Round the corner from Simon Rogan’s two-starred flagship L’Enclume, Rogan & Co is a relaxed neighbourhood restaurant making the most of Lake District produce.
The sleepy Cumbrian village of Cartmel is famous for a few things. There’s the racecourse, which despite being small is one of the country’s most popular. There’s the Cartmel Village Shop, home to the universally loved Cartmel Sticky Toffee Pudding. And of course, there’s L’Enclume, Simon Rogan’s acclaimed restaurant which holds two Michelin stars. But while L’Enclume is perfect for a special occasion, Simon’s other restaurant Rogan & Co is perfect for more regular, relaxed dining.
With old wooden beams, soothing grey walls and minimalist Scandi-esque furniture, the restaurant is all about casual eating with the attention to detail you’d expect in any Michelin-starred establishment. While the majority of the fresh produce comes from the Lake District, many of the dishes have an international twist. Mackerel comes with local pickled vegetables and wasabi, for instance, while ice cream is drizzled with a miso caramel.
Menus are kept simple at Rogan & Co – there’s a lunch menu, an à la carte and a Sunday lunch menu (which features large cuts of meat and fish to share) rather than the tasting menus of L’Enclume. While it has the vibe of a neighbourhood restaurant, it still attracts diners from all over the UK, and many who travel from abroad to eat at L’Enclume will also eat at Rogan & Co the next day, to experience both sides of Simon’s cooking.
Simon Rogan’s father worked at a wholesale fruit and vegetable market, coming home every evening with a box of the day’s the best produce. A fussy eater at the time, Simon Rogan was suspicious of the unfamiliar exotics he brought back, such as star and kiwi fruits, but credits this early exposure with sparking his life-long interest in ingredients and seasonal produce.
Already a keen home cook, aged fourteen he took a weekend job in a Greek restaurant in his hometown of Southampton, but at that point the financial freedom it afforded was the motivator. Football was more on his mind, with trials for Chelsea and a training contract with Fulham in the offing; but realising this was a pipe dream, he focused on catering college instead, which he attended on day release while he continued to work. He told GQ of his time there: ‘I was surrounded by aspiring chefs who were far more experienced than me and were working in the great country-house hotels of the New Forest … I couldn’t stand for that! So that fired up my competitive spirit and I vowed to become the best chef I could.’
