MoVida Aqui

500 Bourke St Level 1
Melbourne, 3000

(03) 9663 3038

Mon-Fri, noon-late; Sat, 6pm-late

Siempre me a encantado la comida Española, y no es ningún secreto qué logro vivir en Barcelona....

Oh, I'm sorry you don't understand Spanish? It is the second most spoken language in the world you know? It's OK, just wanted to get you in the mood for all the Spanish goodness that was experienced on my first trip to MoVida Aqui. As I had already so eloquently stated in flawless Spanish, I have always loved Spanish food, and it is no secret that I have longed to live in Barcelona. I have grown tired of dropping hints and have even stated out right to my husband that I want to live there, but he loves it here in Australia and so this is where we shall remain(for now). Personally I think it's a waste of an EU passport.

I was 20 the first time I went to Spain, I spent 2 weeks there with my sister-in-law in her uncle's Villa-ooh la la. I fell in love instantly with the place, the spirit, the sites, the sounds and the food. Oh the glorious food.

Frank Camorra successfully brought a little bit of Olé to Melbourne when he opened his popular eatery many moons ago. His humble West Melbourne restaurant has grown into quite an empire, which is great for me because even if I cant live in Spain, Frank Camorra has made sure that I get my fill of the food that always brings a smile to my face.

Aceitunas    $6
Anchoa. Hand-filleted Cantabrian artisan anchovy on crouton with smoked tomato sorbet   $4.50(each)

Bomba. Catalan potato bomb filled with chorizo     $4.50(each)

Gamba con sobrasada. Smoked prawn with sobrasada cigarillo     $8.50(each)

Alcachofas. Artichokes fried in semolina with Manchego custard and fried almonds     $17.50

Pulpo a la gallega. Octopus cooked in the Galician manner with kipfler potatoes and paprika     $23.50

Butifarra. House-made Catalan pork pepper sausage with chickpeas and house-made morcilla     $19.50

 

Gambas a la sidra. Prawns cooked in terracotta with garlic and cider     $22.50

Sardina. Imported artisan 'Cuca' sardine with tomato on toast     $4.50(each)

Escalivadas. Charcoal baby leeks and eggplant served with white anchovy and caper leaves     $16.50

Embutidos. Cured pork loin, truffle salami, house made chicken liver morcilla and piparras     $28.50

Patatas bravas. Triple cooked potatoes served with spicy brava sauce     $16.50

Postre para compartir. Share plate of flan, churros, sopa inglesa, mandarin sorbet and citrus salad    $30

'82 Toro Albala Don PX Gran Reserva     $16

Stop! We had to scream at my husband, as he just would have kept on ordering. There was so much food, although in my defence there was 4 of us. We started off with the compulsory olives and then anchovy on croutons with tomato sorbet. This particular dish is legendary. We have had it at the other Movidas and have alway enjoyed them. In fact we had to order 2 rounds as I had forgotten to take a photo the first time. No complaints from me as that smoked tomato sorbet is amazing stuff.

Potato bombs and prawns with sobrasada cigarillos were next up. The bombs were indeed 'Da Bomb', crunchy on the outside with a squishy potato centre and then you get the chorizo hit. For those unaware of what sobrasada is(don't be ashamed, I had to google it too), it is a sausage that it is specific to the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain, in the Mediterranean sea. But no matter where it's from, it is tasty stuff.

Then it was artichokes and the octopus. I adore artichokes, even when i was little so i really enjoyed this dish especially with the addition of the manchego custard, seriously yum. The octopus was perfectly cooked and beautifully presented, but there were too many potatoes to get through.

Time for more sausage and prawns. Butifarra is another sausage you may not have heard of, it was peppery and fantastic with the chickpeas and morcilla-which apparently is made in house. Prawns and cider are 2 of my favorite things so how can you go wrong with this combo? Only problem was that was 4 of us and 3 of them.

Char grilled baby leeks were flavoursome and a great choice. I'm not a big sardine fan so my husband Franco was responsible for these guys, they were nice so I'm glad he chose them but realistically I won't order them again as they were my least favorite of the dishes on the night.

Embutidos and patatas bravas, brilliant end to our savoury selection. Now, embutido is the Spanish word for something that is stuffed or encased in something else and in Spain, sausages in general can be referred to as 'embutidos'(thank you wikipedia). Trivia aside, it was a great selection of meats and some lovely morcilla. As far as the patatas bravas, I mean what can you say? It's little cubes of fried potato with a magical spicy sauce, so good. They really are the ultimate drinking food.

