Moro

[tony h]

Moro – Saturday 4 May

In true cabrales style I asked for a menu.  Here it is (slightly abridged).

Starters

Ajo blanco – cold almond soup with white grapes – 4 pounds

Pan fried sweetbreads w lemon & cardamom – 6 pounds

Charcuteria w paprika & salad – 6 pounds

Warm borlotti beans & artichoke w flatbread – 6.50 pounds

Charcoaled sardines w harissa – 6 pounds

Eel adobo w rocket & lemon – 6 pounds

Main

Wood roasted quail with couscous & salads – 14 pounds

Charcoal grilled lamb with milk braised vegetables – 15 pounds

Charcoal grilled turbot w chard & walnut tarator – 14.50 pounds

Wood roast pork belly w black beans, peppers & green beans – 15 pounds

Wood roasted scallops w chickpeas & spinach – 15.50 pounds

Moroccan salads w anise bread – 11 pounds

Deserts

Chocolate & apricot tart – 4 pounds

Rosewater & cardamom ice cream – 4 pounds

Yoghurt cake w pistachios – 4 pounds

Mango sorbet – 4 pounds

Malagan raise ice cream – 4 pounds

Picos de Europa, cremosotis de zujar and zamarano cheeses w membrillo – 5 pounds

First thing – they booked us for the wrong night - but it wouldn’t be a problem if we finished by 9pm.  Bread waitress served us some wonderful bread – slightly ruined by the fact that she was chewing gum.  The place itself is quite informal, welcoming & relaxing.  The from open kitchen wonderful wood smells filled the place.  

Starters – we had the almond soup & warm borlotti & artichoke salad.  The almond soup was simply wonderful – creamy, refreshing & not overpowering.  Towards the end of the dish it became less pleasant as the larger particles of ground almonds having sunk left a not too welcoming grittiness in the mouth.  Perhaps passing it though a slightly finer sieve would enhance this promising starter.  I had the warm salad which OK rather than good – they skimped on the artichokes & overpowered the dressing with dill.

Mains – roast lamb & scallops.  The wood roast lamb wonderfully cooked with a not overpowering woody flavour.  It was nice and succulent.  The accompanying braised veg in milk was also wonderful but there simply wasn’t enough of it – there was too much lamb & not enough vegetables.  The rocket salad was undressed & a bit too peppery for the rest of the dish.  I had the roasted scallops which were faultlessly prepared (they came with the coral – a plus).  The chickpea & spinach was simple, lemony & buttery.  Very good.

Deserts.  I had the cardamom & rosewater ice cream – this was quite disappointing – the combination had a musty aftertaste & not too my liking.  My partner had the chocolate & apricot tart.  This was easily the star of the meal – it looked heavy & sticky but nothing could have been further from the truth – it was light, airy and melted on contact with your tongue.  Truly astonishing.

Wines – the wine list was entirely Spanish and seemed reasonably priced.  As we were driving it was a couple of glasses by the glass – I didn’t pay much attention so nothing really to report here.

Overall – it’s the kind of place to take friends where you want to have a good time with the food as a backdrop rather than it being centre stage.  It was very relaxed with a great atmosphere but you could easily have a not so great meal if you weren’t careful when choosing.    Cost - 71 pounds.

6/10 would be a reasonable score.

[Matthew Grant]

Smashing lunch at Moro on Friday. Started with an excellent plate of Joselito Iberico, on the tapas menu it is listed as "Joselito Jamon Iberico '99", Can it really be that old or is it just an old menu? It certainly tasted a touch above the stuff I often buy from Brindisa (who also supply here), a slightly sweeter taste perhaps?

Aubergine Salad with chilli, mint and Labneh was three thick slices of aubergine grilled with chilli and mint on top and served with great creamy textured Labneh with a pleasant acidity. Charcoal grilled squid with harissa could have perhaps been charred a little more but the lack of fierce heat seemed to aid its texture and it remained tender throughout eating. The harissa had a decent amount of chilli heat and a great smoky flavour, superb.

Roast chicken fattee with chickpea pilav, parsley, walnuts, pomegranate and yoghurt was another great dish, the rice being particularly good with plenty of dark chicken meat. Wood roasted brill with prawns, saffron rice and alioli again hit all the right spots, an excellent piece of Brill taking on the flavour from the oven well, the small prawns came as part of the excellent rice which showed a suitably light touch with the saffron, and good alioli although I would have preferred a little more garlic.

Chocolate and Apricot tart was a little disappointing, I'm rarely a fan of chocolate and fruit together and this was no exception, I'm not sure why the accompanying yoghurt was required either.

With a couple of glasses of cava, a Massaya Silver Selection '03, and a Sanfir Crianza , Bodegas Casa del Venta del Moro '02 the bill came to around £135 and, refreshingly, service (which was good) wasn't included.

A return visit is needed sooner rather than later, I'm not sure why I had left it so long since the last time!

[Matthew Grant]

Judging by the full tables Moro is as popular as ever and its easy to see why. Easy going food, nothing pretentious. In fact I'd go as far to say that most stuff here can be cooked by a competent home cook.

Chestnut and Chorizo soup was as good as ever, quail came with grapes, orange and ginger and Trid, a thin pastry that probably didn't need to be there. Surprisingly large quail as well.

Roast Chicken with Winter Tabbouleh and Lamb with Patatas Bravas and Aioli both benefited from being cooked in the wood fired oven. Raisin ice cream and Sherry trifle were satisfying ways to finish off a casual but good meal.

Edited December 10, 2007 by Matthew Grant (log)

[ravelda]

Thanks for the review Matthew - I havn't been for ages and was stuck between Moro and a couple of other places - on the back of your review think I will try and get down again

[offcentre]

I made the chestnut and chorizo soup at the weekend actually - with fresh chestnuts and brindisa chorizo. It was absolutely marvellous.

Just thought I'd tell you that.

[RDB]

Really good night here on Monday. Sat at bar and ate a selection of the usual tapas, caperberries, olives, maize kernals, Jamon, pata bravas, chorizo, syrian lentils etc etc. The bread is really something special. Some very good wines by the glass and not to mention the sherries. Was unaware, i.e. not told, that the main menu could be ordered from the bar, so had a squid and harissa dish, which was very good, and a calves liver and pomegranate dish, again very good.

My daughter loved it, both food and service, and the atmosphere was amazing. Have not been to many places on a Monday night that has been so busy with such a good atmosphere.