MoVida - Restaurant Review

MoVida

Melbourne, 1 Hosier Lane

Tel 03 9663 3038

Chefs Frank Camorra and James Campbell

I recently spent three days in Melbourne for a short city break with my wife who is currently 7 months pregnant. We got a good deal on the internet in a nice hotel in a great location off Chapel Street, (God bless the internet) but unfortunitely I didn't get time to book a restaurant. 
I had a few restaurants in mind that I really wanted to go to and after a brief discussion with the concierge at the Hotel I decided to try MoVida. One of the hottest restaurants in Australia at the moment, the chances of getting a table with only 24 hours notice was slim, but luck it seemed was on my side and the booking was confirmed. Great.

We left for dinner early thinking we could stop for a drink at the bar before taking our table and it was a good job we did because I must have spent half an hour staring at all the graffiti on Hosier Lane.

My first impression of MoVida was, 'this is my kind of restaurant.' It was about 8pm when we arrived and the restaurant was already pretty full, people talking loudly, laughing, drinking, it definately had a real buzz about it. Then we were shown to our table, a small wobbly thing situated in what could well be described as a build in cupboard next to a stack of empty wine boxes. The wife looks over at me with those disapproving eyes, "well we did leave it pretty late in booking, we were lucky to get in" I said. "Mmmmm" she replied.

The menu is split between Tapa, small individual dishes and Racion, which are larger dishes designed for you to share. Obviously the best way to attack such a menu is to order a selection of various different dishes.

Baring in mind that my partner is 7 months pregnant, there are few foods she has been advised that she can and can not have. We asked our waiter just 2 questions, which for a Spanish menu, I think is pretty good. First question we ask was about the Tomato Sorbet which accompanies the Anchovy fillet on Crouton, and whether or not it was made with raw egg white. His relpy was abrupt, "A sorbet is a sorbet he replied", 'OK but did the Chef use any eggs to make it' we asked again. "Its a sorbet" he replied again, "it doesn't have any eggs in it." Being a Chef myself for 15 years I knew very well that sorbet may contain egg whites, so I then asked him if he wouldn't mind double checking with the Chef. He then stormed off to the pass where he pretended to ask a chef who wasn't even there and then he came back and said, "no eggs in the sorbet like I told you".

The second question was about the smoked Spanish Makrell, and if it had been put through a cold or hot smoking process. His reply was, "It's smoked and its up to you whether you want to try it or not." To which I said, 'If its had a hot smoke my wife will be able to try it but not if its only had a cold smoke.' This is the point where the waiter just needs to say,"You know what, I'm not sure, let me just check with the Chef," but no, he simply said "Look it's up to you if you want to try it." I then asked him to check with the Chef. He comes back from the pass in a bit of a strop, "Cold smoke."

On this night the restaurant definately seemed understaffed on the floor, especially for a 2 Chef Hat restaurant. However we did feel a little ingnored, my wine arrived only half way through my second dish and this was after 2 reminders.

The anchovy was like sea salty butter on toast, magic, and the smoky tomato sorbet (which was only eated by me) made the dish. The slow briased beef melted in the mouth but did lack any real punch of flavour. Chorizo and mash bombas was a crispy rich bonanza. Air dried wagyu with poached egg and truffle foam was simply the best dish I've had this year, I could have eaten that all night.

In short the food was great, but in my opinion it's not quite worth the 2 Chef Hats awarded in this years Good Food Guide. On the other end of the scale the service was unprofessional, ill informed and basically a bit rude.

I will be back to indulge in more good food, wine and maybe a Spanish cocktail, and hopefully it will be the previous waiters night off.

Food - 7.5/10
Service - 3/10