Morchella — Restaurant in London

I visited for dinner on a Thursday. Although it was somewhat busy with a decent atmosphere, it was surprising to see quite a few empty tables. I was told they’re having a summer lull and it’s usually busier. I was seated at the kitchen counter which was largely unoccupied despite having a large amount of stools going all the way round the kitchen. As far as counter experiences go this was a good one - with the entire kitchen in clear view there was a lot of action to observe.

The menu is divided into 4 sections - snacks, starters, large sharing plates, and sides. As a solo diner I was advised to avoid the sharing plates and to get around 4-5 items from the first 2 sections. I ended up trying the salt cod churros, spanakopita, mussel pil pil, steak tartare, mackerel and the eggs with chickpeas and spinach. This was an interesting selection of dishes. Some were very enjoyable - the mussel pil pil was a standout, I loved the sauce it was drenched in. The cod churros were very nice too. Other dishes had some elements that were very good but I wasn’t fully convinced whether it all came together - this applied mainly to the mackerel and to a lesser extent the chickpeas. The steak tartare was another confusing one, being uniquely presented (see pic) but this one grew on me and I decided that I quite liked it in the end. Any doubts I had about the meal were dispelled once my dessert arrived - the chocolate tart was divine! The accompanying olive oil and balsamic were quite subtle in nature, and the large chocolate shards on top had a saltiness to them that paired really well with the richer, indulgent chocolate used for the tart itself.

Service was very friendly and quite speedy initially, although it did become a bit harder to get attention towards the end of my meal when the restaurant was a bit busier. The bill came to £134 for my sizeable dinner, of which £40 was spent on drinks. Overall this was a memorable meal. While there were some elements I was less sure about, I felt like my tastebuds were challenged and I appreciated their creativity. The slam dunk of a dessert is what nudged them up to a 5 star...

Overall it was a great experience, the food was absolutely fantastic! We were seated near the dispatch area and from the looks of the food I would want to try everything: so unique and well presented.

Now to what we've actually tried. Cod churros and seabass starters were brilliant, especially the red pase sauce which comes with the churros. For the mains we had lab shoulder - out of this world! It was so delicious, so tender and rich in flavours and probably the most beautifully presented dish. We also had sole fish which was delightful too! 😋

Service was nice, but it was by no means a proper restaurant experience, more like a high end cafe (although the food is really one of the best we've recently had across all kinds of restaurants). Don't expect a very intimate atmosphere here, it's quite loud and waiters are rushing past you all the time. I think a few times the service could've been a bit more attentive and checked on us more frequently.

Also the dessert (at least the one we've tried - ot was ricotta cake) was no match to all other food - rather simple and not impressive.

Another point of improvement: they have quite a huge wine list and we asked for recommendations to pair well with the food - one of the recommended wines we liked a lot but the other was a complete miss (I understand it's quite subjective) - but nobody bothered to ask.

One last thing is that knowing we had a birthday celebration I would try to seat us in a more intimate area which they for sure had. Seating right next to the counter where the food was collected and hearing the cooks shouting "service" for the waiters to collect the orders - wasn't the nicest thing to experience during the celebration.

I'm giving it 5 stars just for the food as it is the most important part of the dining experience to us and it was truly spectacular and worth trying! But they could definitely improve on the points...

I really wanted to love this place and give it a 5 star review and with some minor improvements it could get there!

First of all, the service was impeccable, the ambiance and the music was great too, overall I just wanted to stay and hang out there.

Now, the prices are quite steep for a tapas style place, so for £160+ for two people you'd expect the food to be absolutely outstanding and this is where my small critiques come in.

For starters we had the focaccia, vitello tonnato and the salt cod churros.

The focaccia was perfection, absolutely delicious.

The vitello tonnato was nice but the tuna mayo flavour was overpowering the veal. It needs some balancing.

The salt cold churros are nice but I feel they might have been nicer if they were a bit thicker and you could taste more of the salt cod rather than the batter.

Then we had cuttlefish, monkfish and that was really delicious, you will need focaccia to soak up that squid ink sauce. Really lovely flavours there. Possibly my favourite of the night.

We also had the pork jowl, which came highly recommended but it was chewy and dry and for someone that loves pig's cheeks, it was one of the disappointing dishes of the night. Pigs cheeks have to melt in the mouth!!!

As a main we had the salt poussin. Generally when cooking in salt, the bird soaks up just enough of the salt through the skin for it to get seasoned but unfortunately, this wasn't the case and the poussin was a bit bland and also ever so slightly overcooked. I cook poussin all the time and it's always really juicy and flavourful but this one wasn't.

The restaurant is still new and clearly there are some improvements to make. Hopefully they'll sort things out quickly!

I did like the concept of the waiters being paid a wage and having the service charge built in the prices but for this to work properly the food has to be...