Café Cecilia
THE CANAL CAFÉ
It’s my third attempt at getting a weekend table here. Bottom line is you need to plan ahead, but the chaos of my life usually requires something more spontaneous. Fortunately, time is on my side with a long planned family get together for Easter Sunday.
It also brings the first glimpse of summer with clear blue skies and it’s warm enough to fire up the appetite with a short sleeved amble across Hackney, through London Fields and the gentrified bustle of Broadway Market up to Regents Canal.
Café Cecilia interior
The light filled, white walled dining room with floor to ceiling windows is every bit as elegant as its exposed ceiling allows. It’s a big space with music mixing happily with conversation all nudged and nurdled along by the friendly efficiency of the waiting staff and energy from the open kitchen.
Café Cecilia interior 2
The menu is heavy on seasonality and leans towards the almost out of fashion three course starter, main and dessert although I suspect it swings both ways. And with just a quick scan, I know exactly what I want and hopeful for traded tasting forkfuls. I’m fully expecting laser guided hits on my pleasure receptors.
That also means I’m kicking off with a Bloody Mary, but everyone else appears to be on their best behaviour. I expect that’s because we’re dining out with our daughter’s boyfriend for the first time.
Sourdough, Guinness bread & butter
I’m a big believer in bread being a nailed-on indicator of what to expect from the kitchen and with a duo of freshly baked, classic sourdough and seed-flecked, sweet-malty Guinness bread plus a generous bowl of room-temperature butter, my expectations can’t be higher.
Smoked salmon pate, Guinness bread & pickled cucumber
The girls have opted to share two starters. The first is a smoked salmon pate on Guinness bread with slices of pickled cucumber. I forget to try it as I’m entranced by their generous pile of hot and nobbly battered umami-loaded sage and anchovy fritti. I’m three in before remembering they aren’t mine, but I think I’ve gathered the required research so they can feature with alfresco pre-dinner drinks at home.
Sage & anchovy fritti
My beef agnolotti brings more butter generosity, wearing sage mustiness on its sleeve, whilst still allowing the plump, fresh pasta pillows of minced beef the starring role. It’s every bit as rustic as a plate of pasta like this should be.
Beef agnolotti & sage butter
But, it’s Josh’s choice that wins ‘best of the starters’ and I’m especially grateful for a small pile as a tasting portion as I’ve nothing to offer back as he’s vegetarian. Two thick wedges of sweetness-intensified roasted delica squash with creamy, superfresh mozzarella could easily be on the dessert menu, but it’s brought into line by the light salinity of black olive in an otherwise tart, herby salsa verde. It brings on a discussion and recall of various comparable dishes we’ve enjoyed at The River Café.
Delica squash, mozzarella & black olive
By now we’re tucking into a single estate German Pinot Blanc that’s offers honey, melon and pear before a clean finish. It tastes a notch higher that its £50 price tag.
Frey Pinot Blanc
And maintaining the precedent set with the Bloody Mary I end up being the only one who orders an extra glass, confirming suspicions the rest of the family are on their best behaviour.
Tema artichokes, beans, goat’s curd & herbs
The first of the mains provokes further mentions of The River Café with perfect on the bite poached artichoke and creamy cannellini beans with the sour lick of goat’s curd, freshened by a medley of herbs and sitting in a puddle of peppery, green extra virgin olive oil.
Onglet & peppercorn sauce
The bright pink, medium rare onglet boasting a high-heat crust is as melt in the mouth as meat gets, with an almost spicy peppercorn sauce emboldened with cream and brandy. It’s served with chips that offer perfect crunch, despite being smashed into the gravy for dredging purposes… but that’s probably just me doing that.
Cod, chickpeas, Romero peppers & aioli
Next to me sits a buff tranche of perfectly cooked cod dominates the plate with roasted, sweet Romero peppers and a generous dollop of aioli. Unfortunately (and absolutely the only unfortunately of the whole meal), bullet-like chickpeas take away some of my pleasure, although there are no complaints, even when pushed, from the dish’s owner.
Braised mutton, lentils, anchovy & olive
As for the plate in front of me, I’m fully purring satisfaction with a hillock of succulent, braised mutton, perfectly cooked, on top of peppery lentils with umami and salinity from anchovy and black olives in a loosely creamy sauce.
We’re all stuffed but I manage to rally everyone to get three desserts on the table, which also means a glass of dessert wine for me. Everyone else is still on their best behaviour.
Deep-fried bread & butter pudding with cold custard
I’m first in on the slab of deep-fried bread and butter pudding that’s even better than it sounds. An appropriately sugar dusted, but extraordinarily crunchy crust locks in a warm buttery, almost molten centre that couldn’t in any way be any better and then it’s served with cold custard. Of course it is! It has me grinning like a big kid.
Guinness bread ice cream
We’re swapping the puds more readily than we did the starters or mains and Guinness bread ice cream shines a new light on its malty-sweetness—and bread for that matter, whilst the pear and calvados sorbet is equal parts palate cleanser and palate pleaser.
A round of espressos completes the meal and with free, unlimited sparkling water, the bill is £265.53 including 12.5% service charge. I’m struck it’s about half what the meal would cost at The River Café, given so many courses have transported us there.
The penny drops when our ‘waitress’, manager Kate, gives us the background that owner / head chef Max Rocha has The River Café, (as well as Spring and St. John Bread and Wine) on his chef resume.
I can’t wait to come back… and I won’t have to wait nearly so long or require nearly so much planning. I’ve now got the email address to book direct, so it can slot more easily into the chaos my my life.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED 9/10
Canal Place, 32 Andrews Road, Hackney E8 4FX
