Natalie C.

After taking photos of the graffiti lane, we went to MoVida for an early dinner. We didn't have a reservation, so we were lucky to get seats for 4 on a Saturday night. We started with one tapas each to test the water. We ordered the Anchoa (anchovy on crouton), Atun (tuna on almond bread), Pollo (chicken on sourdough crouton), Pincho (beef intercostal skew). The standout dish was the Pincho. In fact we all liked it so much that we ordered another 4 skewers! It was nicely charred and extremely tender. I like how the horseradish cream was not potent at all. For our mains we ordered the Cogollos (lettuce with anchovies and goat cheese dressing) Tortilla (Spanish omelette), Pulpo (octopus) and Carrillera de Buey (braised Angus beef cheek). The romaine lettuce was served quartered, sprinkled with chopped anchovies and sliced garlic. The vegetable sat on a vibrant green goat cheese dressing. The presentation of the omelette took me by surprised. It was actually scrambled eggs with crab meat. Topped with fried mussels and asparagus, and lots of chives. The eggs were smooth and creamy. The octopus were not as char grilled as I expected. However, it was tender and easy to cut. The diced potatoes had a fine green powder sprinkled on it which I could not identify. The white cream sauce had a hint of almond taste to it. The last dish to arrived was the beef cheeks. It was also my favourite dish! The beef was so tender that you don't need a knife to separate the meat. It was well flavoured and was not dry. You could really taste the cauliflower taste in the puree. With 2 beers, the bill came to approximately $200, which is very reasonable at all 4 of us left the restaurant feeling full!

Joyce H.

MoVida Bar de Tapas was great. I loved the food. The place gets really busy so you need to get a reservation. If you don't have reservations, you can sit at the bar and still get everything from the menu. I had a "croqueta", $4.00/each. It is a beetroot croquette with spiced sheep's milk yoghurt. I also had the "gamba", $4.00/each. It's consisted of a Crystal Bay prawn with house made lardo. It was very flavorful. The "pollo escalate al Miguel," $4.50/each. It was a spiced chicken escabache tapa on crisp crouton. It basically tasted like a really amazing chicken salad on two thin croutons. Tasty. My second favorite dish was the "paratas bravas", $15.50. It was a fried potatoes dish with spicy tomato and mayonnaise. The "cordoniz", $16.00, is a moorish spiced and roasted half jurassic quail with leek, pickled garlic, and guindilla. The quail was really really small. It really can't be shared with other people. It was tasty but for the price, it didn't seem worth it. For dessert, I had the "churros," $11.00. It came with rich drinking chocolate used as a dipping sauce.

Gina N.

We had reservations here for a party of 4 here on our last nite in Melbourne and an amazing end to our Australia trip. This place was a good symbol of what melbourne is for me. It's located on hosier lane, so you know it's quite special! Very hip and artsy scene filled with vibrance and good food! We shared a bunch of tapas and raciones. For the tapas we had oysters, squid ink croqueta with cuttlefish, the prawns, and the lengua. My fav probably being the compressed prawns. For the raciones, we had the duck liver parfait, bistec de tartare de wagyu and portobello mushrooms. I really enjoyed the duck liver parfait. Probably one of the best I've had. The wagyu tartare was a huge portion, and the fellas really enjoyed that dish. Great place to share good eats with good company! Cheers!!!

Poopglobal I.

