Rowen Babe

The Philosophy Rowen Babe’s cooking reads from two sources that rarely meet cleanly: farm memory in New Zealand and the pressure of a London kitchen in 2020. The early frame is practical and close to the ground — a childhood spent beside their mother, absorbing the cadence of work and the discipline of food that is grown, gathered, and shared. The later frame is operational, shaped by the demands of leading a brigade in a city dining trade running hot with uncertainty. That range is visible in Babe’s food. The work carries domestic warmth, but it is built with the habits of a chef who has had to hold a kitchen together in unsettled conditions. Memory and management sit side by side.

In Practice Babe’s London career was built kitchen by kitchen, with each appointment marking a different room, neighborhood, and responsibility. From 2012 to 2015, they were head chef at The Henry Root Bistro and Wine Bar in Chelsea, London, United Kingdom. From 2015 to 2017, Babe worked as chef at The Market Café & Les Nénettes in Hackney, London, United Kingdom. From 2017 to 2019, they were chef at Eat17 Restaurant in Walthamstow, London, United Kingdom. Then came The Oslo Bar & Restaurant in Hackney, London, United Kingdom, where Babe worked as chef until 2020. Taken together, those appointments show a career defined by named venues rather than general movement: Chelsea to Hackney, then Walthamstow, back to Hackney, and then Chelsea again for the 2020 role. The cooking is described as all-day, built around Fresh British produce, with invention kept in service of the ingredient rather than layered over it.

In Their Words "These are unprecedented times for the London restaurant scene and I am extremely excited to be leading the kitchen brigade at Hans’ Bar & Grill." The remark lands in the language of the trade: pressure acknowledged, responsibility accepted. Babe is speaking from a moment when London restaurants were under strain, and the emphasis is on the work of leading a brigade through it. The line also sits naturally beside the earlier farm memory — not as sentiment, but as evidence of a food culture learned through repetition, attention, and care.

Signature

Rowen's signature dishes include sticky Korean cauliflower.