Gonzalez Byass Sherry Feast Menu at Morito

Name: Gonzalez Byass and Morito

Where: Morito, 32 Exmouth Market, London, EC1R 4QE, http://morito.co.uk/

Cost: £50 per person including 6 courses of 9 tapas dishes, accompanying sherries and service. The menu is available only on Sundays, with sittings at 5pm and 7.30pm.

About: Gonzalez Byass has teamed up with Morito, one of my favourite tapas bars in London (reviewed here), to create a Morito Sherry Feast Menu.

Designed to highlight Gonzalez Byass’ range of Spanish sherries from Fino to Pedro Ximenez, with some top notch tapas.

What We Ate and Drank: The menu kicks off with a glass of Tio Pepe Fino. Pale gold in colour, with savoury aromas, this is bone dry, crisp and light in body. Traditionally partnered with salted almonds, at Morito it was served with 4 different tapas including marinated olives, smoked Marcona almonds and a delicious pan con tomate (sourdough bread topped with chopped tomatoes, avocado and anchovy).

The fino was also served with some heartier starters including a delectable clams with grilled leeks, parsley and garlic, and baked bacalhao (salted cod) with potatoes, thyme and paprika.

Next came a glass of Tio Pepe Fino 'En Rama'. Bottled unfiltered and unclarified, this sherry is about as close as you can get in London to drinking the sherry straight from the cask. Pale gold, it had a richer, more complex nose than the Fino, and was served with a generous tuna confit in olive oil and sweet onions.

Amontillado sherries are allowed some contact with air to give partial oxidation during their maturation, and Gonzalez Byass 'Del Duque' , aged for 30 years through the solera system, was no exception. With a rich amber colour, caramel and creamy vanilla aromas, this was a superb dry sherry. Morito partnered it with a delicious dish of seared oyster mushrooms with pancetta Iberica, fresh oregano and Marcona almonds. My favourite dish of the evening.

Next up was a glass of Palo Cortado. These sherries are initially aged under a layer of 'flor' yeast, which imparts a savoury character, but then the yeast is removed to permit a degree of oxidation. The 30 year old Apostales Palo Cortado was a deep amber colour, with aromas of dried fruits, cedar and caramel. Showing great depth of flavour and concentration, this delicious sherry was served with charcoal-grilled horn peppers and secreto Iberico - a particularly succulent cut of Iberico pork (solely fed on acorns, giving the meat a deliciously marbled, nutty quality).

Moving on to the sweeter end of the sherry spectrum, in which Pedro Ximenez (PX) grapes are used in addition to the Palomino varietal, the penultimate wine was a magnificent Matusalem Oloroso Dulce. Aged for over 30 years, this luscious sherry had sweet raisin and fig flavours, balanced by savoury Oloroso characteristics of spice and candied peel, giving a drink of great complexity.  This was expertly matched with a couple of fine Spanish cheeses – Romero (a goats cheese from Murcia) and Picos de Europa (a bold and salty blue cheese from Castile-Leon). The combination of sweet sherry and salty cheese was delicious, and one I look forward to trying again at home.

Finally, with Morito's deliciously simple signature dessert of Malaga raisin ice cream, we were served a glass of Noe – 100% PX. Again aged for 30 years, this viscous sherry had a deep brown colour, and flavours of dried fruit, spice and treacle. Sweet and richly complex, this was a great end to the meal. Despite its age and pedigree, I poured a little over the ice cream and it made an excellent partner.  I was surprised by the freshness of this PX – it was not cloyingly sweet as so many can be, and this reflected the long oak-aging of the sherry.

Morito has a fine spread of sherries on its regular drinks list, including fino, manzanilla, amontillado, palo cortado, oloroso and pedro ximenez options, so it is well worth dropping in to try them. 

Likes: It was great to try the full range of sherries from the driest to the sweetest in one meal. I loved the Tio Pepe with baked salted cod, the Spanish cheeses with sweet Oloroso, and the sweet but refreshing Pedro Ximenez over the Malaga raisin ice cream.  

Dislikes: I love Morito on Exmouth Market but we hardly had space to breath in it!

Verdict: Every time I drink sherry, I think I should have it more often. There is such a spectrum of flavours and it is an ideal partner to Spanish and Japanese food, as well as other cuisines. Recommended. 