Hot damn I went did on this one ! So I couldn't take any good pictures cuz I have an iPhone and the light was real low. I really need to get a better camera for this stuff, but I did almost try one of everything on the menu and some dishes that weren't on the menu. Oooh specials ! First off I have to say our server was hands down the best server I've every had. I'm pretty sure his name was Matt , and that's what it says on the receipt so I'm going with Matt. He is the perfect example of a professional server. Thank you Matt for your amazing service ! So this is tapas, high end tapas, well thought out, premium ingredients, with a touch molecule gastronomy. All the dishes I had were well plated, and well presented, and all were delicious. My favorites of the evening are as follows: "Carrillera de Buey" ( beef cheek and cauliflower purée ) intense ! Super rich and earthy, the "Chocos" ( cuttlefish ) perfection! love the ink "Calabacin" ( charred zucchini ), zucchini can go wrong real fast and this was cook perfectly, al dente yes ! Definitely take a look at the menu to see all the other descriptions and ingredients of the dishes I mentioned above, way too many to type. I really wanted to try the "Bocadillo" ( fried pig's ear sandwich ) but it wasn't on the menu, no worries still had lots of great food in a great environment. For dessert I had the "Cigarillo" it's like a chocolate ice cream cigar dipped in chocolate and then rolled on crushed pistachios! Wow yum ! Thanks !

Jessica W.

I decided I wanted to try the good food spots that I had researched prior to my arrival. I was going to turn my day into my own little Melbourne Food tour. Second stop on the tour, Movida. I originally wasn't going to go to Movida but it was right there on Hosier Lane where all the graffiti was and I was already there having a fun photo shoot. I figured since I was there I would check it out. When I entered I was greeted with a warm welcome. When I started talking to the bartender, the folks next to me realized we were American and sparked up a convo. So we ordered a couple of different tapas but not too much cuz we still had other places to go and eat at. I didn't want to get too full that I wouldn't be able to eat and mind you, we were only on our Second stop. I may have overdone it at the first stop.

Winter L.

Overall great experience Ambience: Request a seat next to the window, like that you can enjoy the ambience both inside and the graffiti wall outside MoVida Food: recommend trying - Cecina, has nice texture of truffle foam with eggs and air-dried Wagyu - Anchoa - Croqueta with cod & potatoes - Tortilla de cangrejo - cordoniz

Kevin L.

One of the classic cases of using Yelp. I was a bit tired spending the late morning roaming in the NGV, it's already 2pm but I still hadn't eaten anything. I pulled up my app and searched for something nice, and MoVida popped up. I know, it must be some kind of local famous top notch spot, and swear to god I had had walked past it quite a few times, I'd never imagined it was that popular (like, 75-reviews-kind-of-popular). I didn't know what to expect, so I went with the recommendation the bartender offered. I thought 3 tapas and a racione might have been too much, but I was relieved after I saw the first dish. It's the caballa ahumada and it's tiny, I have to say, but I was surprised by the white smoke and the freezingly cold dish. That was the point of my life I ran out of vocabulary to describe food. You really have to let it develop on your tongue and soon the layers of different tastes will spread. The anchoa and the pollo escabache came next. And now I had prepared for them, but still caught me in surprise. I'm, to say the least, very jealous of you people in Melbourne who can just walk into this shop and enjoy these tapas. And the wagyu with poached egg and truffle foam. That's a formula that would never fail. You are supposed to mix it. I thought the truffle favour was overwhelmed by the wagyu and egg, but no, it was me who didn't mix it well enough.. the truffle foam was in the very last few bites! The only negative? I didn't have chance to try other tapas! Please keep this joint alive before I come again!

Henrique K.

What not to like about this place? Now I know why people rave about Movidas and it was truly amazing. It was the best dinning experience we had in Melbourne! We sat at the counter and ordered the octopus ink croquet with cuttlefish, salted cod potato balls (bacalhao), pork cheek, roasted lamb, cold smoked yellowtail kingfish and it was all unbelievably delicious, each bite was an experience itself combined with Spanish beer and chefs recommendation of red. Desert, churros with chocolate sauce. Can't wait to go back and bring my friends and family.

Ali S.

