It was a sad day when Simon Rogan’s hugely influential pop-up restaurant Roganic closed in 2013, just two years after it opened. Offering the same sort of food found in his two-starred L’Enclume in Cumbria, it gave travel-averse southerners a chance to taste the produce-led dishes that secured the chef’s reputation as one of the UK’s culinary greats. So when Simon announced he’d be bringing back Roganic as a permanent venture as his contract ended at Fera at Claridges, it was met with great enthusiasm. He’s already opened Aulis, a tiny restaurant with just eight seats hidden away in a secret location in Soho that costs £250 a head. Roganic 2.0 will be a bit bigger, more affordable and similar in feel to its previous incarnation, and will be based at the old L’Autre Pied site in Marylebone.
‘Obviously this restaurant is there to replace the Roganic pop-up we had from 2011–2013,’ says Simon. ‘We left Fera at Claridges in May with the intention of opening both Roganic and Aulis, which we did in October, but Roganic took a little longer than we expected to get going. We really enjoyed our time in Marylebone last time around as we think it’s a great place to work, has a lovely village feel to it and is the right area for what we’re offering. Me and my wife Penny have always admired the building L’Autre Pied was in, so when we saw it was up for sale we jumped at the chance. We’re very happy to be back there.’
The restaurant will share much more than just the name of Simon’s pop-up; the goal is to capture that same feel and ethos that made it such a success in the past. Luckily, many of the key members that made the pop-up such a hit are returning to work at the permanent Roganic, including Ollie Marlow as head chef and Harry Guy, who is head of development and operations for both of Simon’s London restaurants. But don’t expect the exact same experience.