The River Café
The interior of the café in 2008
Restaurant information
Established1987 (1987)
Food typeItalian cuisine
Street addressRainville Rd, London W6 9HA
CityLondon
CountryUnited Kingdom
Coordinates51°29′3″N 0°13′28″W / 51.48417°N 0.22444°W / 51.48417; -0.22444

The River Café is a restaurant in the Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, London, specialising in Italian cuisine. It was owned and run by chefs Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray until Gray's death in 2010; since then, Rogers has been the sole owner and has run the restaurant.

Location

The restaurant is located on the north bank of the Thames in Hammersmith, in the former Duckhams oil storage facility; the nearest railway station being Hammersmith tube station. The facility was modified to alternative use by architect Lord Rogers, the husband of Ruth Rogers (Lady Rogers). The restaurant originally opened in 1987[1] as the employee café of the architectural partnership. The restaurant has a garden area with views of the River Thames.

Culinary direction

Signature dishes include: wild mushroom risotto; Dover sole and John Dory smoked in the restaurant's own wood stove; and rich Italian desserts including lemon almond cake and the chocolate "Nemesis" cake.

The restaurant earned a Michelin star in 1997 and is critically acclaimed.

The River Café is also notable for the number of successful chefs that have trained in its kitchens. These include Theo Randall, Ed Baines of Randall & Aubin, April Bloomfield of The Spotted Pig in New York, and celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Ben O'Donoghue and Tobie Puttock.[2]

Cookery books and recognition

The River Café

Gray and Rogers have written six cookbooks, including Italian Easy and The London River Café Cook Book. Their first book, Italian Country Cookbook won the Glenfiddich Award for Food Book of the Year and the BCA Illustrated Book of the Year award. Rogers and Gray have since presented a 12-part series for Channel 4, The Italian Kitchen.[3]

Rogers and Gray each were named in the 2010 New Year's Honours List as Members of the British Empire (MBE) with the citation "for services to the Hospitality Industry".[4]

On 28 February 2010,[5] Gray died of cancer, aged 71.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ bighospitality.co.uk (21 June 2012). "Ruth Rogers: Pearls of Wisdom". bighospitality.co.uk. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  2. ↑ "The River Cafe legacy: the enduring influence of one of Britain's best loved restaurants". the Guardian. 22 August 2022. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  3. ↑ "The Italian Kitchen - All 4". www.channel4.com. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  4. ↑ New Year's Honours list 2010 Archived 22 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ Bennett, Ronan (28 February 2010). "Rose Gray obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 January 2018 – via theguardian.com.
  6. ↑ "River Cafe's Rose Gray dies at 71". 1 March 2010. Retrieved 9 January 2018 – via news.bbc.co.uk.

Further reading

  • Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers - The River Café Cook Book (Ebury Press, 1996) ISBN 0-09-181255-0
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