Rocola Brings Guest Chefs And Latin Flavours To Hackney
From the team behind Crudo and Tiny Wine, Rocola will open on Mare Street with a permanent food and drinks offer alongside rotating residencies, tastings and music-led events.
Rocola, a new East London restaurant, bar and rotating kitchen from the team behind Crudo and Tiny Wine, will open on Mare Street on Wednesday 8 July.
The new opening comes from Crudo Group, founded by Maria Yanez and Carlos Socorro, the team behind Crudo Cocina Latina and Tiny Wine. With Rocola, the group is creating a permanent restaurant and bar with its own food, drink and hospitality offer, shaped by a changing calendar of chefs, artists, producers and collaborators.
Rocola takes its name from the Spanish word for jukebox. The idea behind the name reflects the venue’s rotating format, bringing different voices, sounds and moods into one place while keeping the restaurant’s identity consistent.
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A Restaurant And Rotating Kitchen
At its centre will be an open kitchen, a lively bar and a programme of guest chefs, residencies, tastings, music-led nights and collaborations. The permanent food and drinks offer will draw on the Crudo team’s Latin American roots, Southern European influences and approach to warm neighbourhood hospitality.
Guests will be able to visit for wine and a few plates at the bar, book for a visiting chef residency, attend a music-led evening or return for dinner as the programme changes. The format has been designed to evolve while remaining anchored by the restaurant’s core food, drink and service.
“Rocola is about creating a restaurant that feels alive every time you walk in. We wanted to build a place with its own food, drinks and identity, but also one that could make space for new chefs, ideas and experiences throughout the year. The open kitchen is central to that. Guests can see the energy of the room, meet the people cooking for them and feel part of what is happening that night.”
Maria Yanez, Co-Founder
First Residency: Nico Reynolds
Rocola will launch its residency programme with Dublin-born chef Nico Reynolds, whose cooking brings together Jamaican roots, Irish produce and the influence of time spent living and cooking in Buenos Aires.
Through his pop-up Lil Portie, Reynolds has developed a style of New Caribbean cooking that combines Caribbean depth, spice and aroma with Latin American brightness and an Irish accent. His food first drew wider attention after Lil Portie featured on Vice Media’s Fck That’s Delicious with Action Bronson, with Reynolds later making regular TV appearances through his own series.
At Rocola, Reynolds will bring that cross-cultural cooking to the open kitchen, with a menu shaped by Caribbean heat, South American zest and a produce-led approach. Dishes will include prawn causa, summer squash tiradito, Aji de gallina tostadas and smashed beetroot salad with coconut and lime leaf.
Larger plates will include jerk lamb shepherd’s pie coxinha, monkfish and mussels with nduja butter, and patacones with carrots, Scotch bonnet and ginger sauerkraut. A mango cheesecake will complete the menu.
Food
Rocola’s own menu will be concise, seasonal and designed for sharing. It will draw from Southern Europe and Latin America, reflecting the backgrounds of the team and the wider influences behind Crudo Group.
Guests can expect snacks and aperitivo-style dishes to sit alongside drinks at the bar, including olives, gildas, focaccia and seasonal small plates. A changing selection of antipasti will move across cured meats, vegetables, seafood and seasonal ingredients.
The centre of the menu will be made up of smaller sharing dishes and a limited number of larger plates, allowing guests to build a full dinner around crudos, seasonal dishes and plates from the grill or oven. The menu will remain intentionally short so the kitchen can respond to available ingredients and the wider programme taking place in the venue.
Drinks
Drinks will be central to the concept. Building on the team’s work at Tiny Wine, the wine list will focus on producers, stories and bottles the team enjoys drinking, rather than being shaped by trend or region alone.
The list will feature around 60 to 80 bottles, with a strong by-the-glass selection designed to be considered but approachable. Cocktails will also form part of the offer, with classics including Margaritas, Palomas and Pisco Sours alongside house signatures inspired by Latin America and the wider influences of the kitchen.
Design And Interiors
The restaurant has been designed around a fully open kitchen and bar. From almost every seat, guests will be able to see chefs cooking and bartenders working, making the activity of the team part of the experience.
The interiors will have a raw, understated feel, with exposed concrete, warm lighting and an industrial edge. The space is intended to feel intimate without being overly formal, keeping the focus on food, drinks, people and the events taking place.
The open kitchen will also support Rocola’s collaboration programme, allowing visiting chefs to cook in the room close to the guests they are serving.
Events And Programming
Alongside its permanent restaurant and bar offer, Rocola will host a changing programme of guest chefs, kitchen residencies, takeovers, wine tastings, music-led nights and creative collaborations.
Each residency or collaboration will be shaped by the Rocola team, bringing new people and ideas into the space while maintaining the venue’s standard of food, drinks and hospitality.
Rocola will open on Mare Street on Wednesday 8 July, adding a new East London venue built around open-kitchen dining, considered drinks and a rotating programme of chefs, collaborations and events.
