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

Merry Christmas!

Hope you all have a very happy holidays! Merriment and joy abound!

xx

Best meals in the House!

Yum Pla Duk Fu

House is the sister restaurant of one my all time faves - Spice I Am. I have been a couple of times before and each time is enjoyable, although I am the first to admit that I find their menu daunting. 

Unlike it's sisters House serves the unique food from north-eastern Thailand. The restaurant is relaxed and approachable, butted up with Triple Ace bar behind central, almost next door to Spice I Am, Surry Hills. Because House is effectively in the bar's beer garden it doesn't do BYO but you can buy drinks at the bar and bring them to your table - which for groups has the added bonus of beer jugs! It also instantly eases the initial panic from reading "Cash Only” on the menu, as like any good local Triple Ace has an ATM - triple bonus!

House is not a place to go if you are expecting run of the mill Thai food. Its menu is versatile and has an extensive list of soups and salads sure to please. Like its sisters House is sure to set your mouth on fire so if you can't handle heat... I'd probably stick with the grilled and fried portion of the menu. 

Although this is the third time I've been here the menu still scares me, so I cast my mind back to my copious research, which I generally conduct before heading out (unless the name is stellar like Bling Bling Dumplings - but I later came to regret that decision) and remember heaps of chatter about some bird soup. There was no bird soup, so we went for the next best option egg embryo soup aka Tom Yum Powng Kai. Part of the reasoning was neither of us knew what egg embryos were but wanted to seem culturally aware.... 

Harry chose our second dish based on a previous experience, Yum Pla Duk Fu (The Cat Fish Salad). 

Upon ordering the waiter mentioned a number of times spice, so I was prepared... or so I thought. 

Tom Yum Powng Kai

Thinking I had outsmarted my previous mistake of ordering a papaya salad almost too hot for me to enjoy, I was shocked with the first mouthful of the salad. Lucky there was some rice to cool my girdle. That aside, the Catfish salad was honestly my favourite thing I have ever tried at House. It was akin to delicious, fried, catfish fairy floss that you can't stop eating... ever. Despite the fact that your lips are burning and your tongue is momentarily enlarged. 

The soup was not nearly as frightening as images conjured up when you tell someone you are going to eat embryo. Turned out just to be egg yolks... perhaps fertilised egg yolks with the beginnings of a tiny animal - so a vegetarians worst nightmare. The soup was beautiful and fragrant. It had copious amounts of ginger and those delicious mushrooms, I want to say Enoki but I could be wrong. Ultimately the yolks weren't my favourite things in the whole world... I didn't love the texture, I was expecting something more soft boiled but that did nothing to stop me from eating/drinking the whole bowl! 

The great thing about House is you can go crazy and order unique and exquisite dishes like the Tom Yum Powng Kai but you can also cater for the less adventurous with their less frightening fried and grilled options. Although we didn't order these last night - as there were only two of us - we've tried them before and they are consistently delicious. Ultimately I think this was our best ordering so far.

Of course if you are going to House for the first time (and have a huge appetite or big group) you must try the Better Than Sex (discretely referred to as BTS) for dessert. It is a party in your mouth... seriously gasp worthy... I can't think of anything else to say that can't be interpreted as a sex joke so... yeah

  Happy eating xx


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