Big new restaurants have been opening in Canary Wharf for some time now, prompting us to assume that there’s something we’re missing. When did skyscraper central become such a foodie hotspot? So we were, in all honesty, surprised to hear that the team behind Fallow were heading to the land of the city-slicker for their next venture, taking over a humongous 500-cover site at the foot of a residential skyscraper.
Fear not, for there is clearly method behind the madness. The site is big, sure, but spread across distinct sections, with the main dining room on the ground floor featuring a long, marble-topped counter, hanging orb lighting, and a huge 3D printed tree installation which stops the space from feeling cavernous. Beautiful? Perhaps not, but the coral-like texture of the ‘tree’, contrasted with panelled ceilings, concrete walls and marble counters, has a fun, futuristic effect that mirrors the team’s forward-thinking approach to food.
While Roe is far from a copy and paste job of the mightily successful Fallow, what it has borrowed is the same high-quality, low-waste cooking and laser attention to detail that makes dining in a space this large still feel premium and special. We sit at the counter watching chefs serve up never-ending plates of sesame-crusted cuttlefish toasts topped with the crackle of puffed pork skin, while fresh-out-the-oven flatbreads smeared in a rich snail vindaloo has us pining for a chat with the recipe development team. The smaller plates are where the fun lies, but if you fancy something larger, then a crisp, cheese-soaked fried chicken burger was just about worth its £16 price tag.
The sweet section reads like an ode to retro desserts, from refreshing Eton Mess soft serve hiding a crisp meringue base, to mint choc chip Viennetta decorated with grown-up swirls of velvety chocolate cream. The wine list centres around organic, minimal interventional bottles, but starts at £14 for the cheapest glass, which you could instead put towards one of its standout cocktails – we loved the Lemon Verbena Swizzle which offers a refreshing blend of sweet sherbet and lots of ice.
If you didn’t have a reason to visit Canary Wharf before, you do now.