I love the various inner London Foodie heavens like Islington, Blackheath, Charlotte Street etc and Exmouth Market in Clerkenwell is another sanctuary for Gastronauts to hang out. Arguably the pick of the restaurants is Moro which was one of the first high quality Spanish establishments to hit the London scene. In terms of taste, it's fine dining, however the food is fairly rustic and the atmosphere very laid back which is quite an amazing combination. It almost feels like you're on holiday.
http://www.moro.co.uk/
Everything you order can be just placed in the middle of the table for all to share which is great for someone like me that wants to eat the whole menu. To start we had the Salmon Ceviche with pickled cucumber and seaweed which was light and delicate, a perfect way to start a meal on a summer evening. The Sardine fillets with tomato and aubergine really packed a punch. The aubergine was charred and caramelised in a way that I'd never tasted before and was incredible.
To follow, we opted for the Char grilled Lamb with Fattoush and Pistachio sauce. A melange of flavours, textures and colours arrived which all worked beautifully well with each other. The bream with cucumber, samphire, spiced labneh and farika looked far more simpler than it sounded but again sent one's taste buds into space. The only problem now was which desserts to choose.
I'm very nosey in restaurants and like to see what other people have on their plates. The couple alongside had the Yoghurt cake with pomegranate which looked quite sexy, so we ordered that and the rosewater and cardamom ice cream which marries two of my favourite ingredients together at the same time. The cake was slightly tangy and had sweet notes which gave a nice balance whilst the ice cream was divine, maybe even the best dish on the menu. The subtlety of this dessert was amazing as who'd have thought that the two scoops placed in a simple bowl would taste so good.
There is absolutely no doubt that I will return to Moro, not tomorrow but sooner rather than later. In the meantime I shall be attempting to recreate some Moorish magic from one of their three excellent recipe books.
