Dear Andy Hayler,
I stumbled upon your review of Moro (34-36 Exmouth Market, London EC1), which was reprinted at myvillage.com, and had great difficulty digesting your description of its bread as “poor, too airy, floury and lacking salt”. The hardest part for me to chew was the too-airy bit. My recurring complaint about the breads at London bakeries and restaurants is that they’re not airy enough. Neither are they chewy, coarse or crusty, the way I expect artisanal, rustic, hand-kneaded breads to be, the way Moro’s exceptional sourdough is. I accept that the English, like most Americans, are accustomed to soft, squishy, fine-textured breads, but I’d hoped that well-travelled food writers like yourself would stand up for air pockets, educate readers and influence taste.
There is, however, one what if: What if my love for Moro’s sourdough is a function of my limited or very poorly chosen bread experiences since moving to the UK? Perhaps you know of rustic, vastly superior local loaves which compelled you to criticise Moro’s daily bread. If that is the case than I beg you to both pardon my ignorance and relieve me of it by providing a link to your list of London’s very best breads.
Yours sincerely,
Daniel Young
What to make of a chocolate bagel?
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People’s experience of food, and bread, is inevitably subjective to an extent. I am particularly fond of bread and in general the standard of bread in UK restaurants is disappointing. The biggest problem is that very few places actually make their own bread, and the UK lacks the kind of superb bakers that Paris has, so that it is hard to buy in bread of real quality. Exceptions to this in London are Roussillon in Pimlico, who make excellent bread, Le Gavroche and, at the gastropunb end, The Duke of Sussex. Interestingly, the latter make their bread to keep costs down, but in fact make an excellent, simple country bread. Even Gordon Ramsay and Heston Blumenthal buy in ther bread, whereas top restaurants in France usually make theirs from scratch.
I also find it very hard to buy good bread in London. Poilane on ELizabeth Street are about the best I have found. However I have found that the bread my wife bakes at home to be better than the bought-in bread served at Gordon Ramsay, which after all is is a 3 star restaurant..
Andy
Andy Hayler is an over rated foodie. The fact that he ate at all 3 michelin stars is honestly good for him but utterly irrelevant to human kind evolution. The fact that Andy does not publish all comments sent to him does make of him a one man show, completely enclosed in his own little PR bubble and not really connected to the rest of the foodie world.I have stopped reading his useless writings since they are redundant: you know way in advance what he will like and what he won’t. Way too much credit is given to that guide when in fact, he is bringing absolutely nothing to the culinary world