Two times I’d nearly gone, and two times I hadn’t. RESERVATION CANCELLED. Quite easily too; they don’t take a card here.
As I accumulated nearly going, friends told me things about Mo.
One, a chef: their food is bad. They have an incredible pizza oven and make actively bad pizzas. How? And why are they making pizzas?
One, a designer: the space is beautiful. And more, it wears everything on its sleeve.
We’ve had this conversation multiple times. The present of design is deceit and the future is honesty, for the courageous at least. And here the design is absolutely and totally honest. I ask the waitress. What was this? It was a theatre, she said. The wooden seats were the sets, the curly pipes up the wall were the heating. More than that, it’s an unbelievably calm space.
We had the best table, perhaps prompted by the tough-love-I-don’t-need-you of the cancellations (my courtesy), right on the edge of building and garden. The roofs are cavernous but not overwhelmingly so. Their height is calmness. Then: orange trees and hanging lights (theatrical) and a bakery, open during the day. And on an early summer Madrid evening, it was gorgeous.
So we sat and started on sustenance. First things first: water, focaccia, and wine. Two out of three were great. The water jug was tactile and thick and cold. The focaccia was breathless and soft. But the wine list was just awful. Firstly, only two natural wines. Two! Get over yourself, I felt like saying. You barely even need them natural, just make it cold!
Then of the two natties they did have, THEY DIDN’T ACTUALLY HAVE THEM. We were left in the unenviable predicament of having to gargle down a Tepid Tempranillo on a Hot Tuesday Evening. Please, kill me now.
But actually don’t because have you seen the prices? THE ODDEST IVE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. And this was fun. We ordered a boring bottle of normal red (very reluctantly, but what are you meant to do) for 34 euros. Ok fine, you might be thinking, until we saw that a GLASS of the SAME BOTTLE was FOUR euros. FOUR. THAT’S ABSURD AND STUPID. I’ve never seen anything like it. Are they charging you… for the bottle itself?
So we cancelled the bottle and ordered almost a bottle in glasses for half of the price. It still wasn’t a natty, but at least it was cheap, and with some ice, drinkable.
So: great water, great focaccia, not great wine. Which sums it all up: almost GREAT. Or more specifically: ⅔ great.
Foodwise, I couldn’t tell you what their thing was. I guess Italian? Sort of? It all felt quite vegetarian except it wasn’t, which is actually probably an accurate description of Italian vegetarianism. Veg and cheese and pizza and thin, thin guanciale floating above it all.
But there’s also beetroot hummus which isn’t very Italian. We tried that and it was delicious but very sweet.
We argued on the natural sugars of hummused beetroots, to no conclusion, because we didn’t know anything about hummused beetroots.
Alongside it we had grilled and sort of squished aubergine which was fine. And alongside that we had a mushroom and guanciale carbonara which was FABULOUS. So much egg, no pasta, and wow, proper good.
Then for mains we shared a pizza (No.3, cherry tomato, pesto, sheep’s cheese) which was quite nice but not special. I wouldn’t go so far as my friend, to be genuinely impressed by its failings, but it wasn’t the best pizza I’ve ever had. The second thing was a very light lemon and hazelnut ravioli. I have nothing to say about it.
On the fringe of the orange trees, this was a beautiful evening. Both of my friends were correct (I’m not suprised – I have correct friends) and what left of their preconceptions formed something gorgeous and flawed, but unfortunately not quite gorgeously flawed. There’s a disconnect here. A top 3 space, arguably (on what list, I’m not sure), that, arguably, deserves more.
Still, I forgive them. It’s calm and it’s hard to find calm. Plus their glasses of wine are half the price of the bottle. And their garden is GORGEOUS, although you can’t go in it, and you’d be crazy for trying (screams of CABALLERO trailing behind us).
Sums it up really. Eyes only, but I’ll be back.
- Food: 7.1/8.5
- Vibes: 7
- Space: 9 (in the summer)
- Price: €25/30 a head. Plus its pizza so.
C. de Espronceda, 34, Chamberí, 28003 Madrid