Lobos - The Wolf of Borough High Street

Name: Lobos Meat and Tapas

Where: 14 Borough High Street, London, SE1 9QG, http://lobostapas.co.uk/

About: Opened in 2015, this Spanish tapas and sherry joint is tucked away in a railway arch of London Bridge station. A decidedly cosy spot, it is hard to believe how much has been shoe-horned into a rather unpromising space. There is a bar and stools for sherry and tapas on the ground floor, while upstairs is the open kitchen and tables and chairs for diners.

The name Lobos is the Spanish and Portuguese word for wolves - a befitting name for a place that, beyond tapas, specializes in all things carnivorous.

The management and many of its kitchen staff used to work at Brindisa, and bring their experience and know-how in Spanish ingredients and cooking to London Bridge, without their former employer’s price-tag.

What We Ate: The menu at Lobos is divided into four categories, (appetizers, tapas, meat and dessert) and we had our fair share of each one of them. The beauty of tapas restaurants like Lobos is  that everything is designed for sharing, from appetizers to the more substantial meat platters, so we got to try everything.

From the Appetizers, we started with some martini olives (£4) – beautifully presented in a copper martini glass, these were bright green, juicy and plump, and the best thing we could have ordered to partner our Manzanilla sherry.

A delicious serving of Padron peppers (£5.50) followed, fried simply in Spanish olive oil and seasoned with sea salt, these were soft, blistered and delicious.

Things were definitely looking up at Lobos with our next appetizer - a platter of hand-carved Iberico bellota ham (£14.50). Deliciously marbled, intensely flavoured, and expertly carved wafer-thin, this was a very generous portion.

Moving on to the Tapas selection, the croquetas of ham, chorizo and smoked bacon (£7) were delicious - super-creamy inside, with a crispy outer layer similar to a Japanese korokke.

The seafood with garlic and chilli (£12), featured chunky pieces of prawn, squid and mussels, cooked until sweet and fragrant, and I savoured every morsel.

One of my favourite dishes of the evening was the arroz con costra (£9.50). This featured saffron rice with pieces of chicken, chorizo and spices, topped with an egg crust and morcilla (Spanish black pudding) – this was delicious and excellent value.

The platter of mixed mushrooms came with Brussels sprouts, topped with a soft fried egg flavoured with truffle oil (£8.50) - an eclectic combination that, to my palate, worked brilliantly.

But it wasn’t all meat and seafood that evening at Lobos. We had one of our five-a-day with a delicious green salad of asparagus, courgette, frisse and gem lettuce, and green beans (£6.25).  Seasoned with a zingy citrus dressing, and topped with roughly crushed almonds and pistachio nuts, this salad was refreshing and a great accompaniment to our meat dishes.

And now onto the ‘Meats’. The Iberico pork selection (£26.50) had Iberian acorn-fed pork served three ways - a tender fillet, the secreto (the tender strip found beneath a thick layer of belly fat) and the presa, said to be the finest cut, attached to the shoulder at the head of the loin.

The meats were simply grilled and seasoned with sea salt, served pink to bring out the fantastic quality and flavour of these cuts of prime quality pork.

The pièce de résistance was yet to come – a sumptuous pan-fried ribeye of beef topped with a thick slice of foie gras (£14.95) was excellent both in quality and value.

Not knowing which of the four desserts to go for, we decided to order them all!  They were all beautifully made and delicious, and ranged from the super-refreshing lemon panncotta with amaretto strawberries (£5) and the chocolate ice cream and lemon sorbet (£4.50)….

….To the rich and creamy double chocolate and pistachio cake (£5) and the fantastic dulce de leche cheesecake (£5).

What We Drank: We started with a couple of glasses of Manzanilla En Rama called "I think" - at £5.95 per 100ml glass. Bottled straight from the barrel, this had a very slight haze to it, but a lovely dry and salty aroma. We shared a bottle of Pinna Fidelis Crianza 2010 from Ribera del Duero (£40), which was an excellent partner for the meat and tapas dishes. With bramble fruit flavours, vanilla and clover, this was well structured with a long finish, and good value for a wine of this quality. 

Likes: The Iberico hams and pork were superb, and the ribeye with foie gras was the best I’ve had outside of San Sebastian. The list of sherries and top quality Spanish wines was second to none.

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: For a top quality fix of Spanish tapas and meats, Lobos is as good as it gets. I can’t wait to return and try some more of their outstanding Iberian acorn-fed pig. Highly recommended.