Morito

I do love Spain and its Tapas bars. A whole night in some towns on a tapas crawl will leave you drunk and very nicely filled up as well.

It’s the diversity I love so much. Imagine a street lined with small bars that only do a few different plates, but do them well. You go from one to the other having a glass of wine or beer sampling what each bar does so well. A very good night indeed.

I’m amazed some shrewd businessman here hasn’t opened 3 or 4 tapas bars all within a ½ mile of each other, so we can have this mini tapas crawl in London. Hey if I had the cash I’d open them up. Does anyone want to join me ? All you have to do is put in the cash for my wonderful idea.

I’m surprised Brindisa or Moro haven’t done this. Or maybe Morito is just the first in a mini chain of Tapas bars around Clerkenwell. Hey you read it here first.

But this is what is kind of happening in Soho with Polpo et al, but they are more for the civilised dining scene, than the drunken tapas crawl I want to see here in London.

Anyhows away from my dream. The recent wedding bank holiday, we found ourselves around Exmouth market and very hungry. We was tempted to hit Caravan again, but I think twice in two days would be a bit much, or maybe not. But the better half wanted to try somewhere else. Amazingly this was the first time I’d seen space in Morito. Ever since it opened it has been packed to the rafters, which for a restaurateur is great, for a punter it’s a bloody nightmare.

A really unfriendly waiter seated us at the window. He obviously wanted to be watching the wedding. Thankfully he only told us where to sit, and had nothing more to do with us. Phew. He could have really ruined our meal.

To be honest I could have eaten the whole menu as it read so well. Lots of Moorish dishes to dive into and nourish your soul. We were in for a treat.

First off was an empanada. It was fried. I don’t like fried empanadas, I prefer them baked in the Argentine way. We didn’t particularly like it and cannot remember what its contents were. We were hoping this was just a glitch on the way to tapas heaven.

Next off were a brace of salt cod croquettes. They were smooth, creamy and fishy. Oh my god they were good. I wish we had ordered more of them, they were that delish.

The tablouleh salad was nice, but a tad under seasoned, but that is a personal thing on how much of the white powder we all need. I need more than others. It did however go very well with the lamb chops.

Those chargrilled fatty beauties were divine. Actually heaven on a plate. I love chargrilled lamb chops. When I used to work nights in the kitchens at Café Boheme, I used to steal a few and have them for a late night supper. Good times.

These chops were cooked to a lovely bloody pink, the flesh tasted so lamby and the fat had that slightly chargrilled taste, that just brought out the sweet lamby taste.

Lastly was a plate of botifarra. It was a must, not only because it was served on top of creamy white beans, but I kind of became addicted to them when we lived in Colombia.

The butifarra in Colombia, which mainly comes from la costa is normally served with Bollo de Yuca. Mashed yucca or cassava rolled in corn husks. You don’t normally find them outside of la costa region, but we found a place that sold them, and we ate there a lot. I do miss some things of Colombia.

I do love tapas, and only wish we had more of them closer together. Dreams. Let’s hope Morito is just a first stepping stone on the way to a tapas crawl that any Spaniard would be proud of.