Taking the helm of Café Cecilia, one of London’s most buzzed-about restaurants, was almost accidental for Max Rocha. The chef, who grew up in Ireland, debuted Café Cecilia in Hackney in August of 2021 after working at beloved eateries like The River Cafe, St. John Bread & Wine and Spring. It has since become a must-go spot, thanks to the food and the understated cool vibe of the dining room itself, which Rocha designed alongside his father, fashion designer John Rocha. Now, the younger Rocha has written his own cookbook, Café Cecilia Cookbook, to share the restaurant’s dishes beyond its walls.
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“When we first opened, I never thought I would do a cookbook,” Rocha tells Observer. “I didn’t think I had one in me. I didn’t even have a restaurant in me, to be honest. But in the first year, I was approached by Phaidon and they asked, ‘Do you want to do a cookbook?’ They make my favorite books, and I wasn’t sure I’d ever get another shot at it, so I thought, ‘Why not?’ It gave me more belief in myself, because I suffered from lack of confidence in myself and my cooking and what I can do.”
Both the restaurant’s menu and the cookbook draw on Rocha’s experience working in London kitchens, as well as his mother, Odette’s, personal recipes. It’s a decidedly fashionable book, as expected from the son of an acclaimed designer (Rocha’s sister, Simone Rocha, is also a fashion designer, and has dressed Rihanna, Chloë Sevigny and Alexa Chung), and Rocha is clear that putting it together was a “team effort” despite it listing him as the author.
“The book isn’t about me,” he says. “That’s why there’s only one small picture of me in the book. I didn’t want it to be a ‘Max’ cookbook, you know? I wanted to be Café Cecilia. I want the café to be its own thing. I don’t want to be the star of the show. I want it to be about the team who is making this great food.”
Like the book, Café Cecilia has been a group effort, both from Rocha’s family and from his staff. But it’s also thanks to the loyal customers that word-of-mouth has made the restaurant so buzzy. For Rocha, who catered fashion shows before opening the café, the entire process has been a massive learning experience, with a lot of........