Wait time: My bf and I arrived at 7:45 on a Friday night and were able to make a reservation for 9. I'm not sure if this is unusual, but it wasn't a bad wait at all. We went to the bar next door, Misty, for some great cocktails (at Misty, have the bartender make you his/her favorite drink with your choice of the homemade simple syrups. it does have a $15 price tag but mine was so worth it). Ambiance: Cramped. I was sitting at a table for two in the middle of two other tables for two. Each of those table tops were literally a thumb's distance (I won't pretend to know the metric system) away from mine. Fortunately, the fairly high noise level provides some privacy. Also, I can't imagine coming here w/ a party larger than 4 people. Drinks: There was a fairly extensive wine list (mostly bottles). The cheapest bottle was $70 and glasses were $11-$14. We don't like wine (don't let that lose credibility for the rest of the review), so we stuck with a beer and a mojito (we showed up to our reservation pretty tipsy so we didn't require much). The Epidor beer (they don't have anything on tap. sad) was $10 and sucked. The mojito was too sweet and not minty enough. I wouldn't recommend it. You should definitely get the following dishes that are labeled with stars. Tapas: They recommend 2-3 per person assuming table will be ordering recommended amount of raciones. (most can be devoured in 2 delicate bites, in case you want to split it w/ someone you're super close to, I list the number of delicate bites with: %) **Anchoa (Anchovy): Delicious. As may be surmised, it was very salty, but the smoked tomato sorbet balanced it perfectly. %%%. $4.5 **Croquetas de choco en su tinta (Croquetas in squid ink): So delicious we ordered another round. Be warned that they are insanely hot when you bite into them. It was one of the best croquetas I've ever had. %. $4 Gamba (prawn baked in rock salt): Nothing special about this dish. If being baked in rock salt added anything, I couldn't detect it. The prawn was also a little overcooked. I don't recommend it. %%. $4 Air baguette (air dried tuna loin on hollow cracker): I thought it was pretty good and I dislike most tuna things. %%. $4-5? Queso (goat cheese thing): My bf loves goat cheese so he really liked it, but he's not very selective w/ this cheese. %. $4-5? **Caballa ahumado (smoked cold mackeral): My bf thought it was delicious. %. $5.5 Raciones: They recommend 1-1.5 per person assuming table will also be ordering recommended amount of tapas. Pate de pato (duck liver pate w/ pedro jimenez foam and toasted brioche): My bf loved this, but once again he loves any pate. I liked it too, but I can't tell if a pate is amazing. $15 **Setas asadas con jerez (roasted portobellos): These were amazing, and you get a pretty sizable bowl. $13 Postres: Churros: Don't do it. They were the densest churros I've ever had. They just weren't what churros are supposed to be, and they failed to be good at whatever they were trying to do. It was fried dense dough rolled in cinnamon and sugar served with melted chocolate (why chocolate? give me some freakin' dulce de leche). $11 Specials: We ordered both specials and one was awful and the other one was a flank steak w/ zero flavor. I advise staying away from the specials. Stick to all the yelp reviews of this place and you won't go wrong like we did. Service: Honestly, the service wasn't that great. But that doesn't factor into my rating. The one thing that does matter to me is whether they take something off the bill if I don't like it. We ordered a special that was just terrible, and we only took a small bite. That plate w/ all its left over food remained on the table as we plowed through other dishes and the server never asked if it was ok nor did she ask when she cleared the table. I even asked her if we could order something "instead" of that dish and she said ok, but she didn't take it off the bill. However, when the bill came, I asked her to take it off because we thought it sucked. After saying, "we don't usually take something off just because you don't like it, but I will see what we can do," she actually took it off. So, even though the service was shitty, she pulled through in the end and that's what matters to me.

Tammy L.

