When Rochelle Canteen Meets Paris’s Ya Lamaï: An Entirely New Kind of Pop-Up

Her consternation was understandable. Unlike the Italian-inflected cuisine of Via Carota, the restaurant from which Henderson and her Rochelle Canteen co-founder Melanie Arnold took inspiration for the first week of At-Home Specials, the brand-new menu for the second week seems a stylistic departure from the food one usually finds at the restaurant. 

Described by W Magazine as “the Paris art world’s favourite chef,” Henderson chose Rose Chalalai-Singh as her muse for week two. Chalalai-Singh owns Ya Lamaï, a Thai restaurant in the 11th arrondissement, known for its distinctive cooking as well as a frequent destination for the fashion set, with Riccardo Tisci, Haider Ackermann and Christophe Lemaire having become regulars over the years. 

“We met when we were cooking together in Paris for Paul Smith. Paul Smith was turning 50 — the business, not the person — and we were asked out there to do the dinner. Big event, all day, big show — and the show was incredible. Rose and I cooked a feast for the guests in this huge lovely theatre in Pigalle, and it was a real treat,” Henderson recalls. “We cooked in her little kitchen, which is down near the Pompidou. Often when we’re traveling we can get stuck in some awful kitchens, miles out, industrialised, but this was really nice and she was just fantastic to work with. We became great friends.”

For her menu, Henderson has borrowed Chalalai-Singh’s recipes and received tips and advice over the phone (“are you sure I should use that much fish sauce?”), with the latter even sending over sobrasada made at her farm in Mallorca, which she visits frequently between running her restaurant and high-end catering firm in Paris.

“Then we’re going down a bit of a Thai route,” she enthuses. “There’s a lobster and lemongrass salad with a spicy sauce, tom yam with mushrooms and meatballs, and a duck curry — but I think it’ll be nice to have a few things, don’t you think? I think if you’re having a takeaway you want a few different things to try.” While she’s a diehard fan of Thai cooking and a huge admirer of those who cook it well, she’s also quick to point out that her take on Thai cuisine is just that — her own interpretation of her friend’s recipes. 

To finish, Henderson is serving Chalalai-Singh’s signature chocolate cake, a favourite of the latter’s seven-year-old son, Gabriel. “We just did a little telly programme recently, a — what do you call it? — Instagram thing together, and we just made this cake at the end. You can see her cooking, where she lives, and she’s so beautiful,” she laughs. “It’s called Margot Eats Rose.”

“It is inspiring working and cooking with different people and getting ideas. And people who like to share, you know — that’s what’s fun.”

Each box serves two people. Some home preparation required.

Premium Box (£150) includes:

• Cocktail: Ginger Kiss Wine
• St John Mâcon-Villages 2017, Chardonnay
• Sobrasada on Toast
• Mixed Mushroom Salad with Tamarind Sauce
• Lobster, Brown Shrimp, Leaves & Lemon Grass Salad
• Pork Meatball & Mushroom Tom Yam
• Red Duck, Carrot & Green Tomato Curry
• Fried Jasmine Rice
• Braised Eggplant, Coriander & Sesame
• Gabriel’s Chocolate Cake
• Table decoration item hand-selected by Rochelle Canteen

Standard Box (£80) includes:

• Sobrasada on Toast
• Mixed Mushroom Salad with Tamarind Sauce
• Lobster, Brown Shrimp, Leaves & Lemon Grass Salad
• Pork Meatball & Mushroom Tom Yam
• Red Duck, Carrot & Green Tomato Curry
• Fried Jasmine Rice
• Braised Eggplant, Coriander & Sesame
• Gabriel’s Chocolate Cake

Menu subject to minor seasonal changes.

The Resy At Home Specials takeout package will be available for collection or delivery from Rochelle Canteen, only on Resy, on Saturdays (7, 14, 21, 28) throughout November. The Ya Lamaï-inspired package will be available for collection or delivery on Saturday 14th November. To buy your ticket, click here. 

David Paw is Resy’s International Editor — follow him on Instagram. Follow Resy, too.