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Nice Sydney friends who speak Mandarin and have fairly decent cleavage.

I’ve always like dictatorships. Communism and fascism both share an idealism that when I was younger could have switched me either way.
Of course, now grown-up physically at least I abhor the human rights abuses in China although I wouldn’t be able to ejaculate over my shoulder if it wasn’t for bear bile on tap.
I think we can agree that we don’t like dictatorships, or at least lack of democracy.
We should have sent John Eales, a famous Australian rugby cap I believe, to tackle the Olympic Beijing 2008 torch bearers in their trip through Canberra.
I do find this strange that we didn’t protest.

When I arrived in Sydney in 1996 France was boycotted because of nuclear testing in the South Pacific. You couldn’t find French totty or decent croissants anywhere and I suffered four years without being able to buy a carbon steel Sabatier chef’s knife. All I ate was Yum Cha and Thai.
I suppose in Melbourne we are too comfortable in our safe little world of unaffordable houses, late model (whatever the heck that means) European cars, free air (frankly it would be a bit much if they didn’t pump-up the tyres) and an annual outing to the Flower Drum, allegedly the best Chinese restaurant in the world.
I’ve only been three times to the Drum in six years. Once for business. Once for an impromptu birthday lunch to celebrate some Tiffany Pearls (try E.G.Egetal, it’s much cooler) and my favourite tea cosey wearer’s birthday.

Steamed fish at the Flower Drum: bland and overcooked. Veggies were great though.

Our most recent to the Drum to catch up with five friends, three from out of town, started like this:
Me: “Why the fuck our we going to the Flower Drum?”
Tea cosey: “I think thingy from Perth booked it.”
Me “Why the fuck did she do that?”
Tea cosey: “Could you wipe that off your shoulder?”
We introduce ourselves to a man behind the counter (17 Market Lane +61 9662 3655), which together with a cloakroom and Melbourne’s slowest lift, is all the restaurant will fit downstairs because hidden away are tanks and tanks of fish and small bears.
Upstairs a couple of waitresses are doing good impersonations of Chinese tour guides (they all wear name tags) who guide us through a room that looks like it is set up for a wedding.
Our friends from Perth and Sydney arrive. We relived our four years in Sydney, swapping fags (cigarettes) and eating in what are now nameless restaurants. We popped downstairs to smoke on the Flower Drum’s doorstep returning upstairs in the impossibly slow lift.
The boring bit is the food which we just asked them to serve. Nobody orders off the menu here. Or so our local food dictatorship at Epicure would have us believe.

Soft shelled crab: greasy and not terribly good.

This was a Friday night. The room was packed. But with the tables spaced far apart it lacked the buzz of at least two other more casual places that serve very similar food - Asiana (181 Victoria Ave, Albert Park +61 9696 6688) and most important Lau’s Family Kitchen (4 Acland St, St Kilda, +61 8598 9880) run by Michael and James, the sons of Gilbert Lau who owned the Drum and built its reputation.
Of course, the service at The Flower Drum is much better than these places. My personal waiter was so attentive that every time I gesticulated he poured me water and I knocked his glasses off.
But. And with the prices charged it comes with an astonishingly large fiberglass B, popularly know as The Big B.
The steamed fish was bland and in more than one case overcooked. The soft shelled crab was greasy and probably just there for the sake of it rather than the quality of the product.
In retrospect we should have sent both back. Neither should have left the kitchen. But we weren’t there to posture over the food but to catch up.
I could tell you more about the food. It was all universally good, fresh ingredients served in the westernised without MSG way that good Chinese-style food is served here.
But next time it is to Lau’s Family Kitchen - if we can get a table - where we just ask them to serve us what is good and I’ve eaten better food. And if we can’t get in there it will be Asiana.
I’m not saying the Flower Drum is horrible. I just think it is an anachronism and should be doing better for the prices charged. Come to think of it just better in the case of steamed fish and soft shelled crab.

Popularity: 14% [?]

