Movida

I was very excited when I learned a few months ago that Movida had opened in Sydney. Obviously I was even more excited to actually eat there!

Pedron Peppers

Next to Mumm Mann, Movida Sydney has a sleek interior with cheeky touches. Cookie cutters provide a silver accent (although I'm not sure you are meant to notice they are cookie cutters) to the mostly dark wood and black interior. There is a central bar area with tables floating around the island. The service is super attentive and very friendly, full of fun facts, suggestions, and remarkable knowledge of the dishes. There is usually a bit of a wait, so you may need to pop around to one of the nearby wine bars while you wait.

We started our night with some Pisco Sours, served in the cocktail glass with three drops (literally) of bitters it provides a bit of bite to start out your night - BOOM rhyme. To accompany our drinks we ate the mixed meat platter and the pedron peppers. I LOVE THE PEDRON PEPPERS! So addictively good, you can pop them like pop corn - be warned about 1 in 10 are actually a bit spicy all the others are very, very mild.

We then followed up with this amazing prawn and scallop dish - which was substituted with mussels on our visit**, the lamb shoulder Cordero Moruno (Whole shoulder of Lamb marinated in Moorish spices cooked in our Josper Charcoal Oven), and Cecina (Air cured Wagyu Beef with Truffle Foam & a Poached Egg)

The stand outs: Prawn and Mussels

Stand out: Cecina

The prawn dish and the Cecina were true standouts, such beautifully made food with so much taste and texture. I had to stop myself from slurping up the sauce of the prawns. The dish was light and filling.

The Cecina was not so light but gorgeously silken and rich. You eat it similarly to a steak tarte and it is a messy delicious glob.

By the time I got to the lamb I was feeling a little sluggish, and while it was rich and perfectly cooked,  I was dying for some fresh salads and green leaves... this is probably where the menu was lacking. They have some very good salads but when you are eating such rich mains it would be nice for just a simple green salad so you don't feel so blergh.

As the blergh feeling couldn't be prevented, I went all out with dessert ordering the churros.

The churros themselves were surprisingly light, considering they were fried. The chocalate sauce is like a really dark and bitter chocolate soup. I personally would have preferred a little more milk/sugar but I'm not a dark chocolate person...

I had only heard good things about Movida in Melbourne and Movida Sydney did not dissapoint. Each dish was near perfect. I would go back to Movida in a heart beat, but would opt for a series of small dishes unless we had some big eaters with us!



To catch my most recent culinary adventures head on over to littlelauren.com

**Confession, I cannot for the life of me remember what the prawn dish was called... I really want to say it was on the specials as I couldn't find it on the menu - a thousand apologies! Better note taking next time... 

Catch of the Day!

I love seafood, but I've never been a huge fan of the traditional fish and chips... When I say never, clearly I mean since I could no longer eat all the fried food I want without caring, but same, same. So I was ecstatic to discover (or re-discover*) Fishmongers (Mongers) Byron Bay!

In my mind Mongers is fish and chips with a Japanese inflection. The food is fresh, service fast, and the servings generous. At first I was a little overwhelmed with the menu but it soon became clear that each main comes with the choice of three or four side options, as in you can get the BBQ octopus with chips or salad or rice etc etc. 

We ordered grilled prawns, BBQ octopus with veggie tempura, salt and pepper squid, and one of the fish of the day with a pepper crust. 

I'm a sucker for sauces and loooved their octopus, the tempura is super tasty and full of nice surprises... corn on the cob tempura... Super duper mushroom Tempura - COME ON GUYS!

The serves come with loads of chips so we ended up ordering only side of chips between four and it was plenty! The salads also came with corn and everything was sprinkled with the most awesome "kumera"(layman's translation: sweet potatoe) chips. 

I was excited to find the Monger also has cafes in Bondi and Manly, so can't wait to try them on for size!

Happy eating! xx

*I had many moons ago stumbled across Mongers on a fam holiday.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2013! How exciting! I love the new year, it's full of hope and ambition! 

This year my friend's and I started our year out relaxing in Byron Bay, unfortunately I was smacked in the face with reality today after sitting an exam for my summer school class. 

I promise to be back next week with more tid bits and food stuff! yum! 

xx