MoVida de Tapas, a trendy Spanish, was the most anticipated meal of my entire Melbourne trip. One of the top restaurants on Yelp and Urbanspoon and recommended by a fellow foodie, I decided that we could not miss out on this restaurant! The ambience is trendy and casual, and a bit romantic due to the dim lighting and decor. They do a good variety of drinks, but we ended up going for the red sangria! Not bad, and they didn't skimp on the wine. We all tried several different items from the tapa menu, and shared three of the raciones, and were plenty full after all the food was gone. I had the Lengua (3.5), or ox tongue, which was very tender, but it definitely wasn't the highlight of the night. The red pepper broth wasn't really anything special - but maybe that's just me. I also had the Croquetas de Choco en su Tinta (4), the squid ink croquette with cuttlefish, which may have been my favorite dish of the night! I'm really into the squid ink dishes at Spanish places, and this one didn't disappoint! Perfectly fried and flavorful but not overly salty (which tends to happen with squid ink dishes), the croquette oozes squid ink when you bite into it. I know it doesn't sound all the lovely - especially when it makes your teeth black - but it really was quite delicious, especially with the contrasting texture of the cuttlefish. The last tapa item I had was the Buenelos de Bacalao (4), the deep fried salt cod and potato frittata with pil pil. That is one long name! Being as unhealthy as I am, I went for another fried item - and I didn't regret it! Again, fried to perfection, this potato frittata was a great texture with a soft and flavorful interior contrasted with the fried exterior. It really is hard to describe, but this was another one of the favorites of the night! For the raciones, the first item we shared was the Bistec Tartar de Wagyu (18.5), a spicy steak tartare of wagyu beef. This was my favorite out of the three raciones! The girls were a bit hesitant about this dish at first, but I think it was well received - and well, I loved it! The beef could have possibly used a bit more complexity in flavor, but I suppose the dish highlighted the quality of the beef. We also shared the Carrillera de Buey, a braised beef cheek in Pedro Ximinez on Cauliflower Puree (23.5), which was recommended to me by my friend. The beef cheek was tender and flavorful throughout, and although the taste of the Pedro Ximinez was a bit overwhelming to me, the cauliflower puree balanced it out. The Codornices con Kikos (18.5) was our last dish of the night. A boned and roasted quail with toasted corn and jamon, the dish was just fine. The texture of the quail was not my thing, and the rest of the dish didn't really stand out to me. The presentation was beautiful, but it just wasn't memorable. The service was great, even with the number of people at the restaurant. They had to rush us a bit at the end of the two hour dining period due to the inflow of customers, but overall a great dining experience. I would definitely return or try out their bakery or next door!

Denny B.

Totally agree with David M. This is the first place I go when I am in Melbourne. Just down the alley from the major hotels nearby, two blocks away from the central train station. http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/movida-bar-de-tapas-melbourne?select=J9rp8Uo02L7jkb5xEoDzBg#J9rp8Uo02L7jkb5xEoDzBg Love it. I have spent many AUS dollars with little dishes of tapas and large glasses of wine. The menu of food and wine change, so there is always fun stuff to enjoy. Friendly and nice looking staff. After filling my needs for tapas, the next stop is Lygon Street or Greektown - coin flip.

Yots N.

Movida bar de Tapas has been one of my favourite restaurants in Melbourne for over 10 years. If you want to experience real Spanish food and wine, you must come here. Do not go to Next Door. Bypass Aqui. Come here. Assuming you can actually get a table, of course. Be organised and book early to get one of the two sittings at 6pm or 8.15pm. Or rock up at 5pm and grab a spot at the bar, like a true Barcelonian. I can truly say every time I have had a meal here, it has been excellent, with fabulous service and ambience to boot. The last visit I made was on Monday night, as we were heading off to the filming of Q&A at the Melbourne Recital Centre. We feasted on wagyu tartare, duck pate, sherry mushrooms, orange infused olives, potato croquettes, sardine tapa and ample wine. For dessert we shared the churros with chocolate sauce and basically cried from happiness. Apart from the food and wine, I also adore the ambience of Movida. It's a small intimate space warmly lit and the staff are very accommodating and attentive. I think everyone should go to Movida at least three times a year. Life is short. The zombies are coming. Eat more quality Spanish food.