This is, as Joe Strummer said, a public service announcement and it may “Rock the Casbah” a bit.

The idea of Very Cheap Eats (Email me as gastrotomATgmailDOTcom if you’d like to become a reviewer) is to provide a guide to the best cheap food in Australian in the sort of places you’d actually choose to go out and spend an hour or so eating in. It is about meals of at least two courses costing less than $20 (or roundabouts) excluding beverages.

It is not about takeaways and food courts. I’m happy to keep existing posts up but i just wanted to clarify this as it is important to stay true to the Very Cheap Eats vision.

The idea was bourn out of frustration of the existing guidebooks by AOF over at Confessions of Food Nazi. The Cheap Eats Guide some years ago lost the plot with even its price guide of $30 being fairly meaningless.

The Friday before the latest edition was published I ate at Cheap Eats Restaurant of the Year Rumi up at the far end of Lygon St. Aside from a couple of greasy stuffed fingers of pastry the food was pretty good. The service was excellent and they even went to the trouble of making a special iced tea for me (I was participating in the alcohol free charity event) that was off menu.

I enjoyed the meal immensely despite having ordered too much. The fit out of the restaurant is delightful and the ambiance alluring (apart from one very loud woman nearby).

But it cost about $80 for two. It was an incredibly good value meal. But it was not a Cheap Eat.

Both Cheap Eats and The Good Food Guide give a very comprehensive coverage of Melbourne. But they have incrementally added so many features and seem to want to add more restaurants to their pages to bust the magic number of 500. This is the publishers chasing the dollar rather than serving the reader. They should each focus on what really are the best cheapest and simply the best eats of all.

When AOF posted this I quickly registered a blogger account and a domain because this blog Very Cheap eats is such a good idea. As far as I am concerned it is a community project and anybody can join (we have space for 100 contributors).

But AOF and I feel there should be some strict guidelines to ensure we don’t go down the Cheap eats route and lose the plot.

I’ve also given some guidelines to what should be covered to give a comprehensive review. I know this means a bit more work and observation but it also makes Very Cheap Eats a much better resource if you<span style=”font-weight:bold;”> try and cover the items below</span>.

THE RULES AND REVIEWING GUIDELINES

1.The venue
It should be a sit down venue where you can enjoy two courses and a beverage of under $20 from ordering pretty much anything on the menu. If it’s a few dollars over that’s not too much of a problem. It could be a particular day of the week where the food is cheap. For instance, I must post about the Sunday Lunch at Madras Banyan Tree where the only option is a vegetarian banquet for about $20 plus drinks. Any other time and it would cost more to eat there but i think Sunday is within the spirit of Very Cheap Eats.

The location doesn’t matter. It can be anywhere in the world. <span style=”font-weight:bold;”>It can be anywhere in the world. Please include the name (linked to website if there is one), address and telephone number at the top of the post.</span>
2. Double posting.
Yes, you can double posts and link back to your blog as I have on Very Cheap Eats. It would also be nice to point to Very Cheap Eats to help build readership.

3. The food and ingredients
Is the food fresh and presented well? Does it taste good or inferior. Are the portions large or small? Don’t be scared to give your opinion.

4. Drinks
What did you drink? Does it serve coffee, tea, wine beer or anything else? How much do they cost?

5. Service
Is it self service or table service? Are the waiters attentive or lazy? Was service slow or quick or did they keep bringing you the wrong thing?

6. Money
How much did each thing you ate cost and do you think it was worth the money? Remember, broadly speaking you should be able to buy a meal of two courses for around $20 excluding drinks

What would be really useful for readers is to give the minimum and maximum prices for starters, mains and desserts and the price of coffee.

7. Ambience
This is important as we want to review proper cafes and restaurants that you would want to go out and eat in at night. We don’t want takeaway stores. Is it a place you’d want to spend time in or is it a horrible strip lit tiled room? The reader needs to know.

