Last Updated on August 7, 2026
Serving up Latin American sharing plates in London Fields
4.6 out of 5.0 starsRocola Studio sits in the heart of Hackney, in London Fields. Don’t be put off by the location. It is, in fact, unexpectedly easy to get to, only three stops from Liverpool Street on the Overground’s Weaver line. It’s where we went to try out their latest chef’s residency: Nico Reynolds, who blends his Irish and Caribbean roots with his time in Argentina. On paper, this might seem like too much of a mix of flavours, but it worked beautifully.
Rocola means jukebox in Spanish. And, like playing a jukebox, Rocola Studio serves up a different chef’s residency, with ever-changing Latin-American-inspired flavours from the chefs who come to set up a kitchen there.
It’s a small space; tunes play quietly in the background. The seating is wrapped around the central open kitchen; the exposed concrete walls give it industrial vibes, and soft lighting offers a more intimate mood. If you’re going to Rocola, sit at the counter. Watching Nico at work with his minimal team was mesmerising. There was fluidity and mastery as we watched Nico put together two or three dishes at a time.
Before we got down to the business of ordering food, we had to decide on our cocktails. Rocola’s founders, Maria Yanez and Carlos Socorro, are the team behind Crudo Cocina Latina. The drinks menu, created by Tiny Wine, runs to 60 to 80 bottles with a strong by-the-glass selection. The cocktail menu had all the classics: margaritas, palomas and pisco sours inspired by Latin American flavours. My passionfruit mezcal paloma was perfect with just the right amount of sweet balanced against just the right amount of sour, a great accompaniment to what we had just ordered.
At Rocola it’s sharing plates. I’ve been sniffy about sharing plates, having never felt fully satisfied with my quota. At Rocola, our three small plates and one large were more than enough. Going to a place like Rocola Studio is a chance for me to step out of my flavour comfort zone, and this menu was perfect for that. The menu is small, which is always a good sign. A lot of thought had gone into making all the dishes work together. Looking through the ingredients, it was evident that Nico’s heritage played a strong part in his choices.
We started with the plantain purée, spiked with a ginger sauerkraut and a hit of scotch bonnet pepper. It reads as though it shouldn’t work, but it absolutely did. The ginger and chilli offered different kinds of heat, bringing the plantain to life, while the sauerkraut added texture and a hint of sourness to offset the plantain’s natural sugars.
The plates at Rocola Studio came one at a time, and this was absolutely fine. With all these flavours, I just wanted to appreciate each plate as it arrived.
Next up was the beetroot, not the purple kind, but smashed golden and candied beetroot with pickled fennel, flavoured with honey and thyme on whipped coconut. With golden and candied beetroot, you don’t get the earthiness of the average purple beetroot; the flavours here were subtle, yet complex with a satisfying bite. I had to be given a spoon to slurp up every morsel of the whipped coconut.
There was a tough choice to be made. I knew I wanted seafood, though both the miso pork and the jerked lamb were equally as tempting. We settled on the blanched Argentine prawns, which were tender and meaty, served on a bed of potato purée laced with a prawn-oil, garlicky mayonnaise. This is the kind of dish that really sings to me.
The final dish was monkfish and mussels. The mussels were of excellent quality, succulent, still tasting of the sea, and the grilled monkfish was firmly sweet, not falling apart like other fish, served with potatoes and an ‘nduja cream.
At the start of the meal I had been eyeing up a dessert; I felt the Irish coffee granita had my name on it. But after four plates of delicious food with a carnival of flavours, I was too full for another morsel. So it was back on the Overground to head home and think about the next time I might venture to London Fields, Hackney, to sample more Latin-American-inspired cuisine at Rocola Studio.
Rocola Studio
143 Mare Street
London Fields
London E8 3RH
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