Review – MoVida Bar de Tapas, Melbourne
Posted on: March 21, 2011
MoVida Bar de Tapas
1 Hosier Lane
Melbourne
To get to MoVida, you need to walk down Hosier Lane, a grafitti-covered alley which seems to shift shapes every month or two. There’s often a few young photographers and artist-types about, a reminder of the popular and fashionable nature of many of the local haunts. MoVida isn’t an exception.
Getting a table at MoVida can be tricky. While in the past they did not take bookings, their policy has changed. They do take bookings and it is recommended you make one. I took a risk and turned up on a busy Saturday night without one. I got lucky.
Inside is noisy and small, especially on a busy weekend. Once you sit down and get settled you wont mind at all, because MoVida offers some seriously sexy food. It’s no wonder that this eatery which started as a little Spanish bar has inspired an onslaught of sister restaurants around Melbourne.
There are a few good choices on the menu for vegetarians, though not as many as I might have expected, or would have liked to seen.
The queso menchego is one of the highlights, it’s a piece of sheep’s milk cheese with quince paste. Trust me, even at $4.50 a pop, you’ll be going back for a second. The acetiunas is a plate of mixed olives to share, ranging in sizes from a pip to a marble. Espicinacas con garbaznos is sauteed spinach and chickpeas: it’s damned delicious.
Don’t worry about the long-winded dish names, the wait staff are more than happy for you to point at what you want, or simply describe it as ‘the cheese triangle thingy’. The service was incredible, our table never found ourselves wanting of a drink or something else to eat, and our patient waiter did not mind at all advising what and how much we should order.
If you love desert, don’t miss the spanish donuts. These cone shaped cinnamon donuts come with a chocolate dipping sauce that is just the right balance of sweet and bitter.
There is a decent wine list, but I couldn’t turn down the Sangria, which is one of the best I have tried in a long time.
There’s not much that you wont love about MoVida. Get into it.
Melbourne Vegetarian Reviews 
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