The bar scene at Los Mochis City
What do we need to know about Los Mochis City?
This is the brand new City branch of the Notting Hill restaurant Los Mochis. They sum it up as Tokyo meets Tulum, so the menu's a mash-up of Japanese and Mexican influences.
Where is it?
It's at 100 Broadgate building at Liverpool Street station, taking over the whole of the ninth floor of the building. That said, finding the entrance to this particular restaurant isn't easy. You need to head to Liverpool Street itself to find the way in. There you take a lift up to the rooftop where you'll find the sprawling restaurant, bar and huge roof terrace.
Where should we sit?
That's a good question because there's a lot of choice. If you're here for a drink, there's a large bar as you come in (try to get the corner table which has a great view). There's also a main dining room which has a mix of table and counter seating (a great spot if you enjoy watching the sushi chefs at work). And, finally, there's an absolutely massive terrace with its own bar and dining area. That's where we ate on an unusually balmy night in London.
One third of the dining area on the terrace
That's a huge terrace...
It is and it has a retractable roof and heating so this is somewhere that can be used pretty much all year around.
Cocktails first?
It would be rude not to, particularly when the list here is packed with enticing-sounding drinks (and a decent selection of alcohol-free libations too).
We shied away from the big margarita list to try this Toasted Corn Old Fashioned (£22) and were not disappointed. It's made with The Macallan Double Cask 12-year-old whisky, Michter’s Bourbon, Nixta Corn Licor, toasted coconut and sesame
At this point, we moved away from the outside bar to take up residence at one of the tables around the edge of the roof terrace. If you can get one on the southwestern side you'll get a cracking view across to St Paul's.
What's on the menu?
It's an absolutely massive menu - running to nine pages before you even hit the tasting menu options. There are snacks and small plates, tacos, sushi, crudo, grilled skewers, salads and robata grill dishes. We had a pretty good roam around it, so here are our highlights.
Obviously we were going to start with the guac (£9.50) and it's good here. This was the classic version but they also do it with crab, grilled shrimp and a superfood version.
Tuna poke tostaditos (£12 for two) - a bite-size treat of cubes of yellowfin tuna crudo, yuzu, shiso truffle and avocado topped with jalapeño, toasted sesame in a sweet potato taco shell.
Spicy salmon on crispy rice (£19) - a very good version of a favourite dish of ours. It's worth noting they also do a vegan version of this with truffle guacamole.
Seabass ceviche with shiso truffle soy (£23) - an always-on crudo dish that's been on the menu since the early days of the first restaurant in Notting Hill. At this price, though, we'd have liked it to have included some crackers or chips to spoon it onto.
Chuleta de cordero (£24) - the robata dishes are new to the City branch so we felt we needed to order these chops marinated with Habanero Gochujang and served with Pickled Jicama.
Salmon aburi (£15) - a great value maki roll filled with scallops and avocado and topped with seared salmon.
Cabo fish tacos (two for £18) - Cod Tempura with Yuzu Aioli and Jalapeño Pico de Gallo
Room for dessert?
Barely, after all that. We were eyeing up the tres leches baked Alaska which they set fire to tableside, but instead we did manage a slice of this rather lovely thing....
Dulce de leche cheesecake (£12)
Anything else we should know?
Yes, there's a decent sized private dining room next to the walk-in wine room (there's quite the collection of big-name labels here). And, next to that, is a yet-to-open omakase dining experience that we reckon will be just like Juno at Notting Hill. We'll keep you in the loop on that.
Overall thoughts:
We're always being told how Mondays and Fridays are seriously quiet in the City but if that's the case then Los Mochis City is bucking the trend. The terrace and most of the huge dining room were packed on the Monday evening we visited. Service was brisk and very friendly - they've managed to make this one of those buzzy places that still retains the human touch. Now that's a hospitality trick worth learning.
More about Los Mochis City
Where is it? 100 Liverpool Street, Broadgate, London EC2M 2AU
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram @losmochislondon,
Hot Dinners dined as guests of Los Mochis City. Prices correct at time of publication.
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