8. The best and worst of the venues
try and identify what you think is the best and the worst of the venue. Perhaps it is the horrible loos or the rude service. the reader wants to know. be ballsy and show some opinions because that’s what readers want. Don’t be frightened of opinion.

Popularity: 18% [?]

The Gordon Ramsay deal is still in it’s early days. At least that’s the Crown Casino corporate line. For the moment Bistro Guillaume is the final jewel in the crown up with (in reverse order of opening) Giuseppe, Arnaldo & Sons, Nobu and Rockpool Bar and Grill.
Inevitably Ramsay stomping into Melbourne means that somebody, probably another restaurant, has to be kicked out of Crown to make way. Now there are two French places only separated only by Nobu and the difference between a brasserie (by Philippe Mouchel), a bistro and the prices charged.
I wonder where that leaves Phillippe Mouchel a disciple of Paul Bocuse?
On the ‘phone last week Crown’s official spokesman last week wouldn’t be drawn.
But enough speculation. This is about Guillaume Brahimi, from the Joel Robuchon corner, and his new bistro which is considerably posher than it’s name suggests.

If you don’t know Brahimi you should. Le coq sportif, rugby mainly, I think I first ate his food at Quay in Sydney. I was with a couple of feminists from Saatchi and Saatchi and we “had to eat” the Joel Robuchon mashed potato, my first attempt in Australia, an exercise as much about carbs as butter.
Guillaume at Bennelong, his Sydney restaurant, is inside the most famous Australian icon of them all, the Opera House. And despite the location and the view, the food is exceptional, as are the prices.
Back in Melbourne, the new restaurant, Bistro Guillaume is beautiful. It looks French, Parisian, and at night with my glasses off I could even imagine the the little brown creek known as the Yarra to be the Seine. Well, that may be pushing it a bit but I could have been in France.
The detail in the finishes at Guillaume is extraordinary, everything including the marble being proper and solid. The floors are wooden of the French herringbone design. Dividing the main diner are a curious and elegant marble and wood bar supporting a lamp with old-fashioned woven style wiring in red. The ceiling lights are shading by these wonderful puff ball style pantaloons.

I like it a lot. But as Jak, who some readers will be relieved doesn’t have the salty language of my other dining partner, keeps reminding me, the prices are restaurant rather than bistro. The Herald Sun tells us Guillaume has invested $250,000 of his own money in wine (one bottle worth near $9,000) and another $140,000 on chairs.
And the food and wine?
French classics and I love them. Coming from the UK, my holidays were spent in France or I travelled there for business or love - Paris (she was in Montparnasse), Brittany, Normandy, Loire Valley, once tortured by Catholic monks somewhere south of Orleans (education my parents thought) and later the south (work) and the Savoie (for the pleasure of ski-ing to a good meal).
The point is French food is probably my biggest cultural food reference point. While my mates were at the soccer, I was hanging out at Le Gavroche, Le Boulestin, L’Escargot, La Tante Claire and several dozen other French restaurants.

So I couldn’t resist the Hunter Valley snails at $21 for six. On an elegant frosted platter they were tender with beurre persillé - parsley butter. Jak went for the plate of Guillaume’s crudités. Lesser restaurants often present a plate of raw vegetables with a couple of dips. Here classics are elegantly crafted. A balanced celeriac rémoulade sits firmly on a slice of toast. Sauce Gribiche sits atop tender young leeks. Properly ripe tomato slices sit a top similarly ripe slice of avocado. And finally a few baby herbs are tangled with chunks of beetroot, croutons and goat’s curd.
I am boring perhaps but I went for the steak frites with a béarnaise at $35. It was just what I expected and cooked perfectly.
Jak chose what must be the most expensive fish and chips in Melbourne at $45, a sculptural whole deboned whiting supported by a thick scaffold of pommes Pont-Neuf, basically railway sleeper like chips cooked in goose fat.
Although I love string-like fries I wouldn’t have minded some of these with my steak, tasting of real fresh spuds. This is a rarity nowadays although I do wonder if they could have been a little more crisp.
Finally there was a thick slice of lemon tart. The balance of sweet and citrus as it should and the pastry properly cooked, brown and toasty to taste. I defy you to find a better example in Melbourne.
We drank wines by the glass and I didn’t skimp on cost although two champagnes were complimentary after we pointed out they weren’t on the bill. Guillaume, who was chatting with Neil Perry on this first night, offered us another glass and an Armanac after we’d paid and it seemed impolite to refuse. To make up for it we left a hefty tip.

