MoVida Bar de Tapas , Melbourne CBD

Two weeks before our trip to Melbourne, I rang up MoVida to make a dinner reservation. I was then told that all 4 of their restaurants are fully booked out for dinner until October !! 0___0

But thankfully they can fit us in at the original MoVida @ Hosier Lane for lunch, I just made the reservation straight away then consult with the others later on hahahahahaa...

MoVida Menu

The menu is split into 2 sections, Tapa and Racion. Tapa is small individual portions and Racion is bigger in portion and are meant to be shared.

Everything sounded so good on the menu, so we decide each of us will pick 2 tapas each = 6 tapas and  then 2 of the raciones. That way we can taste as many variety as possible without bursting our tummies :)

When the waiter came over to take our order, he started telling us of the specials of the day so quickly that we just stared at him...lost LOL

So, because of the new informations on the specials, we had to recon and decide on what to order all over again.

Complimentary Platter of Warm Breads

The waiter returned not long after with stone slab of complimentary breads & olive oil. There were 2 types of bread, one a normal bread and the other one is deep fried ! I think it's deep fried focaccias but the others think they are donut lol

Regardless what it is exactly, it was amazing !! The smell of deep fried bread, soft and fluffy on the inside, sprinkled with coarse sea salt and dipped in the olive oil. I can still remember the smell and taste...mmmmmm....

We have been forewarned that the tapas here are quite small in portion, having that in mind we are still quite surprised on how small they were. Then again, they are after all designed as individual portions.

Without further ado , here are the 6 tapas that we ordered :

Truffa
Manchego Custard w/ Fresh WA Black Truffle, Leek & Potato Crisp

The truffa is presented in an egg shell sitting on a bed of coarse salts with a thin disc of potato crisp sitting on top - wow !

The crisp is to be crushed and then sprinkled into the egg on top of the sliver of truffle.

The Manchego custard has mild flavour , creamy and silky, the truffles brings earthy flavour to the dish and the crisp adds a lovely texture to what otherwise is just a soft textured dish.

Viera
Oven Baked Scallop w/ Jamon & Potato Foam

The scallop was tender and the potato foam disappears into nothingness in your mouth. 

Croquetta
Fried Silky Croquette Flavoured with Leek & Mahon Cheese

This dish reminds me of Japanese croquettes, creamy mash covered in bread crumbs and deep fried till golden.

Bomba
Catalan Potato Bomb w/ Chorizo

(Seems like I'm having issues taking shots of brown coloured dishes that day *sigh*)

One of the specials of the day, Bomba is very similar to the previous Croquetta, except that it has chorizo in it and is served with tomato paste. The sauce on top reminds me of a sunny side up egg :D

Monte y Mar
Tube Calamari w/ Braised Pork served w/ Squid Ink

The other special of the day that we cannot help but burst into laughter when this arrived at the table. The calamari was no bigger than a thimble ! So you can imagine when we try to split it into 3 - with extreme precision.

The calamari was tender , the braised pork stuffing melts in your mouth :) Wish the portion was bigger so I can properly taste it...

Costilla con Sobrasada
Roast Lamb Cutlet encased in a Catalan Pork & Paprika Pate

It's lamb cutlet wrapped in bacon and some paprika pate :) The lamb was very good, juicy, sweet and still pink in the middle.

Moving on to the raciones , the shared dishes :

Tigre
Traditional Spring Bay Stuffed Mussel w/ Dried Chorizo & Lemon Aioli

Out of the dishes we had so far, I like this one the best. The golden ball of stuffed mussels burst in your mouth, delicious. The stuffing was creamy and the lemon aioli compliments the crispy creamy mussels.

A dish that I would definitely order again.

Cordonices
Pan Seared Quail Breast with Fried Bread & Grapes

There were 2 pieces of tiny quails on the plate, much smaller than what we were expecting for a $16 dish -__-

The flavours in the dish just doesn't do it for me, it was too much sweet on the plate. The grapes were sweet and so were the sauce that goes with it.

We couldn't go pass the desserts menu that we have been eyeing on since we sat down, so we ordered two to share.

While the savoury dishes came out from the kitchen quickly, the desserts were another story.

They took forever to arrive, a good 20minutes before the first dessert was served.

Tarta
Goat's Milk Cheesecake w/ Lemon Sorbet

The goat's milk cheesecake is served with a crispy walnut tuille, lemon sorbet and tomato puree.

The cheesecake is creamy but the smell of goat's milk was too strong for me, so I left it to the other two to polish it off. Love the walnut tuille though :)

Ganache Caliente con Turron
Hot Chocolate Ganache Pudding w/ Vanilla Bean Ice Cream & Nougat

The longest wait time for dessert ever ! After waiting 30minutes , the waiter told us that the chocolate pudding / fondant collapsed as it was removed from the mould so they have to re-do it again (as we know, fondant took at least 20minutes to bake) and kept apologizing for the delay. Since we have to wait so long for it, the fondant is complimentary on the house.

So 40minutes later, the fondant finally arrived. Fortunately, it is the BEST chocolate fondant I've ever had !

It was warm, soft and oozing lava of rich dark chocolate - chocolate heaven *mmmmm*

Love the vanilla ice cream and the not too sweet handmade nougat cubes.

Inside MoVida Bar de Tapas

If I were to pick which were the Top 3 of what had that day,  the order would go like this :

1. Chocolate Fondant

2. Tigre

3. Truffa

The others were delicious but were quite ordinary and didn't have as much wow factor as these three :)

Service was great, the waiter was very informative and spent time describing each dishes to us.
We didn't order that many foods as we were not too hungry, be prepared to spend quite a lot if you are dining here on an empty stomach though as the foods are quite pricey in comparison to the portion size.

Grafittis on Hosier Lane