Morgan M Restaurant Review

Lucy

Hey, fairy-godmother, could we have a new category for reviews of things?

Went to Morgan M last night and once again the food was brilliant (despite Morgan being on holiday - it is August and he is French). Lovely flavours and wonderful wine and they do proper food for vegetarians, not just risotto and pasta.

The staff were very nice and unpretentious but I don't think that they'll get their Michelin star quite yet, they lacked a certain attention to detail.

My favourite restaurant though and I would say that they're better than the Manoir aux Quat Saisons (ooh, hark at me! still a fantastic birthday present though), not least because they didn't drop a starter into my handbag and then disappear into the toilet for 20 minutes to have a cry. French waiters without the Parisian haughtiness. Wonderful.

David

New Reviews category added. I think its a fair one. If Andy tries to ban me for it, I urge everyone to rise up against the overlord.

Liz

For those who haven't been, the tasting menu with a glass of wine per course is excellent value (though not cheap). A particular highlight for me was the sparkling dessert wine, and the fish course, which was delicious. Also the champagne and peach aperitif....oh, I could go on. And no hangover this morning either - the upsides of drinking really good wine.

Colette

Nothing to do with Stroud Green at all, but for any veggies out there (and I'm not one of them) I recommend Vanilla Black by chancery lane (bad name, and they need to increase their portion sizes a little). Good food though, and London needs more high-quality veggie places.

http://www.vanillablack.co.uk/

Mike from London

Sorry to be dumb, but where is Morgan M? Nowehere around here I guess.

tosscat

Liverpool Road - and is still really, really nice.

tosscat

and has anyone been to Saf yet?

katiejane

Space NK? Morgan M?

Blimey - aren't we all posh!

tosscat

Pizza P

poxy

I hated my one and only visit to Morgan M.

Colette

Why?
I've been twice now, and I do think it's good, esp if you're a veggie, although I also think that they need to vary their menu a bit more. I'm pretty sure that the tasting menu was exactly the same in March this year as it was in January 4 years ago. For veggies I think it's splendid - there really are very few places in London that will offer you that sort of choice and that sort of quality (Rousillon, The Gate, maybe Manna, and now Vanilla Black), as a meat-eater though it's not top of my list.

Mike from London

Morgan M. Cost (2 courses and bottle wine)? Type of food? Ambience? Special selling points? Compulsory tip (10 or 12.5%)? Stickiness of tables? Poseur rating (1-5 stars)? Would you take your mum there?

I know I could look all this up somewhere else but I can't be arsed.

katiejane

They don't serve beer.

Colette

Cost: tasting menu is aboout £45 a head I think (not inc wine), a la carte is obviously cheaper. You're unlikely to get much change from a £80-100 though for a meal with wine for two.
Food: modern British? whatever that means.
Ambience: looking for a Michelin star, but it's on Liverpool rd so there's a limit to how stuffy it can be.
Special selling point: veggie tasting menu.
Compulsory tip: can't remember.
Stickiness of tables: thick tablecloths all the way.
Poseur rating: 3 (braying Islington idiots go there)
Would I take my mum there: she took me.

It does have a website.

andy

I think it's ace. A nice 'special occasion' restaurant with a friendly local vibe. On the same lines, I'd recommend Michael Moore's in Marylebone.

unaesthetic

"compulsory tip"??? tipping a waiter **is** compulsory (except for handbag-related food dropping and similar... sounds intriguing). plus if there's a "service charge" on a bill, it is "optional" - but only because it's a tax dodge and the staff are getting shafted. this is a moral issue.

tosscat

It isn't compulsory then.

rainbow_carnage

It's compulsory in the same way as paying for any other type of service. If you go to get a haircut, you have to pay the hairdresser. If the hairdresser cuts off a part of your ear, you are fully justified in walking out without paying.