Popularity: 32% [?]

There are no sharks in bondage kit. But there is something very Damien Hirst about the salumi (that’s Italian for cured meat) counter. It’s about chopped-up (and cured) bits of animal in a display case. Perhaps it is the backdrop of the curtain drawn across one of the five tiled dining areas in Giuseppe, Arnaldo & Sons that makes it look that way.

The last time I saw something similar was a cow at the now closed Saatchi Gallery on London’s Southbank. And there was the display case chic at Quo Vadis, a short lived Hirst partnership with Marco Pierre White.

If you haven’t heard about this joint you should. It’s from the Maurice Terzini camp, he who started Caffé e Cucina before moving on to (not neccessarily in correct order), Il Bacaro, Melbourne Wine Room, Otto, Icebergs and that other little tratt in Bondi.

Chef Robert Marchetti is having the salumi cured to his specifications in Lismore in northern New South Wales. It is very good and very tasty. For $12 you get five of the thinnest slices of prosciutto cut on the special hand operated slicer, one that transports the meat across the blade rather than the other way around.

We arrived at around 11.30pm and the kitchen was not serving from the main menu. At one point it looked like we were to be turned away but manager Ari Vlassopoulos, who I met when I scoped out the restaurant pre-opening, recognised me.

What we could order was hardly slumming it. Baccala Fritto - salt cod balls, crab sandwiches (too rich for the Martini Monster who has a flabby pancreas), three year old Rocco Reggiano.
What I really like is the wines served by the carafe from $16 to $22 for a half litre which is brilliant at a time when it is difficult to find anything to drink at under $40 in other joints of this quality.

There are no tablecloths and the knives, forks and condements are stacked in stainless steel bins on the tables.

The room itself is divided into five, each faced with a slightly different hand-made tile of Sicily. Outside the same effect is used for a long narrow smoking area which has the feel of a Neopolitan bus station. What the Roman designers, Lazzarini Pickering Architetti, have done is clever. I didn’t think they would pull it off with the tiles without making it look like the inside of a men’s lavatory. But they did.

At this point the Martini Monster launches into Entourage. Our Ari (I think) is in earshot as she discusses the other Ari (played by Jeremy Piven), the usual expletives and specifically cunt (I can’t believe I didn’t ** that out) muscle. I’m not sure we got away with it.

But it probably doesn’t matter because with it’s hard edges I’d imagine nobody would be able to hear us on a normal night.

I’m not a natural fan of the casino, but the presence of its new batch of high end restaurants including Rockpool and Nobu is growing on me. I like Terzini’s new millenium Roman tratt. And I like the styling of the waiters in their white coats (apart from mangement who wear black) and Converse trainers.

And I guess like with Damien Hirst styling is the key word. This is a designer place that sits on the reputation of Terzini. For now the prices look like excellent value with pasta dishes in the low $20 range. I want to go back for more but the fact that you can’t book a table may stop me. But I’ll try while the prices stay low.

For tomorrow though I have a table booked at Bistro Guillaume. Sure, I try and live on the edge with the Martini Monster. But I do like some certainty.

Food Fascist

Coming soon: Food & Wine Daily - a site in development. Let me know what you think.

Already here: Very Cheap Eats. Let me know if you’d like to join.

Jack beat me to blog GAS.

Popularity: 35% [?]

Smile, you’re on bloggers’ camera: (l to r) Purple Goddess, Vida and Stickyfingers.

What is the Bloggers’ Banquet?

