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. 

Moro - A Taste of Al-Andalus in Clerkenwell

Name: Moro

Where: 34/36 Exmouth Market, London, EC1R 4QE, http://www.moro.co.uk/

Cost: Starters range from £8.50 to £9.50, main courses from £16.50 to £22.00, and desserts from £6.50 to £9.00. Wines are largely from the Iberian peninsula, with whites from £19.50 for a Venas del Vero, Somontano, Spain, and reds from £22.00 for a Bobal - Tempranillo blend from Utiel-Requena, Spain. There is an extensive and well-priced sherry menu.

About: Moro is a Clerkenwell institution, opened by Sam and Sam Clark in 1997. With its little sister Morito next door (reviewed here), with a more casual tapas-style menu and no reservations taken, they have been the top choices in Clerkenwell for Iberian and North African food for years.

Moro has a laid-back feel about it, with wooden floors and bare tables, and an open kitchen with an old fashioned wood oven contrasting with gleaming stainless steel. The food is uncomplicated, relying on good ingredients prepared with minimal fuss.

I have been using Moro's cookbooks for years, they are among the few I have returned to over and over again - lately even more so since getting hold of their latest Morito cookbook, which has some wonderful recipes. I highly recommend their cookbooks -   you can find out more about them here.

What We Ate: With their comprehensive list of sherries, we could think of no better start than with some aperitifs and a glass of chilled sherry. We kicked off with some salted Marcona almonds, olives, some crusty bread and a couple of glasses of bone-dry  amontillado and an oloroso.

For starters, we shared the roasted quail ajillo (i.e. cooked in garlic), served in a fragrant jus of white wine and garlic, with shavings of black truffle (£9.50). The sweet quail meat had soaked up the garlic, butter and white wine, and made a great start to the dinner.

The other starter was a platter of chopped calves liver (£9.50), over fresh greens and herbs including chervil, and a smattering of toasted, lightly crushed hazelnuts. The dish had a wonderful combination of flavours and texture which I really enjoyed - creamy liver, crunchy nuts and refreshing green herbs.

The mains were quite substantial and wholesome. The wood-roasted Herefordshire pork (£19.50), was served with slow-cooked cabbage flavoured with chorizo pieces, and whole roasted chestnuts. The pork crackling was crisp, and the meat soft and flavoursome with hints of paprika, and a deliciously rich red wine jus.

Better still was the charcoal grilled lamb with Moroccan salads and chermoula (a sauce of coriander, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil) (£21.50). Served rare as ordered, the lamb was tender and the flavour lifted by the accompanying chermoula and salads. I loved the salads, and there were three - wafer-thin turnip with orange blossom and mint; celery with olives, tomatoes, cumin and ground ginger; and finally soft carrots, roasted with cinnamon and paprika. The flavours were fresh and aromatic, and were a great accompaniment to the lamb. I would love to have this dish again.

To finish, we had a delectable yoghurt cake with pistachios and pomegranate (£7.00). One of Moro's classic desserts for many years, this was light and creamy with refreshing acidity from the yoghurt.

But perhaps Moro's most famous dessert is the Malaga raisin ice cream (£6.50). Served with a luscious Pedro Ximenez sherry, the ice cream infused with plummy raisin fruit and a prominent hit of alcohol, this was vanilla ice cream like no other.

What We Drank: After a couple of excellent sherries, we shared a bottle of Sino da Romaneira 2010 (£42), from Douro, Portugal. A blend of Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz, Touriga Franca and Tinto Cão, this had a surprisingly restrained nose, but on the palate, plenty of red fruit, structured tannins and a long finish. It was weighty and complex enough to be a good partner to the richness of the meats. 

Likes: A small but well thought out menu which changes daily, top-notch ingredients, serving some of my favourite flavours from the Iberian peninsula and North Africa. The place has a casual vibe, and was heaving on the Wednesday evening of our dinner. 

Dislikes: None

Verdict: Top ingredients, expert cooking with little fuss, reasonable prices - no wonder Moro has been a favourite for Iberian and North African food in London for years. And judging by my latest visit, it would not suprised me if it continued to be for years to come. I can't wait to return. Highly recommended.