The New Morito Hackney Road - Bigger and Bolder

Name: Morito Hackney Road

Where: 195 Hackney Road, London, E2 8JL, www.moritohackneyroad.co.uk

Cost: Average spent per person is £35 (not including drinks or service). The menu consists of small eats to share, and the recommendation is to start with 3 small plates per person, plus a portion of bread (£2.50), followed by dessert. Small eats are priced from £6 to £12. 

Wines are served by the glass, 500ml carafe and bottle. The house red and white wines are available on tap - Spanish Verdejo and Tempranillo  (£4 per glass, £15 per carafe). 

About: Opened in March 2016, this new branch of Morito in hipster Hackney, just over the road from the Columbia Road flower market, is much larger and can accommodate many more diners than the original restaurant on Exmouth Market.

It features a stunning ‘U’ shaped central bar with an elevated counter for those who prefer to dine there, as well as a total of 70 covers on tables scattered around the restaurant.

With an open-plan kitchen overlooking the restaurant like at Moro, polished concrete floors, simple wooden tables with cushioned aluminium chairs, the look is clean and industrial, and with plenty of natural light. Morito Hackney Road is a lively, buzzing place for lunch or dinner.

Tables are allocated for a maximum of 90 minutes, so Morito is not the place for a relaxed long lunch or dinner.

The staff are super-helpful, efficient and well informed though, and we got through our dinner without feeling in any way rushed.

What We Ate: The menu is divided into 5 sections and changes daily. There are only a few options per section, which should make it easy to order, though on our visit I was tempted by so many of the menu items that I struggled to make my choices!  

From the ‘para picar’ (appetizer) section, we ordered the bread basket (£2.50), which included a delicious and warm, freshly baked flat bread that worked a treat with the labneh, a thick and creamy Greek yoghurt, spiked with chillies and charred corn (£7), our choice from the ‘vegetable’ section. With a scattering of fennel and coriander seeds, and a pesto of parsley, as well as fragrant chilli oil, this was deliciously fresh and zingy.

From the meat offerings, we chose three dishes. The chicharrones (£7.50), an Andalucian specialty also popular throughout Latin America, are crispy pieces of fried pork belly – Morito’s version was sweet and tender, and I loved the addition of a simple dressing of cumin and lemon that cut through the fattiness and gave the pork such a lift.

The least promising of the dishes (Dr G’s choice, which I had to go along with), was in fact the best dish of the night. Fried rabbit (£7.50) was nothing short of a revelation - crispy rabbit morsels on the bone, seasoned with a fantastically aromatic dressing of rosemary and moscatel vinegar, lemon and sea salt.

The third meat option was the baked courgettes flowers with jamon and Manchego (£7). I found this disappointing in flavour, presentation and portion size – I could not detect any jamon, and the flower was of the type that did not have the baby courgette attached. I just wish I had ordered another portion of rabbit at virtually the same price!

From the fish section, we ordered two dishes. The slow-cooked cuttlefish with chickpeas and fino sherry (£11) came with flakes of red chilli and a scattering of Mediterranean herbs. I enjoyed the dish – the cuttlefish was super-tender and delicious, the chickpeas were soft, waxy and had a lovely texture. The only snag for me though was the overpowering and pungent smell (of offal I think, even though there was no offal in the dish as far as I am aware).

A much fresher option was the grilled mackerel, which came with tangy beetroot, walnuts and a sweet and aromatic borani (a Persian or Turkish yoghurt dip) flavoured with dill and tarragon (£9.50).  This was excellent –the fresh herbs and beetroot cut through the oiliness of the mackerel, it had great flavours and textures, and in all was a very well put together dish.

To finish our carafe of red wine, we shared the cheese platter dessert (£6.50).  With Zamorano and Fuente Los Angeles cheeses and membrillo, this was a classic combination of mature and well-flavoured hard sheep’s milk cheese and blue cheese, served with miniature biscuits.

For dessert proper, we shared a delicious fruit salad (£7), but not as we know it - this had crispy pieces of filo pastry, with sweetened labneh flavoured with gum mastic (a Turkish tree sap), slices of fig and peach and fresh green pistachios. I was so pleased to have ordered this – it had everything going for it – texture from the filo pastry, creaminess from the labneh, sweetness and freshness from the ripe fruit. A real winner.

What We Drank: We started off with a lovely bone-dry Manzanilla Gabriella sherry, from Bodegas Sanchez Ayala (£5 per glass). 

With the main meal, we shared a 500ml carafe of Garnacha 'El Marciano' from Alfredo Maestro 2015 (£24). Medium bodied, this had ripe cherry and plum fruit and soft tannins.

