As a long term fan of Momo’s restaurant in the West End, after a mis-spent 30 somethings spent dining at Momo and moving on to a nightclub called China White and feeling very much “doing the in thing” I was really excited to find there was a Momo cookbook and this didn’t disappoint.

For those who aren’t in London, Momo is the restaurant of Mourad Mazouz (the author of The Momo Cookbook) serving mainly Moroccan food.  Having had a holiday in Morocco as a teenager and not having enjoyed the cuisine served at the holiday club we stayed at, I was a bit suspicious of anything that involved couscous until I was taken to Momo and at that point, I decided the cuisine of North Africa was definitely worth a second look.

Part travelogue part cookbook, I really enjoyed reading this as well as trying out the recipes.  It provided my first recipe for preserved lemons, which includes covering them after a few days with oil to prevent mould growing.  Most others simply cover in lemon juice and the oil trick is definitely worth knowing.

There are lots of great tagine recipes in their too.  I was surprised there wasn’t a hummus recipe but found a recipe for chickpea puree, served hot, whilst searching for the hummus, which wasn’t something I’d previously tried and it was well worth it.

I’m not sure if the book is still in print but there are certainly plenty of copies available second hand on Amazon.