MoVida Next Door: A Beautiful little corner bar in Melbourne

Finally had the chance to visit this frequently talked about Spanish tapas bar. There's a total of 4 MoVida in the city, we went to MoVida Next Door which is next to the original MoVida, in Hosier Lane. It's hard to miss the lane cos the walls are covered with overwhelming graffiti. I heard to dine at MoVida (original) you need to book weeks (some said months) ahead! MoVida Next Door does not take reservation, only walk in. So if you try your luck you most probably will get the chance to eat there. 

I wasn't (still am not) into alcoholic drinks so I had a cranberry juice. Aileen and Wk had Sangria (Spanish wine punch) and they both loved it.

 

Right after we ordered, we were served complimentary bread and olive oil, and a slice of tortilla de patatas, which is a Spanish tortilla or omelette, made of eggs and potatoes. That bread and olive oil is one to be remembered cos the olive oil actually tasted like GOOD olive oil! Which reminded me how I've never actually enjoyed having bread and olive oil this much, most of the time I eat it only because it's on the table and meant to be eaten. 

The 3 tapas we ordered:

Queso Idiazabal - Smoked sheep's milk cheese. I love to eat cheese but I won't say I know a thing about them. I just enjoy the flavour. This one to me tasted a lot like parmesan. It's served with some dried fruit but I don't know what it's called. I know I used to eat this when I was a kid and I quite liked them.

Bomba - Chorizo-filled Catalan Potato Bomb with a spicy sauce. It's the ones which look like boobies in the picture. I first saw this on Masterchef Australia 2010 and I had to try it. Honestly, quite disappointed. It's nothing fantastic although I quite liked the spicy sauce that goes with it.

Croqueta - Fried Croqueta with wild mushrooms. THIS. IS. TO. DIE. FOR! It looks boring and not appetizing but once you bite into it, you'll be blown away by the rich, creamy taste of mushrooms. It's like eating deep fried cream of mushroom, a really good bowl of cream of mushroom. Every one of us had this surprised expression on our faces when we bite into the Croqueta. It was unexpectedly delicious.

Dig in!

Anoter tapas we had was this fried whitebait served with a lemon wedge and dip. I can't remember what it's called cos it's not on the menu, it was one of the specials on that day. Very nice! 

Raciones are basically a larger portion of tapas, meant to be shared. We ordered the Lengua, which is ox tongue, chargrilled with chorizo and chickpeas. I didn't know what to expect but I can say I quite like it but it's not something mind-blowingly good that I will want to eat it again.

I saw the table behind us ordered this and I got really curious and wanted to try it as well. It's called Alcachofas, fried globe artichoke with almonds and lemon. Very very salty and dry. I always see artichokes when I shop for groceries but never knew how it taste like. It's a vegetable by the way, looks like a flower. It was alright, not a fan.

Lastly, of course we had to try some churros, Spanish doughnuts dipped in hot chocolate. You may say we had it as dessert but actually churros are usually eaten for breakfast in Spain. I can't help but to compare this with 'yao zhar guai', or 'you tiao', Chinese doughnuts. They're both made of flour, deep fried, and eaten for breakfast. Mmm I miss eating yao zhar guai. The ones here in Melbourne sucks. Anyway, the churros tasted alright, I think I prefer the ones in San Churro. The hot chocolate wasn't smooth and thick, which is how I prefer it to be.

It was an enjoyable dining experience, in my humble opinion I think this is a great place to get the taste of authentic Spanish stuff.

Betty

Quite pissed.

I've started class since this Monday. Slowly getting used to waking up early in the morning in the winter. Trust me, it is a huge pain to not be able to sleep in underneath that warm duvet in such cold. Tomorrow is a Saturday and nobody is allowed to wake me up before it's 10am.

Not pissed at the school, so far it has been alright though kinda boring. I'm pissed with the lady who is in charge of our attendance swipe cards. Why does she have to be so bitchy? She didn't even make it clear in the first place of how the system works and I'm considered absent because I didn't swipe my card this morning, when I was actually in the school the whole frickin day. I asked her about my card nicely, and she replied me quite rudely. What the hell? Maybe she didn't mean to be rude, but the way she talked, it's definitely not pleasing. I know she's trying to be strict and all that cos there are so many girls and there are also so many naughty girls, come on. It's my first time. Everyone has had their first times and blowing it up. Ok that didn't sound quite right... but you get what I mean.