Likes: I love the extra space, the deep fried rabbit with rosemary and muscatel vinegar was the highlight. The chicharrones, labneh, cheese platter and dessert were all very good. Well-informed, efficient and friendly staff, what a joy to see this in London, and particularly in Hackney. 

Dislikes: The baked courgette flower with jamon and Manchego was the weakest link. 

Verdict: Super-fresh, zingy and delicious Mediterranean and Middle-Eastern flavours, I thoroughly enjoyed the food and service at Morito Hackney Road, and highly recommend it. 

Gonzalez Byass Sherry Feast Menu at Morito

Name: Gonzalez Byass and Morito

Where: Morito, 32 Exmouth Market, London, EC1R 4QE, http://morito.co.uk/

Cost: £50 per person including 6 courses of 9 tapas dishes, accompanying sherries and service. The menu is available only on Sundays, with sittings at 5pm and 7.30pm.

About: Gonzalez Byass has teamed up with Morito, one of my favourite tapas bars in London (reviewed here), to create a Morito Sherry Feast Menu.

Designed to highlight Gonzalez Byass’ range of Spanish sherries from Fino to Pedro Ximenez, with some top notch tapas.

What We Ate and Drank: The menu kicks off with a glass of Tio Pepe Fino. Pale gold in colour, with savoury aromas, this is bone dry, crisp and light in body. Traditionally partnered with salted almonds, at Morito it was served with 4 different tapas including marinated olives, smoked Marcona almonds and a delicious pan con tomate (sourdough bread topped with chopped tomatoes, avocado and anchovy).

The fino was also served with some heartier starters including a delectable clams with grilled leeks, parsley and garlic, and baked bacalhao (salted cod) with potatoes, thyme and paprika.

Next came a glass of Tio Pepe Fino 'En Rama'. Bottled unfiltered and unclarified, this sherry is about as close as you can get in London to drinking the sherry straight from the cask. Pale gold, it had a richer, more complex nose than the Fino, and was served with a generous tuna confit in olive oil and sweet onions.

Amontillado sherries are allowed some contact with air to give partial oxidation during their maturation, and Gonzalez Byass 'Del Duque' , aged for 30 years through the solera system, was no exception. With a rich amber colour, caramel and creamy vanilla aromas, this was a superb dry sherry. Morito partnered it with a delicious dish of seared oyster mushrooms with pancetta Iberica, fresh oregano and Marcona almonds. My favourite dish of the evening.

Next up was a glass of Palo Cortado. These sherries are initially aged under a layer of 'flor' yeast, which imparts a savoury character, but then the yeast is removed to permit a degree of oxidation. The 30 year old Apostales Palo Cortado was a deep amber colour, with aromas of dried fruits, cedar and caramel. Showing great depth of flavour and concentration, this delicious sherry was served with charcoal-grilled horn peppers and secreto Iberico - a particularly succulent cut of Iberico pork (solely fed on acorns, giving the meat a deliciously marbled, nutty quality).

Moving on to the sweeter end of the sherry spectrum, in which Pedro Ximenez (PX) grapes are used in addition to the Palomino varietal, the penultimate wine was a magnificent Matusalem Oloroso Dulce. Aged for over 30 years, this luscious sherry had sweet raisin and fig flavours, balanced by savoury Oloroso characteristics of spice and candied peel, giving a drink of great complexity.  This was expertly matched with a couple of fine Spanish cheeses – Romero (a goats cheese from Murcia) and Picos de Europa (a bold and salty blue cheese from Castile-Leon). The combination of sweet sherry and salty cheese was delicious, and one I look forward to trying again at home.

Finally, with Morito's deliciously simple signature dessert of Malaga raisin ice cream, we were served a glass of Noe – 100% PX. Again aged for 30 years, this viscous sherry had a deep brown colour, and flavours of dried fruit, spice and treacle. Sweet and richly complex, this was a great end to the meal. Despite its age and pedigree, I poured a little over the ice cream and it made an excellent partner.  I was surprised by the freshness of this PX – it was not cloyingly sweet as so many can be, and this reflected the long oak-aging of the sherry.

Morito has a fine spread of sherries on its regular drinks list, including fino, manzanilla, amontillado, palo cortado, oloroso and pedro ximenez options, so it is well worth dropping in to try them. 

Likes: It was great to try the full range of sherries from the driest to the sweetest in one meal. I loved the Tio Pepe with baked salted cod, the Spanish cheeses with sweet Oloroso, and the sweet but refreshing Pedro Ximenez over the Malaga raisin ice cream.  

Dislikes: I love Morito on Exmouth Market but we hardly had space to breath in it!

