Rök

3 Reviews on “Rök”

• Roberto

  One of the most interesting new openings in London. The food was pretty good, especially the starters. However, we went for their pork with Granny Smith as a main and it was a little hard and chewy (we should have probably chosen one of the other mains). On the other hand, the nduja scotch quail’s egg with Dijon mayo (one of the most talked about dishes in London last Summer) was excellent. The egg was still slightly runny, just perfect. Their bone marrow mash was also really good and their dessert, wood roasted plum with crme fraiche, Laphroaig honey & almond was truly special. It was the only dessert on the menu but when something it’s that good you don’t really need any more choice options.

  February 6, 2016, 5:41 am

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• KS_Ate_Here

  Hands up who likes IKEA. The pinnacle of Scandinavian export, it is nothing short of perfection in my eyes and a perfect example on how to completely dominate your chosen market. With that in mind, let me speak to you about Rok because they are fast becoming the IKEA of the Scandinavian food scene in London. Located in the grey area between the City and Shoreditch, the name of the game here is refined Swedish with an emphasis on staying true to traditional techniques such as brining, pickling and smoking which are popular back home. The resulting menu is dominated by up smoked meat dishes, cures and pickles. Working through the menu, we started with a platter of beautiful Cobble Lane Cured charcuterie (who incidentally are fast becoming my favourite cured near suppliers) but the overwhelming highlight was the scallop & nduja which has the potential of becoming their signature dish. It was incredible as the rich scallop and bold nduja combined into a symphony of flavours so good, an order of bread was immediately put in to mop up any resulting juices. Moving onto mains and here, life only got better. Plates of lamb with cranberry & fennel pure and duck leg with bacon & lingonberry jam were exquisite as they highlighted and paid respect to the quality of the raw produce the way any class institution should. When it came to dessert, the only choice you had was whether you wanted it or not; if you do manage to find the appetite though, the coal roasted burnt peach with yogurt and almond is fantastic. Light, impossibly sweet and ultimately refreshing, it is the full stop you needed but never knew. So yea you could say I am a bit of a fan of Rok but in case there is any doubt, you should go. And soon. Enjoy. Also follow me on Twitter @annixontong and @wetrykai and on Instagram @annixontong. wetrykai.wordpress.com

  January 14, 2016, 1:03 pm

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• Alice Gee

  We managed to bag a table on the last night of the soft launch. The standard of cooking was very high. Head chef is ex Barnyard. The four of us were all really happy about our food. But without the soft launch discount, it would have been a somewhat pricey meal. At full price, without drinks and service our copious meal would have been 33 a head.Despite being billed as a Nordic restaurant, I think I would say it is a European restaurant focused on Nordic cooking techniques, such as smoking, curing, pickling and brining. Their range of ingredients included Scandinavian cloudberries and lingonberries, but Calabrian nduja also featured prominently on several dishes, and one of the side salads was flavored with sesame oil.We started with the large platter of charcuterie which was excellent. It was accompanied by griddled sour dough, lightly pickled cucumber slices and sauerkraut. We had dill pickles (actually baby cucumbers flavored with dill) and mushroom pickles. All of the pickles were great value at 2.50. The mushroom pickles contained chestnut mushrooms as well as some wild varieties, notably chantarelles. Most of the table raved about the intense flavor of the pickled mushrooms, although the Swede in our party expressed reservations about the sweetened pickling brine. We also ordered the scallop starter which was beautiful. A scallop smeared in nduja and grilled on a bed of salicornia, served on its shell. Perfectly delicious but the order (5) contained only a single scallop with roe. The only starter that didn’t excite us was the coarse duck pate, made with liver and hearts and garnished with cloudberry jam and served on knackerbrod.For mains we ordered medium lamb, rare duck breast, guinea fowl and pork belly. I was surprised that there were not a lot of fish options for the mains. The Swede explained that he didn’t actually grow up eating a lot of fish, as their ocean coastline is quite short (most of their coast is actually fresh water). It should be noted that the mains (priced 13-16) are meat only, so you will need some sides as well. All of the meats had been cooked beautifully on the charcoal fueled BBQ that they have on the premises. Everything well executed. Fatty duck skin and pork crackling was crisp. There was a nice topping of nduja on the guinea fowl, and lingonberry jam enriched with bacon fat complimented the duck breast well. All of the meat was very tender.We had a wide range of sides. In retrospect we over ordered here. Of the salads, we chose smoked beet with goat cheese and sunflower seeds as well as charred broccoli with quinoa. Excellent use of BBQ for both vegetables. We were impressed by how knowledgeable the staff were. Our waitress could describe exactly how to recreate the intriguing charred broccoli salad (flavored with balsamic and sesame oil) at home.For starchy sides we had two orders of bone marrow mash, as well as the cauliflower cheese and BBQ sweet potato with horseradish cream. The marrow mash was heavenly and made with oil and garlic instead of dairy. Beautiful dense texture. The cauliflower was quite rich with lots of cheesy bechamel and a topping of beef floss. We were divided about the sweet potato. Some of us found it too sweet, although the waitress assured us that there was no added sugar in that dish.We were actually too full for dessert but thought we needed to give the one item on the dessert menu a try. I am glad we did. It was a whole BBQ peach (skin on). The waitress indicated that a whiskey marinade was also involved. It was served with a sweet almond crumb and a dollop of creme fraiche. Very simple and refreshing and I will try to reproduce this next time I fire up a BBQ at home.

  November 10, 2015, 5:26 pm

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