Greetings Sabah People,
Simplicity requires quality and confidence - two ingredients that our friend Anna Tobias has mastered with her London restaurant, Cafe Deco. It’s one of those small, welcoming places where chefs and food experts go to eat. The wine is natural, the dishes are unfussy, and the ingredients are passionately sourced. The menu changes every day. Leek and mushroom frittata. Pumpkin and sage quiche. Everything tastes home cooked, but better.
It’s easy to feel at home at Cafe Deco, and Anna sets the tone: cool, calm, and collected. She fosters an elegant environment that creative people want to spend time in. Cue a visit from our team, naturally drawn to a creative space to head to in our Sabahs and gather over a meal and good bottle of wine. Scroll on to read more about our visit with Anna and her space, written by our friend, Emilie Hawtin, and photographed by Matthew Coles. Enjoy!
Sincerely,
The Sabah Dealer
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Meet Anna.
On our last visit, Anna was downstairs in the open kitchen, cooking and tasting the menu, moving up and down the stairs to serve buckwheat pasta to guests. Before opening Deco, Anna cooked at the River Cafe. You can sense that influence in her ingredient-driven food, but Deco feels closer to what it might be like if Ruthie Rogers cooked for you at home.
“I feel like we have an identity people can trust––they know what they’re going to get. We’ve created a space where everyone feels welcome. Whether it’s our staff or guests, you can be of any age or gender and feel like you’re supposed to be here.”
That sentiment carries through the room, led by Benedict Clancy, formerly of Ducksoup. You’ll find him managing the floor with easygoing precision, guiding guests through natural wines and daily specials with a warm, generous smile. You trust what he and the staff recommend. Everyone is informed, passionate, and genuinely friendly.
“We work with amazing suppliers and producers,” noted Benedict, “they work so hard, harder than you’d imagine, to bring us wines and ingredients. It is such a privilege to know them and to have everything they bring to us at my fingertips, and to share it with others.”
His fluency in natural wine, a main feature at Cafe Deco, could convince even the most old-school regular to convert. He poured a glass of Hunky Dory, made by Dido & Juriaan of Vinyes Tortuga in Empordà, explaining how he attended several of their harvests there. The taste comes from grapes he picked, grown in soil he knows.
Cafe Deco is welcoming by design. They’ve just celebrated five years––an achievement for any restaurant, especially one that opened in 2020. The space feels so inviting and permanent that it’s hard to imagine it any other way than full of its cool, creative crowd. The decor is subtle and considered, modern without feeling trendy. It’s light. Airy. And gently feminine. There are posters by Luke Edward Hall celebrating wine, and delicate line drawings above the tables. The standout feature is the floor: tiny pastel tiles that feel borrowed from another era.
“We wanted it to feel European, and were lucky to work with Michael Marriott who designed the space. He came up with the tile idea,” explains Anna. “I don’t like spaces that are perfect. For example, our deli counter is so ugly on its own. It’s brown and gold. But I think it breaks up the space so nicely and adds charm in a weird way.”
That’s exactly it. Cafe Deco is imperfectly perfect. And it’s a London restaurant we’re always happy to visit.
