Rodells – Watford

Nestled in the extra-London suburb of Watford, I came across one evening a very different sort of place. Rodells, perched upon a sleepy residential street’s corner, is a restaurant-cum-bar with a few startling elements which, coming smugly from London – home of hipster cool food quirks – I couldn’t have expected less to discover. Its patron, Mario, an interesting character with roots in art and music, has transformed it into a fluid, creative space where extraordinary food is but one of several surprises to be had.

The venue was decorated by a local art school and hosts bespoke little pieces of street art scattered here and there. Upon one wall is projected an assortment of random films ranging from the sublime, visually stunning nature shorts, to the absurd, Top Cat. The men’s toilet has a bath in it. Occasionally they’ll plant actors in amongst the customers to behave appallingly and shake things up. Why? It’s just that sort of place. 

Rodells’ approach to food is equally unusual. The menu is made up of random tapas sized hodgepodges of international dishes, inspired by Mario’s travels. I absolutely hate fusion, but that isn’t what Rodell’s does – it doesn’t attempt to blend cuisines and each small plate is true to its roots. These disparate cuisines are just…placed together in a sort of culinary UN.

I think I ate the globe that evening. We ranged from West Indian mutton curry to Honduran pork belly and on to delicious Cajun ribs with one side sticky, the other dry rubbed and spicy. Well-crafted dim sum delighted us, before jetting over to Indonesia for some nasi goring.  My highlight from the entire evening was something called ‘Mac ‘n’ Cheese Sushi’. Hating fusion, the title struck fear into my bones, but it turned out to be wonderful – sliced warm mac ‘n’ cheese, creamy and salty, with a naughty little dollop of a wasabi mayonnaise atop. Fabulous – alone, worth the tube trip.