Thursday night I went for the first time at Moro, I was invited by my lovely flatmate for a very late birthday celebration (my birthday was in March). She wanted to do something special, and go somewhere I had never been before. After a few months of research, we ended up next to our house, in Exmouth Market in the famous Spanish/North African restaurant Moro. She discovered I had never been there, despite the fact I have been to their sister restaurant: Morito many times. JACKPOT, she found the prefect place to go.
As soon as we arrived we were offered some bread and olive oil. We had a look at the menu and wine list. I thought it was a bit weird you couldn't have tapas served at the table as sides to your meal.
Bread & Olive oil
My flatmate ordered charcoal grilled octopus. I am not a big fan of octopus, which I forgot to tell her. But I tried a little piece, just because I was curious. For a non-lover of octopus, I quite liked it, but I won't be able to have a whole dish on my own. The octopus was well cooked, not too chewy.
It is impossible for me to ignore a dish which contain goat's cheese on a menu, my flatmate knew without asking I was going to order the potato fritter. Potato fritter was cripsy on the outside and soft inside however, I thought they could have put a little bit more goat's cheese in it, or a stronger one. The taste of potato was over powering the goat's cheese. This dish was served with a classic salad if you only judge by what you can see, but the secret is in its dressing. It was a delight, full of flavours, I would have licked my plate to not leave any drops.
Potato fritter with goat's cheese, tomato and zhoug
As a main, my flatmate ordered the wood roasted skate, it came with some rice, cooked in a paella way. Again fish was nicely cooked, flakey inside with a tiny touch of crispiness on the outside.
Wood roasted skate with arroz, prawns, flat beans and samphire
My main was a wood roasted chicken, it was served with a nice and refreshing salad of fried cabbage, thin slices of radishes, tarragon, pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts and tahini yoghurt.
One part of the chicken was perfectly cooked, the other part was a little bit dry. Luckily I used the chicken jus, tahini and salad dressing as a sauce to dip it to be less dry. Raw vegetables added a touch of crunchiness to the dish and went well with the well cooked piece of chicken.
Wood roasted chicken with fried cabbage, radishes, tarragon, pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts and tahini yoghurt
Despite the dry piece of chicken and the over powering potato, I thought dishes were nice. It is all about mix of flavours and texture. Sauces and dressings are all wonderful.
About the service, It was good, we didn't wait too long to be seated or served, but I didn't feel they make you feel special, the place was quite busy, and it seems our waitress was always in the rush and couldn't spend to much time answering questions or recommend wines to match with our meal. Dishes were brought to the table without any details or smile from our waiters. Moro is my flatmates favourite restaurant in London and I know she is very attentive to the quality of service every time she is eating out, so I guess because she has been many times, that night we didn't have probably the most motivated waitress, or she had a bad day, these thing can happen sometimes.
I will probably come back because I liked the food but I hope service will be a bit better if I book an earlier table next time on a less busy night.
7/10
Moro
34 Exmouth Market
EC1R 4QE London
Twitter: @RestaurantMoro
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