2 for 1 Cocktails at Clerkenwell & Social

Name: Clerkenwell & Social

Where: 2-5 St John's Square, London, EC1M 4DE, www.clerkenwellandsocial.com

Cost: All cocktails are £8.95, and weekdays from 5pm to 8pm, they are 2 for 1. On Saturdays until 9pm, it is 2 for 1 all day, on both cocktails and pizza. White wines start at £16.95 for a Finca Valero Macabeo, D.O. Carinena from Spain. Red wines start at £17.95 for a Carignan-Grenache blend from France. Perrie-Jouet Grand Brut Champagne is well priced at £55. Meantime London Pale Ale is on tap at £4.90 per pint. 

Pizzas cost from £8 for a Margherita to £12 for a spicy Nduja. There are daily specials, as well as a variety of bar snacks, and sharing boards of cheese (£12) or cured meats (£14).   

About: Clerkenwell & Social was opened in June 2015 by the Marylebone Leisure Group (the team behind The Marylebone and The Princess of Wales and Barsmith Primrose Hill) the bar is next to the ancient St John's Castle in Clerkenwell. 

Set over two floors, Clerkenwell & Social has the feel of a quirky pub, with vintage books suspended from the ceiling, also forming the covers for the cocktail menu.

It specialises in house-infused cocktails and pizza, and has a large outdoor terrace. The bar makes its own infusions for example coffee rum, passion fruit vodka, wild berry gin, mustard vodka.

What We Ate: We really wanted to like the food at Clerkenwell & Social, but unfortunately it was a total let-down. We ordered a couple of bar snacks and pizze, and were surprised to find everything brought to the table at the same time. This meant we had a mad rush to eat everything before it all went cold.  The arancini with mushrooms and truffle oil (£4.50) was completely non-descript, and was served with what seemed to be shop-bought pesto.

Worse still were the calamari (£6) - these were dry and tough, served with a tartare sauce that tasted straight out of a jar.

For the pizze, we chose the Portobello (£10.50) and the Nduja (£12). The Portobello pizza was described as having a topping of Portobello mushrooms, Dolce Latte cheese, pine nuts and truffle oil. At first glance, the pizza looked passable if a bit colourless, but on the palate, the dough was very dry and brittle, it lacked flavour and any texture. As for the topping, it also seemed to have Mozzarella rather than the creamy, blue Dolce Latte cheese as described.

The Nduja pizza (£12) was marginally better but the dough was still very dry and chewy. It had tomatoes, mozzarella, spicy Nduja sausage and pancetta (bacon).

What We Drank: We had a couple of cocktails to start, these were well made and strong. "Breaking Good" had Pisco infused with chili, lime juice, tarragon syrup, homemade bitters and egg white. "Love is a Smoke" featured a blend of Merlot, Aperol and Campari and Bourbon, infused with smoked apple-wood chips.

With our pizza, we had a couple of pints of lovely Meantime London Pale Ale (£4.90).    

Likes: The cocktails were strong, well-made, and very well priced at £8.95. Even better during happy hour weekdays between 5-8pm, or all day Saturdays until 9pm when all cocktails are 2 for 1. The range of beers is good. 

Dislikes: The food was a real let-down. 

Verdict: A great local place for well-made, strong and reasonably-priced cocktails and craft beers. The Italian-inspired menu read well, but its delivery was a let-down and needs to be looked at by the restaurant management.

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. 

Taste of Portugal 2015 – Discovering Bisaro Pork at Portal Restaurant

Words & Photography by Matthew Brown and Luiz Hara

Name: Taste of Portugal 2015 at Portal Restaurant
http://www.tasteportugal-london.com/about.php
http://www.portalrestaurant.com/

Where: 88 St. John Street, London, EC1M 4EH (Portal Restaurant has closed down on the 6th February 2015)

Cost: The Taste of Portugal event ‘Bisaro Pork Tasting Menu’, priced at £65 or £95 with wine-pairing, was specially created by Chef Ricardo Costa and Sommelier Antonio Lopes to highlight this uniquely Portuguese breed of pig for the Taste of Portugal campaign.

But if you missed the event, Portal’s a la carte menu offers plenty of opportunities to try Portuguese pork Bisaro or otherwise - sliced 40-month Pata Negra ham can be ordered by weight (£19/50g), starter of pork belly, black pudding and cabbage (£8), whilst Bisaro pork served with broad beans, chouriço, carrots and turnip (£25) is a popular fixture on the menu can be ordered as a main course. With three days’ notice, determined diners can even order a traditional Bisaro suckling pig, to feed 8-10 people, for £385. The restaurant takes its exclusively Portuguese wine cellar seriously, and though there are few bottles below £20, a large number are priced between £20-30 or available by the glass. 