Verdict: Every time I drink sherry, I think I should have it more often. There is such a spectrum of flavours and it is an ideal partner to Spanish and Japanese food, as well as other cuisines. Recommended. 

Lobos - The Wolf of Borough High Street

Name: Lobos Meat and Tapas

Where: 14 Borough High Street, London, SE1 9QG, http://lobostapas.co.uk/

About: Opened in 2015, this Spanish tapas and sherry joint is tucked away in a railway arch of London Bridge station. A decidedly cosy spot, it is hard to believe how much has been shoe-horned into a rather unpromising space. There is a bar and stools for sherry and tapas on the ground floor, while upstairs is the open kitchen and tables and chairs for diners.

The name Lobos is the Spanish and Portuguese word for wolves - a befitting name for a place that, beyond tapas, specializes in all things carnivorous.

The management and many of its kitchen staff used to work at Brindisa, and bring their experience and know-how in Spanish ingredients and cooking to London Bridge, without their former employer’s price-tag.

What We Ate: The menu at Lobos is divided into four categories, (appetizers, tapas, meat and dessert) and we had our fair share of each one of them. The beauty of tapas restaurants like Lobos is  that everything is designed for sharing, from appetizers to the more substantial meat platters, so we got to try everything.

From the Appetizers, we started with some martini olives (£4) – beautifully presented in a copper martini glass, these were bright green, juicy and plump, and the best thing we could have ordered to partner our Manzanilla sherry.

A delicious serving of Padron peppers (£5.50) followed, fried simply in Spanish olive oil and seasoned with sea salt, these were soft, blistered and delicious.

Things were definitely looking up at Lobos with our next appetizer - a platter of hand-carved Iberico bellota ham (£14.50). Deliciously marbled, intensely flavoured, and expertly carved wafer-thin, this was a very generous portion.

Moving on to the Tapas selection, the croquetas of ham, chorizo and smoked bacon (£7) were delicious - super-creamy inside, with a crispy outer layer similar to a Japanese korokke.

The seafood with garlic and chilli (£12), featured chunky pieces of prawn, squid and mussels, cooked until sweet and fragrant, and I savoured every morsel.

One of my favourite dishes of the evening was the arroz con costra (£9.50). This featured saffron rice with pieces of chicken, chorizo and spices, topped with an egg crust and morcilla (Spanish black pudding) – this was delicious and excellent value.

The platter of mixed mushrooms came with Brussels sprouts, topped with a soft fried egg flavoured with truffle oil (£8.50) - an eclectic combination that, to my palate, worked brilliantly.

But it wasn’t all meat and seafood that evening at Lobos. We had one of our five-a-day with a delicious green salad of asparagus, courgette, frisse and gem lettuce, and green beans (£6.25).  Seasoned with a zingy citrus dressing, and topped with roughly crushed almonds and pistachio nuts, this salad was refreshing and a great accompaniment to our meat dishes.

And now onto the ‘Meats’. The Iberico pork selection (£26.50) had Iberian acorn-fed pork served three ways - a tender fillet, the secreto (the tender strip found beneath a thick layer of belly fat) and the presa, said to be the finest cut, attached to the shoulder at the head of the loin.

The meats were simply grilled and seasoned with sea salt, served pink to bring out the fantastic quality and flavour of these cuts of prime quality pork.

The pièce de résistance was yet to come – a sumptuous pan-fried ribeye of beef topped with a thick slice of foie gras (£14.95) was excellent both in quality and value.

Not knowing which of the four desserts to go for, we decided to order them all!  They were all beautifully made and delicious, and ranged from the super-refreshing lemon panncotta with amaretto strawberries (£5) and the chocolate ice cream and lemon sorbet (£4.50)….

….To the rich and creamy double chocolate and pistachio cake (£5) and the fantastic dulce de leche cheesecake (£5).

What We Drank: We started with a couple of glasses of Manzanilla En Rama called "I think" - at £5.95 per 100ml glass. Bottled straight from the barrel, this had a very slight haze to it, but a lovely dry and salty aroma. We shared a bottle of Pinna Fidelis Crianza 2010 from Ribera del Duero (£40), which was an excellent partner for the meat and tapas dishes. With bramble fruit flavours, vanilla and clover, this was well structured with a long finish, and good value for a wine of this quality. 

Likes: The Iberico hams and pork were superb, and the ribeye with foie gras was the best I’ve had outside of San Sebastian. The list of sherries and top quality Spanish wines was second to none.

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: For a top quality fix of Spanish tapas and meats, Lobos is as good as it gets. I can’t wait to return and try some more of their outstanding Iberian acorn-fed pig. Highly recommended.