Rocola, a new East London restaurant, bar and rotating kitchen from the team behind Crudo and Tiny Wine, will open on Mare Street on Wednesday 8 July.
Built around an open kitchen, lively bar and changing programme of guest chefs, residencies, tastings, music-led events and collaborations, Rocola will bring together the warmth of a neighbourhood restaurant with the energy of a space designed to keep evolving.
The new opening comes from Crudo Group, founded by Maria Yanez and Carlos Socorro, the team behind Crudo Cocina Latina and Tiny Wine.
With Rocola, the group is creating a permanent restaurant and bar with its own food, drink and hospitality offer, shaped by a curated calendar of chefs, artists, producers and collaborators.
Rocola takes its name from the Spanish word for jukebox. Like a jukebox, the venue is designed to bring different voices, sounds and moods into one place.
At its heart will be a permanent food and drinks programme shaped by the Crudo team’s Latin American roots, Southern European influences and instinct for warm, generous hospitality.
Alongside that offer, Rocola will host a changing calendar of guest chefs, kitchen residencies, wine tastings, music-led nights and collaborations.
Guests will be able to visit for a glass of wine and plates at the bar, book for a visiting chef, stay late for a music-led night, or return the following week to find the room moving to a different rhythm.
Maria Yanez, Co-Founder of Crudo Group, said: “Rocola is about creating a restaurant that feels alive every time you walk in. We wanted to build a place with its own food, drinks and identity, but also one that could make space for new chefs, ideas and experiences throughout the year.
“The open kitchen is central to that. Guests can see the energy of the room, meet the people cooking for them and feel part of what is happening that night.”
Rocola will launch its residency programme with Dublin-born chef Nico Reynolds, whose cooking brings together Jamaican roots, Irish produce and the influence of years spent living and cooking in Buenos Aires.
Through his pop-up Lil Portie, Reynolds has built a reputation for a bold, personal style of New Caribbean cooking, blending the depth, spice and aroma of the Caribbean with Latin American brightness and an Irish accent.
His food first drew wider attention after Lil Portie featured on Vice Media’s Fck That’s Delicious with Action Bronson, with Reynolds later making regular TV appearances through his own series.
At Rocola, Reynolds will bring that cross-cultural cooking to the open kitchen, with a menu shaped by Caribbean heat, South American zest and a produce-led approach.
Dishes will include prawn causa, summer squash tiradito, aji de gallina tostadas and smashed beetroot salad with coconut and lime leaf.
Heartier plates will include jerk lamb shepherd’s pie coxinha, monkfish and mussels with nduja butter, and patacones with carrots, scotch bonnet and ginger sauerkraut. Mango cheesecake will finish the menu with a tropical note.
Rocola’s own menu will be concise, seasonal and built for sharing, drawing inspiration from Southern Europe and Latin America.
Guests can expect snacks and aperitivo-style bites designed to sit alongside drinks at the bar, including olives, gildas, focaccia and seasonal small plates.
A changing selection of antipasti will move across cured meats, vegetables, seafood and seasonal ingredients, while the centre of the menu will feature smaller sharing dishes and a handful of larger plates.
The menu will remain intentionally short, allowing the kitchen to respond to the best ingredients available and the wider programme taking place in the venue.
Drinks will sit at the heart of Rocola. Building on the team’s work at Tiny Wine, the wine list will focus on producers, stories and bottles the team enjoys drinking, rather than chasing trends or regions for their own sake.
The list will feature around 60 to 80 bottles, supported by a strong by-the-glass selection designed to feel considered but approachable.
Cocktails will also play an important role. Alongside classics such as Margaritas, Palomas and Pisco Sours, the menu will feature house signatures inspired by Latin America and the wider influences that shape the Rocola kitchen.
The venue has been built around a fully open kitchen and bar. From almost every seat in the room, guests will be able to see chefs cooking and bartenders working, making the energy of the team part of the experience.
The space will have a raw, understated feel, with exposed concrete, warm lighting and an industrial edge. It has been designed to feel intimate without being precious, keeping the focus on food, drinks, people and the programme of events.
The open kitchen will also make Rocola a natural home for collaborations, with visiting chefs cooking in the room only a few feet away from the guests they are serving.
Alongside its permanent food and drinks offer, Rocola will host guest chefs, kitchen residencies, takeovers, wine tastings, music-led nights and creative collaborations.
Each residency or collaboration will be shaped by the Rocola team, bringing new people and ideas into the space while keeping the same standard of food, drinks and hospitality.
The ambition is for Rocola to become a place where guests discover their next favourite chef, drink, artist or experience, while still feeling like they are returning to the same house each time.
Rocola will open on Mare Street on Wednesday 8 July, offering a new East London home for open-kitchen dining, Latin warmth, Southern European influence, considered drinks and a rotating programme of chefs, collaborations and events.
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