MOVIDA AQUI, Burke St, Melbourne

This place, on this day, for these people, could not be faulted.

The staff was attentive and in high spirits, it looked like they were having a good time, which is always a plus in this industry.

My friend Ewey is the chef so we left him in charge of our culinary destiny.

“We are hungry my good man,” I said to him. “Please can you quell this hunger inside me?”

And quell the hunger he did. And it was good… really good. At one stage towards the end of our feasting the waitress asked if we were starting to get full. I was, but I looked her straight in the eye and replied “not yet”. I blatantly lied to her, and that is something I shall have to live with for the rest of my life.

I think describing our favourite dishes to you right now is going to be the best way to go about this…

OBI – BOCADILLA DE CALAMARES (Calamari sandwich with tangy aioli and the pickled chilli things that I, for the life of me, cannot remember the name of)

Why?
“Because it had squid and the squid was really yummy”.

SEBA – BISTEC ESPECIAL (Grilled O’Conner’s tri-tip, brioche-y bone marrow crumb, horseradish and cavolo nero)

Why?
“Because I really like that sort of steak. It’s delicious dad. It’s really good”.

JENNEE – VIEIRA CON MORCILLA (Seared scallop, morcilla cigar and apple puree)

Why?
“It was really good. It was genius”.

Right about now in hind-sight I am wondering was it the best idea to ask my family to review their favourites… but don’t worry, I’ll fill in a few more details and some extra explicits in a bit…

NB. The best thing about this is that the week previous Jen and I had a lengthy conversation about black pud and how she did not like it one little bit. One bite of the morcilla cigar and she quizzed me as to what the filling might be.

“Morcilla,” I said. “Black pudding. And you like it, and you are a douche bag,” I sang to her like a six year old child.

“Hmph”, Jennee replied as she continued eating. It was reminiscent of Sylvester Stallone hanging out in the sewers in one of the stranger movies of 1993, “Demolition Man”. When he had the einen ratten burger. Classic shit.

ME
I’m really bad at picking one favourite thing so, since this is my blog and my silly ramblings and my rules and shit, I’ll tell you about a few of my favs…

ANCHOA – Hand filleted anchovy on a crouton with smoked tomato sorbet. I do believe it’s somewhat of an institution so just bloody well try it. Seba was amazed that someone had made a “tomato icecream” as he called it, and in turn, how well it went with the anchovy.

BOMBA – Catalan potato croquette type thing, filled with chorizo, crumbed and deep fried. If you have actually read the last sentence you’d realise you couldn’t go too far wrong. Then dress it with some aioli and a capsicum puree… Its-a the bomb-a.

BISTEC ESPESCIAL – I have to agree with Seba on this one. It was a damn tasty piece of meat. It does take you into the territory of needing teeth though. Tougher then it’s close brethren the ribeye or fillet, but so damn flavoursome, a trade off I am more then happy for, nay, actually prefer. And the sauce that resulted from the brioche-y marrow crumb, horse radish, eshallot, buttery goodness and olive oil amalgamating for a little party in the bottom of the bowl… I must confess I ruined their fun, but their good time sure enhanced mine.

BUTIFARA – The house-made pork and pepper sausage with salsa verde, chickpeas and more of that awesome morcilla. Chunky pork sausage full of flavour could well and truly stand up to the tangy salsa verde, whack some chickpeas and more of that morcilla into the mix and I am a happy man.

We finished our meal with some churros just because that’s what you do even if you are really full, and then it was back to the apartment for a siesta before we drank our way into the depths of another Melbourne night…

A worthy Melbourne dining experience.