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.

Chef Max Rocha's New Cookbook Focuses On Simplicity

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