Eating Tales

Whilst on our long weekend in London I wanted to visit Moro, the restaurant I have heard a lot about. When we arrived on the Thusday I  looked it up and to my amusement it happens to be located at the Farringdon tube stop where our hotel was.

I called them up to see if I could book a table for two that evening.  I was supprised to find it was fully booked mid week. I was told though that if I called back at half past five we may stand a chance of getting a table outside, which would be allocated to the first people that called through. I was warned that if it rained there would be no alternative options for seating even if we had our food. We decided to risk it and call back for a table outside as the weather was so good.

Come five thirty I picked up the phone to book our table, but it was engaged and I managed to get through at five thirtyfive. Unfortunately all the tables had been taken and no more were available!! We were told our only other option was to sit at the bar and order food from there. We could not book, but would be seated on a first come first served basis. We decided to arrive later in the hope that people would have moved on.

We arrived at nine thirty and were lucky enough to be able to go straight to the bar. The resataurant had such an atmosphere, people appeared to be laughing, joking and celebrating. It most definately was the loudest restaurant I have visited. Yes, there was outside seating, which I had imagined to be in a courtyard garden. But no, they were tables outside the restaurant on the pavement. It reminded me of  people eating out on holiday in Southern Europe. I was actually glad to have not got one of those tables though as to me, it didn’t seem to be the nicest street to be sitting out  in. We sat up at the bar where there were big mirrors attached beween the ceiling  and the wall which gave you full view of the restaurant behind you. To our right at the end of the restaurant was the open kitchen, this added to the bustling atmosphere in the restaurant. We settled for their tapas menu as this seemed more appropriate than a la carte for sitting up at the bar. We ordered a selection including; manchego with membrillo paste (quince paste), spiced roasted chickpeas, marinated sardines, a lentil dish and a plate of cured meats. This was served with a plate of bread, i’m not exactly sure what kind of bread it was, slightly chewey with a soft crust and a dish of extremely good quality olive oil for dipping. It all tasted as fresh as could be and was infact the best tapas we’ve ever had.

They had an interesting selection of desserts. Which I would love to have tasted but was really too full at this stage. An unusual sounding ice-cream caught my eye, rose water and cardamon. Mark was cheeky enough to ask if I could sample a teaspoon of it and amusingly they aggreed and bought over a scoopl of it in a bowl. I really liked it, however Mark was not so sure as he thought it tasted like perfume. The difference is I love turkish delight and Mark can’t bare it. I was really impressed that they seemed so willing to let us have a taste and was half expecting to be charged for a scoop when the bill came through. But we weren’t.

What a great experience, I would love to go back and eat from the a la carte menu. I have learnt my lesson now though and know that I need to be booking well in advance even midweek.

[googlemap lat="51.525862" lng="-0.108846" width="500px" height="300px" zoom="15" type="G_NORMAL_MAP"]Islington, London EC1R, UK[/googlemap]