On a grey autumnal Sunday morning, something that’s a little uplifting, even heavenly, might seem rather appealing. This could take the form of communal hymn singing or, there again, you might let someone else do the singing and head to the Cielo experience at Los Mochis. Cielo – Spanish for heaven – is a new idea for Los Mochis, the Mexican-Japanese restaurant that sits atop the 100 Liverpool Street building and it’s freshly launched as their Sunday Rooftop Ritual (Cielo also means “sky” and they are offering plenty of that up on the ninth floor).
This has always been a great space, sitting close to Broadgate Circle with floor-to-ceiling windows looking out across the city and a huge terrace – covered over when I visited on a wet September Sunday. Inside, it’s as colourful and even tropical as you can hope. There’s a huge circular bar, filled with golden light, plants growing up and hanging down everywhere you look, and a design so vibrant that, on a more clement day, you might well need sunglasses.
They describe their food as pan-Pacific (‘Where Tokyo meets Tulum’) and it’s a surprisingly happy marriage between Japanese sushi and ceviche and Mexican guacamole and tacos. It is, though, a lot more than that. You start with champagne delivered on a faux-antique brass trolley, your glass filled from a magnum. This is one of the options but you can have a non-alcoholic version. Mine included not just that initial glass of champagne but a further two cocktails (I can recommend the Margarita and the Espresso Martini).
The food menu is very simple. There is a choice of some six different tacos (plant-based, fish or meat) that your waiter will bring to the table to join the steamed edamame and satisfyingly chunky guacamole that have already automatically appeared. We went for miso black cod with avocado and cabbage and Yakiniku – sesame-soy steak with chilli-ginger honey, coriander, cabbage and radish.
The rest is simply a guide to what you will find at the various “stations” dotted around the restaurant. Just delicious. These, though, came later and the best place to start is undoubtedly with the sushi that is a vast and beautifully presented selection that includes salmon, seabass, sea bream, prawns and wonderfully fatty bluefin tuna. These come as nigiri and sashimi and, alongside them are maki rolls with salmon and avocado, tuna and asparagus or black cod.
Other food stations offer Crudo – ranging from Icelandic sea trout tartare to tuna ceviche, beetroot tiradito to wagyu tataki. There’s a counter with bowls full of DIY salad ingredients and Kushiyaki (grilled skewers) with miso cod, asparagus chicken teriyaki and glazed shitake mushrooms. There’s a blini bar with caviar and more and a dessert station with such Mexican delights as dulce de leche cheesecake, matcha blondie as well as a dulce de leche fountain with churros if you really need to up those calories.
I was there for the launch of the Cielo Sundays concept and it was absolutely packed. It isn’t just this that makes for the atmosphere. The service is good (all the staff have been to charm school), the presentation is excellent and any gaps in the conversation (there weren’t any) can be filled by the wandering band who owe absolutely nothing to mariachis but are a five-strong combo of men in black playing some very cool music and featuring a particularly fine saxophonist. Altogether a rather heavenly start to Sunday morning.
Los Mochis London City, 100 Liverpool St, London EC2M 2AT. Cielo sittings are at 12:00, 12:15, 12:30, 12:45 or 13:00pm. For more information, and for bookings, please visit www.losmochis.co.uk.