About: Portal is one of London’s finest Portuguese restaurants, opened nine years ago by Antonio Correia, this is a favourite haunt of mine and the place I head to whenever I crave fine Iberian cuisine, please see reviews here and here.

The evening we visited was organised by Taste of Portugal, a campaign by Turismo de Portugal. Taste of Portugal 2015 is a season of culinary and cultural events - it is a great campaign I support strongly, directed at British foodies, as it highlights the relatively undiscovered cuisine and wines of this amazing country. If you haven’t visited Portugal yet, read on and be tempted. There are still several Taste of Portugal events still to come (check their website here).

On this latest visit to Portal, the menu was created by Ricardo Costa, a young chef who started his professional career in Portal’s kitchen years ago, before returning to Portugal where he is now Executive Chef for the restaurant in Porto’s exclusive Yeatman Hotel, which has the city’s only Michelin star.

Sommelier Antonio Lopes and Chef Ricardo Costa

Bisaro pork, which was at the heart of the menu we sampled, is one of Portugal’s proudest specialities. These pigs are from the Vinhais region in the north of the country, and are actually part-boar, growing to be more than a metre in length. Having been fêted for more than a century, they are fed on a traditional diet including chestnuts and acorns, giving the meat its rich and nutty flavour.

What We Ate: The first course was a game and chicken sausage, made by Costa’s team in the kitchen of the Yeatman Hotel. This is known as alheira sausage, and was invented by Portuguese Jews in order to fool the Inquisition that had forced them to convert to Christianity.

This was followed by a spectacularly rich belly of Bisaro suckling pig, served with taut slices of cardinal prawn (another ingredient native to Portugal) and a mixed sprout salad. The suckling Bisaro is one of Portal’s specialities, and the gamey, crispy meat lived up to its reputation. I love the Portuguese flair in combining seafood and pork so well (as in pork Alentejano style with clams), and I wonder whether this is something they picked up during the colonial period in China (Macau), or vice versa.

The Bisaro pork returned again in a stew, made with a caramelised pistachio and Madeira wine sauce. Costa placed a succulent loin of pork in the centre of the bowl, with its cooking jus spiked with Madeira poured over it at the table. The loin of Bisaro pork, despite being less fatty than the belly, was still very succulent, and it was interesting to note that this leaner cut was just as flavoursome.

The most surprising dish, however, was dessert: an Abbey of Priscos pudding served with citrus sorbet and cured Bisaro pork. The bacon transformed this traditional pudding of egg, lemon and sugar, with its salt unlocking the creaminess of the rest of the dish. Inventively designed to resemble a fried egg, the pudding was served on a base of pine nuts and with a garnish of red berry jelly. This level of detail is unusual in a dessert, and made it the unexpected star of the meal.

What We Drank: The evening began with a Portonic - a simple but refreshing cocktail of white port and tonic that easily gives the G&T a run for its money. White ports may be sweet or dry, but in this cocktail, a bone-dry version was used, making it a great accompaniment to a bowl of salted almonds, or, as we had it here, with Bisaro pork crackling. The white port we tried is available for purchase at Waitrose.

The wines for the evening were chosen by the recently appointed Official Taste of Portugal Sommelier, Antonio Lopes. Our first, a glass of Principal Rosé "Tête de Cuvée" 2010, was a good choice for the alheira sausage, with gentle berry and floral notes.

It was followed by another rosé, a sparkling Campolargo Pinot Noir Brut 2012 also from the Bairrada region. Much bolder, with strong bubbles and berry notes, this went excellently with the sweet Bisaro crackling.

The Bisaro stew was accompanied by a Meandro 2012, a darkly intense, fruit-driven wine with gentle tannins. With dessert, we had a 10-year old Madeira wine: Barbeito Verdelho Old Reserve. Golden in colour, and with plenty of acidity to balance its sweetness, this was a blissful end to the meal.

Likes: The Bisaro pork was magnificent, and in the capable hands of Ricardo Costa, it was elevated to the sublime. Portal has one of the UK’s finest Portuguese wine cellars, and this meal’s wine pairings showed that some relatively undiscovered national wines can stand shoulder to shoulder with the best of France or Italy. 

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: This Taste of Portugal 2015 event featured Porto’s Michelin-starred chef, together with Portugal’s top sommelier, to highlight the wonderful produce and wines of the country available right here in London’s finest Portuguese restaurant, Portal. This is just one of a number of events by Taste of Portugal 2015, and if you get the chance to attend any of them, I would highly recommend it.