I honestly thought I couldn't fit anymore in, but I was able to impress and disgust myself by partaking in dessert and some sticky and sweet '82 Toro Albala. It was a shared affair, so all of us got to indulge in each little treat, I adore churros and the sorbet was great, the trifle was indulgent but there was a definate fight for the last of the flan, and I normally don't even like flan. A fabulous way to enjoy dessert. When you really don't know what you want, have it all.

It was a great night here at at Movida Aqui, apart from the lovely company and brilliant food, the service was fantastic. Our waitress was friendly, knowledgeable and incredibly professional. I had read quite a few reviews stating that the service left alot to be desired. Obviously some changes have been made because we had absolutely no problems, infact it was a pleasure. She explained the menu, the specials and talked us through the wine list which has a decent selection of Spanish and some Spanish styled Australian wines.

I was surprised by how big this restaurant is, I had become accustomed to the small and cosy set up of the other Movidas, but it still felt intimate. There is a beautiful big kitchen which apparently even has a separate area specifically for rice dishes. Truth is I didn't notice as I was too busy chowing down on the feast before me. I will definitely be indulging in some paella on my next visit which I hope is soon as Melbourne is finally starting to warm up, and they have a fantastic terrace that deserves to be experienced.

You won't need to get your passport renewed to experience a little bit of Spain, but it doesn't hurt to brush up on the language as the menu(much to my parents amusement) is in Spanish with English description, but it doesn't really matter, because at Movida you don't need to be a native Spanish speaker to feel like a Spaniard-even if only for a couple of hours.

Ratings out of 10
Food 8/10
Service 7/10

Atmosphere 8/10

Value 6.5/10

Movida Aqui  7.35/10

Would I return?Yes

Gogi Korean BBQ

146-148 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne 3000

03 9663 7912 

Mon – Sun 

Lunch 12.00 noon – 3.00pm. 

Dinner 5.00pm till Late

I could smell the eau de BBQ meats a block before we even walked into Gogi. I was entranced by the tables of happy carnivores and what seemed to be an almost ethereal glowing mist, but then I realised it was burning meat and couldn't figure out how the hell the smoke alarms weren't blaring. Welcome to the delicious world of Korean BBQ.
To say that I was full after my meal here at Gogi would be an understatement. A more apt description would be bursting. It has been a long long time since I experienced what is commonly known as a 'food coma', but this is in fact how I felt. And why? Because I couldn't stop eating. For $38.50 you are privileged to the BBQ/Shabu Shabu buffet, which allows you access to all areas of their all you can eat buffet. It is not crappy coleslaw and foul horrid flavourless fried rice, but fresh meats including octopus, big prawns, chicken, lamb even a bit of tongue action. Obviously there was vegies, salads and rice available but as if I would waste valuable meat space. In fact when my friend invited me it was with the words 'you haven't gone vego have you?'.

There is also a fantastic range of sauces including but not limited to soy, chilli and a delicious bean paste that I just couldn't get enough of. Then there was the tasty kimchi. For those of you out there that don't know what kimchi is, it is a traditional fermented Korean dish made of vegetables with varied seasonings. It sounds odd and almost wrong, but trust me, it is so, so right. In all, there were over 30 choices of cook your own goodies, and each time we went back for more, each tray had been topped up with fresh ingredients.

The service here at Gogi was fine. It won't win any awards, but you can't really expect too much from an all you can eat joint. None the less, the staff was friendly, we got all the drinks we had ordered, our used plates were cleared and approximately every 10 minutes the grill of our BBQ was replaced with a shiny clean one.

The food was fresh, the choices of meats and vegies were varied and plentiful and the beers cheap at $5.50. Gogi will definitely be on my list of places to revisit, after all it was fun picking things and thinking you've chosen way too much, but deep down knowing you'll be back for more. However don't think you can go crazy and pile up a whole amount that you will never finish, because as the sign on the wall states "Any food left on the plate will incur a $5 penalty". Brilliant.

Ratings out of 10

Food 6/10
Service 5/10

Atmosphere 6/10

Value 8/10

Gogi Korean BBQ  6.25/10

Would I return? Yes

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