Fuck your life lady, seriously. Fuck your life for screwing my mood this beginning of a long weekend. 

Anyway, I really can't bothered with this whole attendance thing. It's sophisticated, but at the same time too sophisticated that it's stupid. I'm serious with what I want to achieve in the school, that is all that matters. I want to learn some skills and I want to get the hell out.

It's Queen's Birthday next Monday. I can't wait to do something exciting like baking using my very newly purchased hand mixer! Or maybe just something lazy like sit on the couch and watch Supernatural the whole day... hmm...

 

 

Last weekend we made Hainanese Chicken Rice, with sides of bean sprouts, chicken soup, cucumber and steamed fish. It was surprisingly not too bad! We kinda overcooked the chicken so the skin and parts of the chicken were falling apart but the taste was acceptable. Who wants recipe hands up! =D Haha, there are plenty in the internet, not difficult to get hold of a good one. I'm not sure if poaching or steaming is the right way but we poached cos we didn't have a wok big enough to steam the chicken. Poaching's good cos then you get the stock/chicken soup which you can use for the rice as well as serving it as plain chicken soup later. You can also use it to blanch vegetables. 

 

Yesterday we made curry laksa. Well, it was more like Maggie made them cos she prepared all the ingredients and cooked, I was there helping out. TASTED SO GOOD. We did eat laksa in this place in Melbourne which is famous for it but I heard they use HEAPS of msg. Ours had NO msg at all, the chicken stock was fresh, home made, real chicken stock with no additives/preservatives. I'm surprised how easy it actually is to make curry laksa.

Ok, gotta go get ready to go out for dinner tonight.

Btw, if you're wondering what's with the title, it's the name of the damn lady I was pissed with.

Luxbite: Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first.

What an apt tagline I must say!

Visited LuxBite which is this cafe at South Yarra very well known for its desserts and macarons. It was lunchtime and we were starving. Fortunately they serve breakfast/brunch/lunch too. I had the Toastie, which is this toast with super damn a lot of kuaci... er I mean.. pumpkin seeds omg the crunch. With bacon (mmm so smoky), eggs, gruyere and tomato relish which was really really good.

For drinks I saw this tea thingie in some website and thought it was really cute so I ordered one because I wanted to see how it looks like. The tea bag is so cute!

If you think it's not cute you are lying!

I also very smartly remember the person who blogged about the tea, she didn't know the tea bag served in the cup is supposed to be transferred into the teapot of hot water and instead she had it in her cup all the time. So of course I transferred mine into the pot ;-)

And then of course we had to have their desserts and macarons.

This one is called the Monster Meringue. Not a pretty name but it sure does look a little horn-y. Tasted pretty good. I love the mix of slightly sweet meringue and slightly sour berries mousse inside.

 

We had 3 macarons: Vanilla Creme Brulee which tasted VERY buttery but quite awesome, Salted Caramel which was a letdown and Kaya Toast... yes Kaya Toast I'm serious. It actually tasted like Kaya but not my cup of tea, too sweet.

Then we decided to order another because we a lot of people ordering it too lol. This... I actually can't remember what it's called. But it has coconut macarons, caramelised banana, pandan cream and... one more thing but I can't remember. This one's really sweet too but I really like it especially the bottom layer of macaron which has that thin layer of banana caramel. When mixed with the coconut macaron, it created this awesome almost sweet, nutty taste. I couldn't care for the pandan cream... tasted quite odd. 

They also have this tea set for 2 where you're served with 2 desserts of your choice, 4 macarons, 4 assorted finger sandwiches and coffee or tea each for AUD 21. That's a pretty good deal! Will definitely go there to try the other flavours of macarons and other desserts.

I really love the Toastie for a start. It's a good portion and the taste was just satisfying. I want to learn to make toast like that! Judging from what we had, the desserts and macarons were pretty and good. I wouldn't exactly say they're mind blowing good, but they did taste and look good. It's like being a kid in a little candy shop with so many different candies and you want to try each and every colour because they all look yummy and you're curious.