Ottolenghi opens veggie-focused Rovi in Fitzrovia

Adding fuel to the vegetarian fire, celebrated chef Yotam Ottolenghi has opened a veggie-focused restaurant in Fitzrovia called Rovi.

Ottolenghi’s new restaurant, Rovi in Fitzrovia, makes a hero of humble veg

The Jerusalem-born, London-based chef’s first new venture in six years, Rovi is Ottolenghi’s third restaurant brand, and a sister to his flagship Ottolenghi café’s and the more formal Nopi in Soho.

Yotam Ottolenghi and Neil Campbell

Like Bruno Loubet did at the now closed Grain Store in King’s Cross, the focus at Rovi is on vegetables, which Ottolenghi makes a hero of.

To help him do so, Ottolenghi appointed Grain Store’s former head chef, Neil Campbell, to head up his latest London venture.

On the food front you can expect the likes of braised smoked carrots with puffed black barley and pickled herbs; kohlrabi ravioli with peas, broad beans and yuzu kosho; and slow roasted cauliflower with crispy chickpeas, tahini and fermented chilli salsa.

Staying on trend, Ottolenghi cooks over fire at Rovi and plays with curing, pickling, brining and fermentation techniques at Rovi.

In keeping with the Ottolenghi ethos, wines are predominantly made by minimum intervention, small scale, ‘natural’, organic and biodynamic producers, while cocktails are made with local seasonal ingredients and shine a light on spices.

The dome-shaped dining room features counter seating and a centrepiece oval-shaped cocktail bar in the middle of the room.

Keen to minimise waste, leftover wine is used to make vinegars, while spent coffee grinds feature in dishes like the hasselback beetroots.