Chef Max Rocha discusses his upcoming book, which highlights his simple food with Irish influences at London&rsquo;s Caf&eacute; Cecilia.

The fashion crowd helped make Caf&eacute; Cecilia one of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/art/best-fall-2024-museum-exhibits">London</a>&rsquo;s buzziest restaurants when it opened along a stretch of Regent&rsquo;s Canal overlooking colorful barges and converted warehouses in 2021. Thirty-four-year-old chef Max Rocha is the son of Chinese-Irish designer John Rocha and the brother of <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/simone-rocha-spring-summer-2025-lfw">Simone Rocha</a> (who created the caf&eacute;&rsquo;s chicly oversized dark navy uniforms). Caf&eacute; Cecilia&rsquo;s namesake is Rocha&rsquo;s Hong granny from <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/fashion/lofficial-art-makes-debut-art-basel-hong-kong-2023">Hong Kong</a>, Cecilia, who scrimped and saved to buy John a plane ticket to London, where he would launch a fashion dynasty. But it&rsquo;s Max&rsquo;s focus on what he calls &ldquo;<a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop-culture/viral-food-trends-tiktok-feta-pasta-dalonga-coffee">simple food</a>&rdquo;&mdash;delicious and unfussy dishes such as boiled eggs on toast with Coolea cheese and tagliatelle with girolle mushrooms&mdash;that have given the East London eatery its staying power. Max trained at top London white-cloth establishments like the Michelin-starred River Caf&eacute; and Skye Gyngell&rsquo;s Spring. At Caf&eacute; Cecilia, Rocha has remixed a focus on farm-fresh ingredients with homey family recipes from his Irish mother, Odette. L&rsquo;OFFICIEL chatted with Max about the new Caf&eacute; Cecilia Cookbook [which came out from Phaidon Press in September], the changes he&rsquo;d like to see in kitchen culture, and how watching Arsenal can be an act of self-care.

The “Café Cecilia Cookbook” cover

We&rsquo;re serious here, but we also have fun. There&rsquo;s a certain level that you need to be at to work in this kitchen.

L&rsquo;O: I have to admit, much of what I know of restaurant life comes from <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/film-tv/molly-gordon-the-bear-interview-2024">The Bear</a>. Are kitchens really like that?
MAX ROCHA: Caf&eacute; Cecelia is not a very textbook kitchen. We&rsquo;re not that chef-y.
L&rsquo;O: What is chef-y?
MR: Chefy is very, &ldquo;Yes, chef.&rdquo; &ldquo;No, chef.&rdquo;&lsquo;I&rsquo;m on the line, chef.&rdquo; All that stuff. To anyone who works in my kitchen, I&rsquo;m just Max.
L&rsquo;O: It sounds like a much more enjoyable work environment. MR: We&rsquo;re serious here, but we also have fun. There&rsquo;s a certain level that you need to be at to work in this kitchen. I won&rsquo;t shout or be passive aggressive, but I will say, &ldquo;You need to do this faster.&rdquo; Once you get there, then you&rsquo;ll have a great time.
L&rsquo;O: You&rsquo;ve just published your first cookbook. What is your favorite recipe?
MR: The smoked haddock chowder is my favorite at the moment. It&rsquo;s served with toasted Guinness bread, which is a Caf&eacute; Cecilia staple. It&rsquo;s a really easy <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/beauty/most-handsome-guys-in-the-world-irish-paul-mescal-colin-farrell-barry-keoghan">Irish</a> soda bread recipe passed down from my granny Margaret: Guinness, buttermilk, and the best quality wholemeal flour. I also love making fresh pasta. It&rsquo;s very meditative. Cooking it is so fun, too. It&rsquo;s like you&rsquo;re dancing.
L&rsquo;O: Your sister followed your father into fashion. Did you always want to have your own restaurant?
MR: Obviously Simone&rsquo;s quite a successful designer and so was my dad back in the day. I always struggled with finding what I wanted to do. Growing up, I thought I wanted to work in music. I DJed at my dad&rsquo;s shows when I was a kid and at Simone&rsquo;s when she started her line. I got a job in music management, but I found that dealing with bands&rsquo; expectations was just too much pressure.
L&rsquo;O: How did you make the pivot to cooking professionally?
MR: I decided to take some time off. My mum and I booked a baking course, and I discovered that the smell of fresh bread makes me feel safe. From there, I emailed every restaurant in London and got accepted as a stage at Spring. When I stepped into the kitchen I knew that this is where I was supposed to be. I wasn&rsquo;t that good&mdash;and I&rsquo;m still not&mdash;but I found that I like working as a team.

The Café Cecilia dining room, photo by Matthieu Lavanchy.

I want to set a good example for the young chefs coming into my kitchen.

L&rsquo;O: A lot of people would probably disagree with that assessment.
MR: We&rsquo;ve gotten recognition now at Caf&eacute; Cecilia for our simple food, which is amazing. That&rsquo;s actually the message that I want to send with the Caf&eacute; Cecilia Cookbook: how simple food can be made nice. You know those stir-fry bags you can buy in the supermarket, where you get your chicken, your vegetables, and your sauce, and you just put everything in the pan? Ten years ago when I was working in the music industry, that was my vibe. Now I have my own restaurant, and some of my heroes come in to eat like Ruthie [Rogers of The River Caf&eacute;] and Angela [Hartnett of Murano].
L&rsquo;O: I imagine getting Caf&eacute; Cecilia to a place where <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/men/mory-sacko-french-chef-restaurant-mosuke-louis-vuitton">Michelin-starred chefs</a> make bookings was not without its challenges.&nbsp;
MR: When I opened Caf&eacute; Cecilia, I overworked myself and I burnt out. I took too many substances to cope and I just scraped through that first year. I&rsquo;m in recovery, and I&rsquo;ve been sober for two years. Work-life balance is really important for me now.
L&rsquo;O: How do you practice self-care?
MR: I don&rsquo;t work nights anymore. And I&rsquo;ve got hobbies again. I love watching football. I support Arsenal, but I&rsquo;ll watch any match. It&rsquo;s so relaxing. I&rsquo;ve also really gotten into <a href="https://www.lofficielusa.com/pop-culture/lil-nas-x-nyc-half-marathon-coach">running</a>. I just ran a half marathon for an addiction charity. I want to set a good example for the young chefs coming into my kitchen.
L&rsquo;O: How do you support your team&rsquo;s physical and mental wellbeing?
MR: I know these guys have to work nights, but no one works more than two or three [per week]. When they do, I make sure they have a later start the next day. I&rsquo;ve also got a no-hangover policy now [meaning if you have a hangover, don&rsquo;t come to work]. I find that hangovers can create a very narky [British term for irritable] environment. I think that&rsquo;s step one to getting a nice kitchen.
L&rsquo;O: What are some of the other changes you&rsquo;d like to see in kitchen culture?
MR: I don&rsquo;t believe in rigid hierarchy. We have a head chef and a sous chef, but everyone does everything. It&rsquo;s really important that if you know how to prep meat, you can also churn ice cream. I&rsquo;m also learning not to make it too much about me. I invite everyone to show me new dishes. If they&rsquo;re good, we&rsquo;ll try them on the specials board. If they&rsquo;re really good, we&rsquo;ll put them on the menu. It&rsquo;s not just my name, my restaurant, my cookbook.

Max Rocha in the Café Cecilia kitchen, photo by Jacob Lillis. All photos courtesy of Phaidon Press.

Chef Max Rocha's New Cookbook Focuses On Simplicity

Chef Max Rocha's New Cookbook Focuses On Simplicity

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