Reply to comment

34-36 Exmouth Market
020 7833 8336

FOR restaurateur Sam Clark, Exmouth Market isn’t just the best street in Britain – it’s up there with anywhere in Europe.

“In the summer when everyone is out in the street, eating at the tables or just walking up and down, it’s got to be one of the most jolly and life-enhancing places in Europe,” he says.

Sam started the market’s flagship eaterie Moro with his wife Samantha in 1997.

They met and fell in love while working as chefs at the pioneering Eagle gastro pub, just round the corner in Farringdon Road.

Sharing an enthusiasm for Spanish and North African cuisine, they decided to branch out on their own with a restaurant serving up their favourite food.

Sam said: “Having worked at the Eagle we could see how the area was going with businesses moving here from the West End to escape high rents.

“When we first came, the area was a bit run down but we could see the potential. It was attracting innovative businesses who wanted to do something creative and original.”

Sam and Sam’s big idea was “a cuisine that has its roots in Spain and the Muslim Mediter­ranean.” 

Their website proclaims: “Two great culinary traditions were drawn together, in what is often known as the marriage of saffron and cinnamon.”

In addition to the upmarket but moderately priced Moro they also opened up the Morito tapas bar next door – a cheaper and more informal outlet for their talents.

And how’s business been over economic ups and downs of the past  14 years? 

“We’re still here doing what we love and employing 40 people – and that’s not a bad definition of success,” said Sam.