Review: Morgan M

[wildeabandon]

Tonight ajva and I went for a rather splendid meal at Morgan M, a fairly traditional French restaurant near Highbury & Islington. One of the things that made me notice its existence in the first place was the presence of a vegetarian tasting menu, but both being unashamedly omnivorous we went for the standard one this time.

We started with a watercress and frog's leg soup. This was slightly strange in two ways - firstly, that the soup was hot, and I always think of watercress soup as a chilled course to serve in the balmy summer days, and secondly because it was the first time I'd had frog's legs where the dominant flavour wasn't garlic. For all that, it worked pretty well. The meat was soft and tender, and it was good to actually enjoy its own flavour. The soup was quite delicate, but soothing and warming in the way that winter soups should be.

Next was a foie gras and game terrine, with great big chunks of meat, and a sharply piquant chutney with strong notes of ginger. It was really rather good, although I must admit to being slightly daunted at the size of what was only the second course of six. Honourable mention must also go to the garnish - sticks of white radish with slivers of a rich meaty mushroom, which I polished off with gusto.

The fish course was john dory, on a carrot risotto, with battered parsnip. This was a great example of a phenomenon I've seen a few times recently - a posh restaurant evoking good old fish'n'chips. The fish was very well cooked, and flavoursome, and a mouthful along with some of the battered parsnip took you away on the nostagia trip it was designed for.

For the main course Anne had pheasant with liver ravioli and I had lamb cooked three ways with spinach, chestnut puree and a rosemary jus. The lamb was pretty good, but either it didn't quite live up to the standards of the previous courses or I was already slightly too full.

The pre-dessert was definitely back on form though - indeed, it may have been the final nail in the coffin of my ever dwindling assertion that I'm much more excited by savoury dishes than sweet. It was a rice pudding with orange tuile and berry sorbet. The pudding was perfectly textured - creamy and rich and luxurious, precisely balanced by the cutting edge of the berry. The pinacle though was the tuile, which sent me off on another nostalgia trip, by tasting somehow of the orange slices that you get as cake decorations, which I used to wickedly pinch out of my mother's ingredients drawer after she'd gone to bed.

For dessert, Anne had a dark chocolate mouelleux, which was very nice, but just a little too heavy after eating so much food already. I made the more fortuitous choice of passion fruit souffle, which I can only describe as mouthfuls of cloud infused with fairy dust. It was magnificent, and I can still almost feel it melting away on my tongue.

The service could perhaps have been a little more attentive, but I suppose having to occasionally pour ones own water isn't the most onerous task in the world. I'll certainly be going back, probably trying out the vegetarian tasting menu to compare and contrast.

Comments

[meihua.livejournal.com]

> I suppose having to occasionally pour ones own
> water isn't the most onerous task in the world

*chuckles* Did I mention that I'm rather fond of you?

[robert-jones.livejournal.com]

I think he's discovering the burdens of manhood.

[djm4]

Ooh! Looks lovely. I'd happily go there with you one evening when I'm up and about again.

[wildeabandon.livejournal.com]

That would be shiny.

Relatedly, do you want to postpone our plans for next Tuesday, or see how you feel closer to the time? If you don't fancy travelling then I'm happy to turn up to yours with ingredients and cook at you (and any of the rest of the household who wanted to be cooked at), but don't mind postponing if that would get in people's way.

[djm4]

It's a lovely idea, but I've just realised that Tuesday is my appointment at the fracture clinic. At best, I'll be tired, and at worst I'll be recovering from them cutting my arm open, re-setting the bone and pinning it (in that eventuality, I suppose it's possible I won't even be home). So, as welcome as the offer is, I'm afraid that on balance it will have to wait.

[meirion.livejournal.com]

Ummm. This probably means I've been living as a man for a lot longer than I thought. (I think I'd realised that already, though. It's changing the world's perception of who I am that's the new bit; internally I've been male for most of my life.)

[meirion.livejournal.com]

I've never had frogs' legs that tasted mostly of garlic — it's snails that (almost always) are like that for me (except for in a village perché somewhere in Provence that I went to when I was 17, where we had a vast tureen of little snails broiled in red wine). I find that frogs' legs have a taste that is somewhere around halfway between prawns and chicken.

And if you know anywhere that still sells those orange/lemon slices one gets as cake decorations — the proper sort, not the vile Supercook cheapo knock-offs — please do let me know, as I've been looking for about 5 years now with no success.

[absinthecity.livejournal.com]

Joe and I went for valentine's last year and what a memorable place it was :)

We had the vegetarian tasting menu, and it is well worth a try - lots of fantastic flavours to work your way through. I also opted for the passion fruit souffle, which was indeed bloody amazing, and I like your descrption...

Service was also surprisingly inattentive, but we put this down to a more 'linger over your meal' mentality than anything more negative than that.

[wildeabandon.livejournal.com]

I must admit I've not had frogs' legs very often, so perhaps it's just my lack of experience. I agree on the snails though - for me the only exception there is at the Fat Duck, where there is some garlic, but the dominant flavour is parsley.