5a More Place,
London,
SE1 2BY
0872 148 1623
The ViewLondon Review
It’s a clever idea, having the word champagne in your name. Few can resist the treat of a chilled flute of champers bubbling with connotations of success.
Fortunately, morechampagne is as attractive as it sounds. The latest addition to the exciting morelondon development stretching along the river from London Bridge to Tower Bridge, it stands alone next to the water installations in front (or behind, depending how you look at it) of the imposing corporate offices at More London place.
The angular glass and black metal building is pure Norman Foster. Predominantly glass walls make you feel as if you’re in a smart goldfish bowl. Seating is a mixture of serious black leather sofas, black bar stools and red seats. Happily, the place looks more expensive than it is.
More than a bar, it serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. At £1.60 for a regular coffee and £1.95 for a pain au chocolat breakfast is good value. Lunch and dinner read as a neat list of Spanish dishes. The attractive Ortiz tuna, Spanish bean and piquillo pepper salad (£8.85) leaves a soft, clean taste in the mouth. Even more satisfying are the thin slices of Serrano ham (£4.95) served on a chunky wooden tray and eaten with fresh bread dunked into cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil.
The evening menu is tapas - skinless Marcona almonds (£2.25) and bowls of warmed chorizo eaten with sticks (£1.95) to stave off hunger (and stop you getting too drunk). In an excellent wine list there is an especially fine Rioja Reserva Marques de Vitoria (£5.85 a glass, £21.95 a bottle).
Champagne has a page to itself, starting at £7.95 for a flute of Gardet, rising to £110 for a magnum of Laurent Perrier. Lots of room to eat outside, weather permitting.