River Cafe London
Thirty Years of Recipes and the Story of a Much-Loved Restaurant: A Cookbook
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
A stunning Italian cookbook collecting 120 recipes from the legendary restaurant that sets “the benchmark for Italian food outside of Italy" (Eater).
At the River Cafe in London, Ruth Rogers and her co-founder, Rose Gray, helped to shape the way we eat, trained a new generation of chefs, and, with their best-selling cookbooks, transformed the way we prepare Italian food at home.
Now, with River Cafe London, Ruth and her restaurant’s head chefs, Joseph Trivelli and Sian Wyn Owen, invite you to join them in marking thirty years of memories and good food—the simple, high-quality Italian cooking that River Cafe has been providing since 1987.
Here are 120 recipes for incomparable antipasti, primi, secondi, contorni, and dolci—both revised and updated favorites from Ruth and Rose’s first cookbook, as well as thirty new classics from their menus today: Ravioli with Ricotta, Raw Tomato, and Basil; Spaghetti with Lemon; Risotto Nero with Swiss Chard; Pork Braised with Vinegar; and, of course, their famous Chocolate Nemesis cake.
River Cafe London also incorporates Ruth’s memories of the restaurant’s storied history and of its founding: unseen archive images; careful cooking tips and hand-drawn illustrations; new photography by Jean Pigozzi and Matthew Donaldson; and bespoke menu designs from the restaurant’s many artist friends.
This beautiful cookbook encapsulates the essence of the restaurant and its food—and is a must-have for all food lovers to cook from time and again.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This celebration of the 30th anniversary of London's lauded Italian restaurant is more victory lap than fresh offering. Much has changed since Rogers and Gray met at a McDonald's in March 1987 to talk about opening a restaurant called the River Cafe in a reclaimed warehouse space. What was initially a sandwich shop eventually transformed into a Michelin-starred success. Cofounder Gray died in 2010, and since then the restaurant's signature simple style (many recipes have five or fewer ingredients) have not changed and now feel commonplace. That said, the authors include many delightful and trusted recipes, among them chickpea-flour farinata, pappa al pomodoro, nettle risotto with taleggio, sea bass baked in salt, veal shins with sage cooked in Barolo wine, and zucchini alla scapece. Instructions are sparse and recipes free of headnotes, so the reader has little clue what to do if Castelluccio lentils aren't available, or why to choose one chocolate cake over another. Chef April Bloomfield contributes a perfunctory introduction. Photographs and whimsically decorated menus by artists who are members of the "extended family," including a polka-dotted spread by Damien Hirst, are fun. Ultimately, however, the 30 new recipes included here do little to justify the cover price for what feels like little more than a reprint of previous recipes.
