Morou – The Next Iron Chef contender and owner of the former Farrah Olivia–opened a new Italian restaurant with his brother Amadou. www.korarestaurant.com. Apparently Amadou is an accomplished Italian chef with some street cred.
A top selling point for me – was the chance to experience Morou’s cooking at extremely affordable prices. Pasta dishes come in half of whole portions ranging from $8-9, and $14-16 respectively. Main meats and fish range from $15-22. The ‘too good to be true’ prices come a caveat. Whimsical, groundbreaking and inventive – elements of Morou’s famed cooking – are not the restaurant’s focus. The Morou touch is there, but it is not the guiding principle behind the dishes.
The Eggplant Gazpacho is most reflective of the Morou touch. It had a velvety mouth feel and was a delicious infusion of tangy tomatoes and creamy eggplant. The small tomato “pearls” which seemed to me like gelatin infused with tomato flavor just had you wondering – how did they ever manage to get that kind of flavor into that jelly? Amazing.
Unfortunately the rest of the meal was not as exciting as the eggplant gazpacho… but still pleasant overall. The pasta dish I had here was inventive and extremely flavorful, but was fell flat on its execution of the pasta. The Squid Ink Tagliatelle with clams in white wine garlic sauce was garnished with delicate, perfectly cooked pieces of crispy calamari. The sauce of clam broth, white wine, and garlic had me wishing that I had saved some bread to sop up the juices at the bottom of the heaping plate of black squid ink pasta. Our waiter must have tried the dish – he knowingly didn’t take it away when all that was left was the broth – instead he offered to bring us more bread to sop up the juices. I was intrigued but I politely refused to maintain some ‘dignity,’ and of course some self control.
The pasta itself could have used less cooking time. While I thoroughly enjoyed the texture and flavors of the other elements of the dish – calamari, clams, and broth – I found myself really wishing the pasta had more bite to it.
The poached cod was cooked perfectly cooked, but the Mediterranean broth it was served in was overly salty and not much else. The menu claimed citrus marinated mussels that I’m guessing would have lent a really bright and tangy contrast to the broth, but the mussels showed no hint of citrus. The fish was poached to perfection, and vegetables were masterfully julienned, yet the salty broth failed to bring the dish together.
Fortunately, my Tiramisu was did not disappoint. Layers of real espresso soaked lady fingers, topped with some whipped mascarpone ended a perfectly enjoyable, yet not completely pulled together meal.
The setting is beautiful, the hints of Morou add razzle dazzle to the food, the wait staff is eager and willing to please, and the prices that are too good to be true. The place definitely deserves another go. The restaurant shows promise on its first few weeks of opening, but definitely needs some polish to live up to the big name sitting behind it.
Start discussion »
Leave a Reply