MORITO - recent discovery!

On Saturday Andy and I went for a walk.

We were starving and went on the hunt for somewhere new!

We walked from our house in Angel (London) to Exmouth Market.

Exmouth Market secretly hidden in-between Angel and Farringdon and has lots of interesting restaurants, bars and cafes. It's got a really cool, trendy vibe.

We walked past a little Tapas restaurant called Morito and thought hmmm we're really in the mood for some Tapas :)

We were seated by the window which was lovely, it's so nice to be able to look out the window and see the world go by.

The cocktail list was far too good so we asked them for two of their most popular ones.

We had a 'rebojito' which is fino, lemonade and mint.....

.....and a 'cava pomegranate' cava and pomegranate juice......

They were both beautifully refreshing and bursting with flavour. We had never tried fino and lemonade before but it's now our new favourite drink!

So time to order some foooooood!!!
It's always so hard with tapas, every dish sounds amazing!

We started with the lamb chops, cumin and paprika with a dish of  chickpeas, pumpkin, coriander and tahini.

Both dishes were outstanding! The chickpea dish especially had such unique flavours, I couldn't stop eating it!

The puntillitas arrived - fried baby squid. Really nice but nothing special.

To go with our tapas feast we ordered a carafe of red wine - borsao garnacha/syrah @ £11. It was really bold and fruity and went really well with each dish.

Then the next dish arrived....charcoal grilled leeks and romesco YUM!!!!!

Romesco is a nut and red pepper-based sauce from Spain. It is made from a mixture of roasted almonds, pine nuts and hazelnuts, roasted garlic, olive oil and peppers. I had never tried it before but I love it...will try and make it at home :)

And then one of my personal favourites! Pulpo a la gallega - octopus, potato and paprika.

WOW! It was the BEST octopus I have ever had!!!! Next time i'm ordering two!! Sooooo fresh and delicious!!

It's crazy to think they cooked all that amazing food in that TINY kitchen!!!!!

What a great discovery! It's funny how it's been so close to our house all this time but we had never been. We will be going there allot now!!
Tapas is so much fun and it's so nice to relax and take your time between each dish.

The menu changes daily with different specials so you can always try new dishes.
Prices range betweem £4 - £8 per dish, depending on what you have.
Check it out!
http://www.morito.co.uk

Sainte-Foy Tarentaise SKI TRIP and Chez Merie Restaurant :)

Last week I got back from my first ever ski trip!

Me, Andy and 2 other friends flew into Geneva and then drove to Sainte-Foy in the French Alps. We landed at 10pm in the evening and after a long drive we arrived at our chalet at 1am......very tired!




When I woke in the morning I pulled the curtains back to reveal the most AMAZING views!

The ski resort was absolutely stunning!

Before we left for our snow bound adventure I researched local restaurants in the area and discovered that lots of people had been raving about a place called Chez Merie. There was no website but the reviews were all fantastic describing the restaurant as 'unique' and 'one of a kind'.
Luckily for me one of my friends, who was going with us on the trip, spoke French so he called up and booked a table for our first night.
I was so excited!

After a long day of skiing we all got ready and jumped in our car to find this hidden gem.

Hidden is correct! It took us ages to work out how to get there and where to park. My friend asked a few locals who pointed us in the right direction. We parked up and walked through lots of winding alley ways until we saw this .....

There was a car park there so we had obviously gone the wrong way!

It was a very humble entrance......

We were welcomed by a kind lady who took us to a large corner couch by a roaring fire. There were other parties waiting there and we were all given a cocktail which was on the house :)

They were all from the UK and we all started chatting. They had been going there for years and asked how we had heard of it as not many people had, which made it such a special find.

The smell from the fire was incredible. It felt like we had been welcomed into someones home, really cosy and the perfect retreat from the freezing outdoors.

We ordered from the black board in the waiting area and then we were shown to our table when the starters were ready.

This was our table.....

It was a tough decision to choose what to have but in the end I went for  'escargot' to start , which is one of my favourites :)

They were beautiful! Nice and juicy with lots of garlic yummmmmy!

For main course me and my friend shared the 'chateaubriand'. I ended up eating most of it!!

It was cooked perfectly, medium rare, beautifully pink. The juices were delicious and it was so succulent, there was more than enough for two and I finished all of it. That's when you know you've got a good steak!!!

I was far too stuffed for dessert but the table next to us who we had met whist waiting, showed me what they had and even gave me some to try which was so nice and friendly of them.

It was ice cream and meringue covered in chocolate sauce........dreamy! Such a great idea, appealing to the child within :)

After our truly lovely meal I went into the kitchen to meet the chef and I was so surprised to find Merie there herself who had single handily cooked all the food for the entire restaurant, no su chef,  just her! What a legend!

This just added to the overall experience, so personal and humble, not in any way pretentious, such homely vibes and DAMN good food!

I will definitely be returning to Sainte-Foy and visiting Chez Merie again!

If any of you are planning a ski trip I couldn't recommend this resort enough.
Including the stunning views and ultra friendly people, it's also very chilled and not too busy. We hardly had to queue for the ski lift which was such a huge bonus.

I can't wait to return next year!