible team who have worked there for years (a relatively rare thing for professional chefs to do). Famous names have earned their stripes in the kitchen – The River Cafe is where a young Jamie Oliver was noticed by a TV crew – and access to produce has become increasingly better, in turn improving the offering.
‘We respect every chef that works here as an individual,’ explains Ruth. ‘When they come for an interview we want to get to know them – what do they like to cook, which cookbooks do they own, what are they curious about? A good chef has to work well as part of a team and of course has to have a deep passion when it comes to food, but you’re only going to get the best out of them if they enjoy coming to work every day. I want to come here every day and so did Rose, so it only makes sense that we make sure everyone else does too. It’s why we take all the chefs to Italy each year, and try to make every day in the kitchen different. You might not know which section you’ll be working on or what the menu will be each morning when you come into work; until you prep the sea bass, you might not have decided whether it will be grilled or roasted. I think this, combined with the open kitchen with all the natural light, makes our restaurant a nice one to work in.’
When the coronavirus lockdown hit in 2020, like many other restaurants The River Cafe launched an ‘at home’ offering. However, in true River Cafe style, Ruth and the team went and launched a full online shop, selling produce, ingredients, meals and even homewares. ‘We had to learn a lot very quickly, but we had time to develop a proper website during the lockdown and give it a real professional clarity thanks to our photographer and designer,’ she says. ‘Eighteen months ago I’d never have imagined we’d launch an online shop, but it just goes to show how much things can change.’
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