If the waiter does his job, you have to pay for it. We could spend hours arguing whether it should be a separate charge or included in the price of the food, but there's little point. I did not design the system, nor do I have the power to change it. It is what it is. Now if the waiter was to dump the soup in your lap, I'd say that you'd be fully justified in withholding the tip (the price of the meal, too).

unaesthetic

anyway, i want to eat their food. yummy vegetarian eats are always wanted. and i always tip.

matt

Took my girlfriend to Morgan M's once, we both loved it. Food was amazing (we both picked the garden/veggie menu, even though she eats fish and I eat anything) and we added the wine so managed to get very merry at the same time. I arrived in jeans, shirt and carhartt jacket, and was looked up and down by the guy on the door. I'd have not been surprised if he'd have tutted.

tosscat

It's not compulsory, the waiter cannot sue you for a contract breach if you don't pay it. The waiter is an employee and is paid as such. My boss doesn't tip me at the end of the day. Do you tip the telesales staff who deal with your query? Would you tip in a fast food restaurant (hypothetically you understand)? Do you tip in pubs? Don't get me wrong, I will always tip, provided there has been no major screw up in the way you suggest. This isn't the States and our culture is very different.

Colette

@ unaesthetic - try vanilla black (and no, I'm not related to them, or in business with them, or know anyone who has anything to do with them)

unaesthetic

tosscat - yes our culture is different. but u.k. contemporary service culture is based (ish) on a u.s. model where the server is paid way below an acceptable minimum and his/her wages are made up of service charges and tips. oftentimes these monies vanish into the company and are never seen by the staff. sometimes restaurants are more "generous" (or honest). either way when you see a service charge on your bill you can safely assume your waiter's hourly wage is less than the legal minimum (usually something around the £2 mark) and that the service charge - and any tip you leave beside it - is essential for his or her making a living. when i say it's compulsory, i mean that it's *morally* compulsory, unless there's a genuine fault with the service.

colette - both these places are now on my "to eat at" list :)

dion

@ unaesthetic - sorry, but all employees over 21 in the UK should be on the minimum wage of £5.53 per hour. If they are not, then they should complain to HMRC; there are various helplines and confidential whistleblowing lines to shop people. If you are worried about the company taking the pot or tronc (don't ask), they are allowed to as long as they declare it to HMRC. You should always tip in cash if you don't trust the establishment, hopefully ensuring that the money goes to the waiters and waitresses. I think you are living in the 80s when it was much more as you describe.

andy

Geoff/Un - Actually it seems like U is right. Carluccio's pay below minimum wage and make the difference up in tips. <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/carluccios-staff-paid-163160-an-hour-below-the-minimum-wage-449630.html>;

andy

And the Mirror are all over this: <http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/tag/minimum wage&gt;

rainbow_carnage

There are tons of restaurants that pay their waiting staff below the minimum wage, using service charge and credit card tips to make up the difference. It's perfectly legal. There are just as many that confiscate the service charge from the waiting staff and use it to pay salaries, etc. The service charge system is hugely profitable for the restaurants because of that word 'optional', which means that they don't have to pay VAT on it. Were they to add 12% to the food prices, that extra profit would be taxed.

It's simple. It's legal. It's fucks over the low-paid individual who actually serves you and hands your money to the owner. Tip generously. Tip in cash. If you can, ask them to take the service charge off the bill and leave at least that amount in cash.

@ tosscat - Your argument about whom one does and doesn't tip makes no sense. A waiter's salary reflects the expectation that they will receive tips. Yours does not. If no one tipped, the waiters would have to be paid more. The extra costs would be passed down to the customers. That's exactly what happens in countries like Japan, where tipping is not customary.

This is how the system works. Personally, I think it's a bit insulting to the tipped employees. But then again, service if often lousy and sometimes exceptional, and people want to have to have control over how they reward it.

The point is that there is a system. This is how a part of our society operates. People who do not tip don't do anything to change the system. They simply screw over the individuals who serve them.

rainbow_carnage

Oh, and to bring the conversation back to the original topic, I am dying to try Morgan M's veggie tasting menu. I am happy to support any restaurant that acknowledges that vegetarian food is made of dirt-cheap vegetables and, therefore, charges less for it than for meat dishes. It's incredibly depressing to pay the same amount for pasta as the guy next to you is paying for his steak.

unaesthetic

what she said

tosscat

@ raincar - do you tip barstaff?

Colette

@ rainbowcarnage - preparing veggie food can be a lot more labour-intensive though (living with a veggie, I regularly bemoan this fact).