By Mr. Taste
On a tip from my new homesick Melbournian buddy, she suggests we try the popular Spanish tapas and wine bar, located in a colourful little laneway adjacent to the awesome Forum Theatre, MoVida. “Call them now”, she tells me. “Their waiting list can be months long for weekends”.
Of course, I completely forget to do this and those words kept haunting me over the weekend at the times when I could do nothing about it, like on the plane or at 2am. I kept reminding myself that we are coming back in a few weeks, it won’t be a major drama if we miss out this trip, I’ll have plenty of time to book it for then.
Movida Exterior
So Ms. Taste and I end up wandering around Melbourne’s inner-city suburbs on a Sunday morning, bored out of our wits as nothing is open besides Coles (we went to the Coles in Richmond and then to the Coles in Fitzroy! Yes it was boring!). A pretty unsatisfactory leg of our unusually unprepared trip. So I suggest we might as well give MoVida a shot, worst case is that we get rejected and make a booking for our next trip (saving on a phone call, oh cheapskate-ness ahoy!) or we wait for a while and hopefully be lucky enough to snag a table.
Chalkboard full of desserts
Back onto the tram, we jump off into the empty wind-tunnel streets of the CBD and make our way down a few blocks to Hosier Lane, just off Flinders St and sort of in front of Federation Square. There’s a group of tourists taking photos and posing in front of the murals. It’s hard to tell whether they’re there to admire the art on the walls or whether they’re a bunch of excited foodies. Somehow we’ve arrived on the stroke of noon, just as they’re opening. The tables are all empty and reserved and the bar and window seats are already occupied save two seats. Lady Luck must have been making up for that boring morning with a fun afternoon ahead. “Are you OK to sit at the bar?”, asks the hostess. “Eh, I don’t think that will be a problem”, we reply, grinning with excited giggles.
Seated at the bar
Complimentary bread and olive oil
We’re immediately greeted with a few slices of soft bread, a few of a crustier nature and a small pool of olive oil. Our friendly bartender/waiter explains how we should order – The tapa are small individual bite-sized pieces, whilst the racion are plates to share amongst two or more people. Whilst we both sit silently, contemplating our ordering strategy (How many things can we eat? What looks like good value? Uh, wait didn’t we just eat?), our barman returns with our drinks and some more slices of bread for our freshly vacated bread plate.
Apple Cider - Le Pere Jules Cidre Bouche $8.00
Anchoa: Hand filleted Cantabrian artisan anchovy on crouton with smoked tomato sorbet - $4.50
Anchoa
Our waiter suggests the Anchoa, one taste changed how he looks at the world he tells us (or was it how he looked at anchovies? Eh, same thing). The cool smoky foam fills the nostrils whilst the intense salty anchovy and the texture of the crispy crouton provide a enjoyably complex mouthful to slowly take in and digest.
Viera: Roasted Spring Bay scallop with jamon and potato foam - $4.80 each
Next is the Viera, with it’s sliver of jamon that also gives off that wonderful smoky aroma. The fresh and juicy scallop is quickly devoured and any of the leftover creamy potato foam is mopped up with some bread.
Gambas al ajillo: Prawns cooked in garlic and fino with broad beans - $18.50
Gambas al ajillo - $18.50
The ubiquitous Spanish garlic prawns dish, but with fino and broad beans! The prawns were fresh and cooked perfectly, the flavourful leftover sauce is again eagerly mopped up with what had to be our 5th refill of bread.
San Jacobo de cordonice: Hunter Valley quail, partially boned, crumbed, and filled with jamon and mahon cheese - $8.00
An amazing chicken nugget filled with amazing treasures inside its crunchy and crispy exterior. The cheese oozes out as we split this one down the middle, we both enjoy our portion and agree that half was just right for this relatively heavy dish.
Costilla con sobrasada: Roast lamb cutlet encased in a Catalan pork and paprika pate - $7.50
The green sauce is similar to a chimichurri, a strong parsley taste with the pork and paprika a little too subtle for my tastebuds. Also cooked perfectly, both of us very satisfied with this dish.
Carillera de buey: Slowly braised beef cheek in Pedro Ximenez on cauliflower puree - $18.50
Carillera de buey - $18.50
Ms. Taste’s favourite dish, the soft sweet and juicy beef cheek, falling apart and melting in our mouths. The penultimate course, I leave it to Ms. Taste to polish it off as it is very rich and flavourful.
Daily Special - Barramundi and other seafood
Our last dish, the daily special with barramundi and some other creatures from the sea. It’s unlucky that this dish came after the beef cheek. I have a harder time tasting the subtleties of the sauce and the seafood as there’s still the strong meaty taste lingering on my tongue. But everything is definitely fresh and it goes undeservingly unloved due to its order in the lineup and our already over-filled stomachs.
A highlight of our short trip to Melbourne, it leaves us hankering for some more tapas on our return to Sydney. Sitting just a few spots above MoVida on the Gourmet Traveller Top 100 is Surry Hills’ Bodega Tapas Bar, and top of our to-do list is to brave the crowds and their no-bookings policy to see if the high standards set at MoVida are exceeded.
MoVida
1 Hosier Lane
Melbourne
# 03 9663 3038
www.movida.com.au
Open daily from noon until late.
