Rosie Lovell deli Brixton Spooning with Rosie Shingai Shoniwa The Noisettes
12
WORK
LIF E
9 3
A�ONE-DAY�DIARY��
FROM�MORNING�LATTE
TO�LIGHTS�OUT
Rosie Lovell,
deli owner
The 28-year-old started Rosie’s Deli in
Brixton, London, five years ago. She
lives nearby with her flatmate Alice, 27
For the last two years my working day
has been split into two parts: working
in my delicatessen and writing my
cookery book, Spooning With Rosie.
I wake at 8am; it’s always a
struggle to get out of bed. My flat
is two streets away from Rosie’s so
I shower, throw on my comfiest
denim skirt, some Stila cream blush
and a smudge of black eyeliner and
then I’m good to go.
Every morning I go to Brixton
Market and then to buy sausages from
Michael’s Butchers. Next I head to the
Iraqi supermarket to buy yoghurt
and fresh mint. If the market is
bursting with plums I’ll do a plum
upside-down cake that day. I try
to work as much as possible with
what’s in season.
When I get to the deli I put the
music on loud (my morning album
is Skanky Skanky by Toddla T) and
start cooking; soup first and then the
cakes. We open at 10am so it’s pretty
I’d really like to be the next Shingai Shoniwa from The Noisettes. I think she has the most amazing voice and
I love her hair. Music is my biggest passion after cooking, and I especially love going to live gigs. I used to go
busking with my friend Emma Foxall in Leicester Square when we were about 16 years old. We’d sing the
Ralph McTell song Streets Of London and loads of Simon and Garfunkel songs; we got a £10 tip once!
I also used to be in a choir at my school in Buckingham. It was really traditional – we even sang in St Paul’s
cathedral. I used to sing quite a lot but now I just whistle, like one of the seven dwarves. I whistle while I work.
I think people probably find it quite annoying.
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6
full-on – baking, making coffees and
chatting to customers. The clientele is
really eclectic; everyone from Lambeth
councillors and music writers to
Basement Jaxx and Alexa Chung. Our
orange and almond cake is probably
the most popular order. It’s wheatfree,
very delicate and drowned in
orange syrup so it’s really moist.
“I walk through the
market, picking up
ingredients, and then go
home to write and cook”
MY�PLAN�B��SINGER�
ROSIE OPENED HER BUSINESS
AGED ONLY 23 AND PENNED HER
FIRST COOK BOOK (RIGHT) AT 27
My mum used to run
a deli so I think cooking
is just in my blood. As a
child, I made homemade
soup for my dad every day and
pancakes when I got home from
school. Before I even left university
I knew it was the only thing I wanted
to do. Rosie’s is just an extension of
my own kitchen, and is full of personal
belongings from my past.
Around midday my only employee,
Ileana, comes in. We serve the
lunchtime rush together with
Colourama, a great, chilled-out Welsh
band, playing in the background.
At 2pm, I’ll leave her to it. I walk
home through the market, picking
up ingredients for whatever recipe
is whirring through my brain (at
the moment I’m trying Egyptian
flatbreads) and then go home to
write and cook.
As well as my book, I write a blog
about whatever restaurant I’ve just
been to [rosiesdelicafe.blogspot.com].
At the moment I’m obsessed with
Chinese turnip cakes from China
Town. It’s things like that – new
food experiences and the desire to
share them with other people, that
made me want to write a book.
People seem to love the practical and
anecdotal nature of my recipes. There’s
even a section on hangover food.
At about 6pm, I go into Soho and
attempt to avoid Topshop and Beyond
Retro (my weaknesses) on the way to
meet my boyfriend, Raf Rundell. He’s
in a band called Two Bears. He’s a
great cook and my most honest critic.
When we first started going out we
were quite competitive in the kitchen,
he’d critique my sauces and tell me
off for seasoning too much, but now
I think we’ve accepted our roles. He
loves my sweet potato, fennel and
cheddar gratin with a fried egg on top.
After dinner, I curl up on the sofa
with my knitting and a cup of tea,
before usually heading off to bed at
around 11pm. I know
when it’s winter because
I start knitting. It’s like
some internal seasonal
clock. I can only knit
scarves, though! My
mum taught me to
knit, just like she taught
me to cook. She’s my
inspiration. I love Nigel
Slater, too. He makes
everything seem so easy.
I’ve already started compiling
recipes for my next book. I got excited
the other day about this pomelo and
fresh mackerel salad which Raf and
my flatmate Alice both love. I’m really
just a cook, not a natural business
woman – but I love Rosie’s Deli.
Spooning With Rosie is published by
fourth Estate, £11.99
THE NOISETTES’
SHINGAI SHONIWA:
GOOD HAIR, GOOD TUNES
WORDS��AMY�GRIER���PHOTOGRAPHY��DEAN�BELCHER��REX�FEATURES���HAIR�&�MAKE-UP��SARAH�KELLY
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