Restaurants

By Guy Dimond

Chef Theodore Kyriakou and business partner Paloma Campbell set up Livebait, made it one of the best restaurants in London for a year or two... then sold it. Then, they set up The Real Greek, made it one London’s best restaurants... then sold it. So I suggest you visit More before there’s a corporate, soulless branch rolled out on a high street near you. Because right now, you’ll want More.

First though, you need to find More. This open-all-day café-bar-restaurant is opposite a huge new development between Tower and London Bridges, confusingly called More London. But the More you want is nothing to do with this development – it’s across Tooley Street, in one of the old Victorian buildings.

More’s a little place, quite loud with shouty City types, and also sweltering on the warm evening we visited. Don’t let this put you off. The modern look of the place carries over to the plate; if you’ve been to good all-day cafés in Sydney or San Francisco, the crossover of meals and cuisine types may seem familiar. The day kicks off with Bircher muesli, fruit bowls and cheese on toast, but the heat in the kitchen steps up at lunch time (after 11.30am). Then you might try grilled prawns with a peach, pepper and feta relish, or meat parcels in a lemony broth with watercress and chilli.

We visited in the evening (dinner menu: after 6.30pm), when the open kitchen was a flurry of activity led by head chef Beatrice Ferrante. Sitting at the bar is a great spectator activity, especially with such visually arresting dishes. One starter resembled a variation on bouillabaisse, a seafood stock with wine strongly flavoured with saffron that contained baby squid, shards of fennel and cut leeks. The strong flavours of this dish contrasted with the delicacy of a stack of crab meat with roasted tomatoes and peach flesh, garnished with peppery watercress.

The dish descriptions don’t always tally with what you expect. A main course called ‘surf and turf’ was more of a laksa-like spiced broth, with slivers of white fish and beef submerged in it. And a dessert described as a ‘budino’ (Italian for pudding) was more like a chocolate muffin, or an overcooked fondant. Tiramisu was served in a trifle glass, and had hazelnut and rhubarb flavours in it – unusual, but well-judged.

With jolly staff and a feelgood buzz, we wanted more of More. But we don’t want too many More – it’s perfect as it is, and we’ll rue the day it’s ‘rolled out as a concept’.

Time Out London June 2009