Momo, London

A well known high end Morroccan place in central London, near Saville Row. I'll be brief: don't. Food is good to very good, not great. The noise level will make you wistful for the quiet dignity of A1 or Slanted Door, and the music was the same horrible techno that ruins the Amsterdam coffeeshop experience. Just louder. MUCH louder.
The bar was... interesting, but a major challenge to get into. That entrance involved getting a ticket from the restaurant and a lecture on how any time spent there would be deducted from the time we would be allowed to have our table in the restaurant.

We were hustled out of our table after an hour and a half.

The red wine ('98 Musar at 6x retail) was distinctly warm.

Prices were, of course, beyond insane.

Sounds dreadful!
I love simple Moroccan food.
I also love Musar

Sounds like both have been screwed to the limit (why is it, that Musar of all wines, seems to attract ludicrous mark-ups? - It's not exactly rare).

Try Garbo's Swedish restaurant (sorry no address, but I think it's west central London). What was reassuring, was the Swedish diners giving appreciative nods at the food. It should be a lot cheaper.

regards
Ian

Yes, I love Morroccan and Musar, too, which made this a double disappointment.

Ummm, Swedish food? As for "should be a lot cheaper," I can say that about London in general!

I did have a very nice meal the next day at the Wykeham Arms in Winchester, which took some of the bile out of my mouth. About 1/3 the price of Momo, traditional and contemporary British. But I was bugged once again by something very common on menus (happened at Momo, too)- when a menu description says "wild mushrooms," I expect morels or chanterelles or porcini or... When the "wild mushrooms" turn out to be cultivated shiitakes or worse yet, overgrown crimini, that's quite a letdown.

[Jenise]

I loved Momo!

Had a really different night there once, sandwiched between a gay-guy threesome and an Indian man on a date with four women, one of which they all acknowledged would sleep with the gentleman at the end of the night though a final selection had not been made. Very high end women, too, all beautiful, and one was a doctor while one had written a book that was being released the next day. The tables were close together and everybody talked to everybody in a manner that was shockingly open, which was somehow possible even over the high decibels of the music. Stepping over the threshhold of that place was like walking into some strange fantasy world.

And yes it was pricey, but at the time it didn't seem more so than any other restaurant in London. I remember an atmostphere-less Korean restaurant that was far more egregious.

We couldn't hear people at our own table, much less people at any other tables. There was no-one there that I would sleep with, except maybe the bartender if she could have had some of her tattoos removed.

Warm wine. Mediocre food. Deafening noise levels. Bad attitude. High prices (ended up at $130 per person). What's not to like?

This is indeed a fantasy world.

Stuart
Ah the subtleties of language. I meant that it IS a lot cheaper, not that they should charge less!!
regards
Ian

Ahh, sorry, I had my American ears on, not my English ones.

When I first read the title of this thread, I thought it refered to momo's, the Nepalese dumpling. That would be an interesting restaurant concept. I've been to places that served only gyoza, the Japanese style dumpling.

I've been meaning to ask you, Stuart: How is the coffee in those Amsterdam coffeeshops, anyway?

I've been meaning to ask you, Stuart: How is the coffee in those Amsterdam coffeeshops, anyway?

The obvious answer is "smoky"

It's funny you should mention that. Everyone told me that people smoke a lot of pot in Amsterdam and that it's quasi-legal. So when I was there, I walked the streets and went to some of the parks and... nothing. Not at all like NY or SF; no-one approached me. Nada.

So I asked at the hotel. And they told me that I was doing it wrong, that I needed to go to a coffeeshop and get some there. OK, I get it. I looked around, found a Starbucks, went in and asked. They looked at me like I had two heads.

The whole Amsterdam/pot thing seems to be an urban myth.

[Jenise]

Eric--what's in a Nepalese dumpling?

Jenise,
There can be a variety of things. Vegetarian, pork, chicken, even yak! The religious ruling is that yaks are far enough from cows to be edible. They have a flour dough covering and can be steamed or fried.
eric

Stuart
LOL, in fact ROFL. I don't know what the shorthand for "almost wet myself laughing" is
The are coffee shops and (ahem) coffee shops (I recall there was some subtle naming distinction, but can't recall what it is). Starbucks and the like sell coffee. The others might serve beer, tea and coffee or whatever, but they're mostly there for people to buy and smoke pot. You can spot the vast majority of them by garish advertising usually with a Caribbean slant. These are often the tourist haunts with lots of (non-amsterdammer) europeans in getting quietly hammered. You can't miss them around the red-light area and also on the stretch down there from Dam Square and the station.

Personally I think they're (on the whole) places to be avoided, but I'm glad I've been in some (maybe 3 or 4). Weed isn't something I'm interested in, but I'm fairly tolerant of others doing it (but I REALLY don't want to open up a debate on the merits of it - not the place for that sort of debate I'm sure).

regards

Ian

I'm glad SOMEONE thought this was funny. I was ready to start tapping on the mike and saying, "This thing on?"

[Robin Garr]

I was ready to start tapping on the mike and saying, "This thing on?"

I think it was the utter deadpan. I even found myself thinking, "He didn't <i>really</i> think the Starbucks was <i>that</i> kind of coffee shop ... <i>did</i> he? ...

Not at all like NY or SF; no-one approached me. Nada.

No sellers because there is no market. If you want it, its easy to enjoy in a coffeeshop.

The whole Amsterdam/pot thing seems to be an urban myth.

I expect you didn't see any unclothed women sitting in windows either.

The whole Amsterdam/pot thing seems to be an urban myth.

I expect you didn't see any unclothed women sitting in windows either.

No, but let me tell you about Englischgarten in Muenchen....

The whole Amsterdam/pot thing seems to be an urban myth.

I expect you didn't see any unclothed women sitting in windows either.

No, but let me tell you about Englischgarten in Muenchen....

No? Are you sure you were in Amsterdam?

I should have looked harder to see if people were wearing wooden shoes.

It made our holiday when walking down the street past some roadworks I saw a worker hard at work in his clogs!