Update - 13/8/13 - we've now got full details about the launch.
Back in the day, when Hot Dinners was first starting out, one of the very first news stories we wrote was on a new opening at the end of our road in Islington - which turned out to be the much-lauded Trullo. Now another restaurant is opening on the same parade of shops this summer and promises to be just as popular with the locals.
Billed as a simple neighbourhood rotisserie, LeCOQ will offer a weekly changing, two or three course set menu. Starters might be anything from charred whole broad bean pods with dill crème fraiche to jasmine tea-cured char with beetroot remoulad followed by rotisserie free-range chicken with a seasonal side dish like braised fennel or rainbow chard with pancetta. The chickens, you'll be glad to hear, are English Sutton Hoo chickens from Suffolk. And there'll also be triple-cooked chips too. Puddings might be gooseberry and elderflower custard tart or a range of ice-creams from artisan ice-ream maker Sorbitium who are working with LeCOQ to come up with a range of new flavours just for them.
On Sundays, they'll be adding other roasts - so you can expect to see whole suckling pig, beef shank or a whole sea bass on the rotisserie.
Good news for anyone living close by (we'll try not to come over as too smug) is that there'll also be takeaway menu featuuring the chicken and puddings. Best of all, potatoes roasted in the dripping chicken juices will also be on the take out menu too.
The restaurant will have a short wine list - just four to five white and red wines and also Prosecco on tap. But it will featuring an interesting rosé from Ibiza which isn't sold anywhere else in the UK.LeCOQ is the brainchild of Ana and Sanja Morris – two sisters with 16 years of experience in the restaurant world between them. Sanja founded Salt Yard Group and Ana is a Leith’s-trained chef who has worked at Salt Yard, La Trompette, Bocca di Luppa, Rochelle Canteen and most recently as Head Chef of the hugely successful Silkstone catering company in New York which opened The Fat Radish to great acclaim.
The restaurant will be on two floors - upstairs is the main restaurant with around 40 covers and downstairs will be a private dining room for up to 16 people in which bespoke menus will be created using the rotisserie for any cuts of meats or fish. Ana will be Executive Chef at LeCOQ with Sanja working in a consultancy role.
LeCOQ expects to open in August at 292-294 St Paul's Road, N1. It'll be open from Tuesday to Sunday for lunch and dinner and will not be taking bookings. For more information check back at www.le-coq.co.uk and follow them on Twitter @LeCOQrestaurant
