Movida, Melbourne

www.movida.com.au

 

Ratings
Food:	7/10
Atmosphere:	6/10
Service:	6/10
Value:	6/10

Average Price
Entrée:	$9 – $20
Main:	$13 – $25
Dessert:	$13 – 20
Degustation:	N/A
Corkage:	$7
Cakeage:	N/A

Others
Ease of finding a car park:	Extremely Hard
Ease of finding the restaurant:	Hard
Brightness of restaurant:	Dark
Noise Level:	Noisy
Waiting time for foods:	15 mins – 20 mins
Booking time require:	1 week – 5 week
Child friendly/High Chair:	No

Ok It’s time for Obesebaby to expand interstate, a good friend of mine said…A Recent weekend trip down to Melbourne. Me and JC did a huge research of our must visit and restaurants list to make use of our each day in Melbourne. Movida was one of the Spanish on our mind, especially after watching Master Chef 2 where my favourite Marion had her celebrity challenge against Movida’s chef and owner – Frank Camorra. The restaurant is hidden in a small lane way full of colourful graffiti. I couldn’t help but keep taking pictures and imaged how the challenge was and how they can fit two stoves in there.

Frank was born in Spain, raised in Australia and worked as a chef in his native country. At Movida he brings the taste of his homeland with a twisted of aussie fusion. Food in here are made with quality, every item you see on the menu is a per-piece price. But they are very rich and full of flavours. We didn’t book a table but arrived at 5.45pm to try our luck. We were already planning to go the Movida next door ( A bar style of Movida which also owns by Frank) if there was no seat available and amazingly we got a seat!

The open kitchen catches your attention first, fire from the stove and activity from kitchen chefs demonstrated how busy this place is.

Complimentary bread with olive oil

To start we were given warm complimentary bread, I believe they are sour dough and the one I like more was the one on the right which has a lightly char grill crust.

Croquet – Fried silky croquette flavoured with Jamon and Egg, $4 each

Going through the menu was like a pain because we wanted to try many things but only have limited space in our stomach (as well as limited cash in the wallet), so we decided to go for 3 tapas and 2 mains, we were also told by the waiter that the size of a main is the size between an entree and main. So if you are a big eater prepare to break the bank. Our first tapas was croquet. The croquettes had a crunchy exterior and the blissfully smooth and creamy potato, Jamon and egg filling would equate to my definition of comfort food. Jamon FYI is certain types of dry-cured ham from Spain. It tasted like bacon indeed.

Costilla con sobrasada – Roast lamb cutlet encased in a Catalan pork and paprika pate, $7.50 each

At first, looking at the lamb I said to myself, how come the meat is so puff up and round. After having my first bite I totally understand why! While having a little explosion in my taste bud, I can taste paprika, fresh herbs, garlic,  mint and plenty of other ingredients which encased into the lamb. The meat was slightly pink and cooked to perfection. I would love more of those!

Monte Y Mar – Pork stuffed Calamari with squid ink dressing, $7 each

This are two fine piece of art on the plate, I can imagine how many works and no. of hour in kitchen was spent to prepare this dish. The slow cooked shredded marinated pork was very tender and taste a bit like tuna. Calamari was just cooked, the squid ink was mix together with vinaigrette which gave a dash of sourness to offset the rich pork flavours.

Chorizo con guindillas – oven-roasted house made chorizo with mild pickled green peppers, $14.50

This is the least favourite dish out of the whole night, because the size was like an entree size and the chorizo is not those one that I’ve tasted in any Spanish restaurant. It was salty to start with and the stuffing has liver in it I believe because it taste very grany and powdery.

Carrillera de buey – Slowly braised beef cheek in pedro ximenez on cauliflower puree, $19.50

This dish gave me the wow factor, despite its not so attractive looking. The beef cheek was so tender that it literally melted in my mouth and oh I can’t help to keep digging in for more. I am sure the beef was braised slowly for few hours to have such soft and smooth texture. I must say I am not a big fan of cauliflower but I absolutely love the puree!!!

Conclusion: I think the food in here is very unique and fusion, not like any of the Spanish restaurant in Australia. The highlight for me was definitely the beef cheek.The service was lacking toward the main course of the night as the restaurant got busier and busier. The meal cost the two of us $84 which I thought was acceptable although we are both not at our fullest.

 

Like my blog? Feel free to leave a comment or subscribe to receive email notifications for update !

or Add me in Facebook

 

Address:

1 Hosier lane, Melbourne VIC
opening hrs: Mon – Sun 12:00 to late  
Ph:+613-9663-3038
Web: www.movida.com.au

Getting There:

Parking: Flinders Lane
By Train: Flinders St Station  
By Tram: Flindersinders St