At London’s Café Deco, Anna Tobias Makes the Case for Seasonal Simplicity
Anna Tobias feels strongly about the food she cooks at Café Deco. That may seem obvious, but it’s an essential part of running a restaurant. Over the past five years, Tobias has built an identity based on simple dishes made with high-end, seasonal products, most of which come from nearby British farms.
“I look at the way we cook, and the ingredients we use, and I feel like I couldn’t cook another way,” the London-based chef tells Observer, sitting at a dining table in the intimate restaurant in May. The Bloomsbury-set eatery, formerly a greasy spoon, has a boutique vibe that feels both chic and lived in. “I find a lot of restaurants cookie-cutter, with the same dim lights,” she says. “It could be anything and you could be anywhere. Same with the menu. You go and you’re like, ‘I could be here, or I could be someplace in Copenhagen or New York or wherever.’ There’s no identity.”
Café Deco’s focus mirrors Tobias’ own, drawing on her history as a chef in London at well-known restaurants like The River Café and Rochelle Canteen. She’s laid-back but serious, much like the food, which steers clear of fussy preparations. The menu changes every week based on what the purveyors have available (they frequently send her a list of what’s being harvested), and sometimes Tobias pops a new dish on for the day. Maybe it’s a plate of boiled spring vegetables doused with salsa rustica. Perhaps a perfectly-cooked piece of trout with an herb sauce. Or possibly the season’s first British asparagus, steamed and drizzled with hollandaise—a memorable standout available for only a few weeks each year.
“I like the creative challenge of the menu,” Tobias says. “We do have some staples, and they might repeat throughout the year. But in asparagus season, you just have to go for it. And we’re not making unusual dishes.” Instead, the approach is classic and simple—but that doesn’t mean boring. The menu is thoughtful and emphasizes the inherent flavor of what’s on the plate. “I don’t particularly intend to challenge my guests with my food,” Tobias says.
Tobias has loved cooking since she was a teenager, but she didn’t plan on becoming a chef. “I always thought I’d be a teacher,” she laughs. “And I guess I still am, in a different way.” She studied languages at university, but as she got closer to graduation, she began reconsidering her career path. She mailed handwritten letters to a few chefs and restaurants she liked, hoping one might hire her. A few responded, and Tobias accepted a job at Blueprint Café, working for Jeremy Lee, in 2008.
At the time, Tobias felt like there were very few female chefs in London working in more high-end restaurants.
“Certainly at Blueprint I was the only female chef,” she remembers. “But while it was all male, it wasn’t necessarily high testosterone in that way. And that was normal in the industry, so I didn’t think loads of it. As a younger chef, I would carry things that were just too heavy for me because I wanted to prove myself. But there’s no shame in asking someone to help you with something. Now, I’m happy to ask for help.”
After Blueprint, Tobias applied to Chelsea’s Italian mainstay The River Café. It was the only place she sent an application to; she got the job and ended up staying for three years. “It was very iconic,” Tobias says. “It still is. And it was run by two women. I had eaten there and I really loved the simplicity of the food.” When she left, it was for another female-led kitchen, this time at Rochelle Canteen.
For Tobias, working as head chef under Margot Henderson at Rochelle Canteen was a particularly transformative moment in her career. Although it was Henderson’s vision, Tobias was encouraged to write her own menus and explore her own ideas. “Obviously, it had to be within the realm of what [Henderson] wanted, but she was generous at allowing you to express yourself, as well,” Tobias says. “I’m very grateful to her for that because I think that’s how I developed my own voice.”
She adds of Henderson, “I don’t think she gets enough credit for that because she’s had lots of different head chefs over the years. Each head chef puts their own little stamp on it, but Rochelle still very much remains her aesthetic. Her presence is still very much felt.”
It was only a matter of time before Tobias opened her own restaurant. She had worked with Bermondsey wine bar and shop 40 Maltby Street for several years, so a collaboration felt natural. “I can’t even remember who approached who at this point,” she says. “But we had a conversation at some point saying, ‘Would we all like to do something together?’ The caveat was they didn’t actually want to work in the new place, but they wanted another space where they could sell their wine. They are people I respect and trust, and they trusted me to get on with it, so it suited everyone.”
Tobias remembers looking at “so many sites” around London. She wasn’t tied to a specific neighborhood, but she liked the idea of being away from East London. Story Street, a quiet, tree-lined road in Bloomsbury, is accessible to most London areas. Plus, the space was a blank slate, which ended up being both a blessing and a curse. “I love my restaurant—it’s very beautiful, but it was so stressful,” Tobias admits. Instead of working with a project manager, she took on most of the logistical work, and it ended up being a lot to handle. “Working and dealing with contractors is very stressful.”
By happenstance, Café Deco opened in the middle of a lockdown. It was far enough along in its launch process that Tobias couldn’t delay the contracts for any longer after Covid-19 hit. It debuted in November 2020, right when the U.K. went into its second lockdown. “It was really heartbreaking,” Tobias says. “We had to open as a deli, selling sandwiches, which wasn’t my dream. I felt like, ‘This is not what this is supposed to be.’”
Once Café Deco was able to invite diners inside, it felt like a sigh of relief. Tobias remembers the first menu like it was yesterday: steamed brill with a fennel butter sauce, beef bourguignon, root vegetable and Lancashire cheese pie, steamed ginger pudding and egg mayonnaise. The latter, a classic French offering, has remained on the menu. She’s stuck with those sorts of dishes, which she describes as “broadly European,” ever since. Most ingredients arrive fresh daily and come from small, organic farms.
“My food is really simple and I’m really proud that it’s simple, but what that means is that the quality of the ingredient has to be amazing,” she explains. “Because if it’s not amazing, then the food is never going to be amazing. Our job is to get the best out of the ingredient and to treat it carefully. When food is simple, the small details matter because you can’t hide anything.”
Sometimes, Tobias taps into her half-Serbian heritage with an Eastern European-inspired offering or encourages her chefs, who come from countries including Poland and Slovakia, to suggest something. “What I took from working for Margot is that I really enjoy other people contributing to the menu,” she notes. “It keeps everyone happy and engaged, and then they have a little bit of ownership over the menu, too.”
Hospitality can be a tough industry, and Tobias always wants her team to be happy. Besides the food, the thing she’s most proud of at Café Deco is the positive culture she’s fostered. “I think we’re very sustainable in that way,” she says. “I’ve often found myself saying something along the lines of, ‘I’m lucky to have had good experiences in the kitchen.’ And I don’t think that should be lucky. That should be standard.” She knows the importance of mental well-being, and always offers time off to take care of personal issues. “One of the first things I say is that no one has to come forward with a problem, but they can if they want to,” she says.
Although Café Deco is nearing its fifth birthday, the restaurant has still largely flown under the radar. It didn’t have a big, buzzy opening because of Covid, so growth has been slow and steady. Tobias wants to be as consistent as possible and to keep the standard high, but having a good work-life balance is essential.
“There’s a part of me that sometimes is like, ‘Okay cool, I could probably create another [restaurant],’” she admits. “But actually, it was so horrendous opening a restaurant. It’s the worst thing in the world. And I’m actually starting to get some balance. So I have to remind myself that maybe I can be happy with that.”
Occasionally, Tobias worries that she’s created constraints for herself within the restaurant. Could she add ham and eggs to the menu, and have it be at the same level? She knows she’s set a specific tone at Café Deco, but cultivating a particular concept also means being flexible when necessary.
“I don’t think you can afford to be too stubborn,” Tobias says. “If I felt like it was to the detriment of the business, then I would pivot. You have to be responsible. But as long as people are enjoying it, I want to stick with my vision.”