Just an opportunity to meet up, eat and chat. That’s not to forget take photos, blog, post to flickr and all that other social stuff. Nothing hard. V1.0 was back in November. V2.0 will be held Saturday 5 April from 12.30 onwards  in Dromana hosted by the Purple Goddess. Good food, drink and conversation are assured.

Wow! That’s a long way to go.

Yes, but can pitch your tent or simply pass out on the lawn.

Who is it open to?

Any bona fide blogger. No stalkers or trolls please. Email the Purple Goddess. Details are here.

What do I need to bring?

Everything. Food, drink, fags, toothbrush, clean panties - the lot. (I’ve no idea about the bog roll)

How do I get there?

Email the Purple Goddess and she shall tell.

I don’t know anybody. is it still okay?
Yes. Nobody bites apart from me and I have to be at a wedding somewhere else. This blogging lark is not exclusive and open to absolutely anybody with a blog however small or large. Come along.

Popularity: 20% [?]

I want crispy rabbit with alioli

The English want to watch football. The Spanish bullfighting. They scream and shout at each other. Hair is pulled. Somebody spits in another’s face.
The police arrive wearing their funny hats and, worrringly, with machine guns.
Such are the memories of some pretty dreadful tapas and raciones in Spain, Benidorm to be precise.
Much of the same rubbish has now come to Australia, although thankfully we don’t have to sit through the “Full English Breakfast” the morning after.
Ever since Movida became popular any bod who’s heard of Chorizo thinks they could open a tapas bar.
They can’t. Or at least if they do I often end up leaving the food and getting plastered on tinto, which is usually delicious despite coming from Alicante, up the road from Benidorm.
I’m banned from mentioning many of these places for undisclosed reasons but that needn’t get in the way of the rest of this story.

I want to tell you about one tapas place that is worth visiting, Anada on Gertrude Street.
The pedigree of the owners include Movida and Moro in London. If you haven’t heard of the Moro’s two Sams, what personality they lacked at last year’s Food festival their food makes up for. Their cookbooks - The Moro Cookbook and Casa Moro - are among the best I own, far better than The River Cafe (where one of Anada’s owner’s worked).
What Anada brings to Spanish food from the Moorish end of Spain, attention for detail and innovation.
The tapas - small plates as they are defined - are tiny but only cost from $2.50 for a crouton topped with Syrian lentils to $6 for some olives that are handpicked, no doubt by virgins.
I thought the boquerones, white anchovies, speared together with palm heart and pickled chilli was an especially refreshing innovation on a warm night and worth every one of the three single dollars it cost.
The raciones are cheaper than a starter in most restaurants. I dare not compare the $15 crisp fried rabbit with alioli (that’s Spanish for a sort of Aioli which in turn is French for a sort of garlic mayonaisse) to KFC. But it did remind the Martini Monster of goujons. It doesn’t actually matter because they were tasty and moist.
It is here the Moorish influences show. The slow roasted beetroots ($6.50) are served with Nigella seeds and labneh (strained yoghurt).
The kebabs, served with labneh, are very good although we thought the grilled lamb, although tasty, was a touch fatty.
I lost track of how many individual plates we ordered but it was pretty good value. For four or more you can order ten for $44.
Perhaps the best thing about Anada was recognising a friendly face.
“It’s the cheese guy,” the Martini Monster declares. That would be Ryan who we first met at The Commoner and is a cheese expert who takes her bawdy language in his stride.
Whenever he comes near our table “The monster” launches into what I pick as a dissertation on Chaucer, in particular the Nun’s Priest’s Tale. Her special interest is in Chauntecleer - a big cock that “fethered Pertelote twenty time”. At least that’s the story I’m sticking to.

Popularity: 33% [?]

This is why journalists and restaurateurs hate bloggers. All that unregulated opinion that’s happening just now because of Monday’s Out of the Frying Pan chatfest. It was my first exposure to the loathing.
First, I’m going to praise blogging. Foodfest creative director Matt Preston tonight told me that as a result of the publicity blogs gave to the conference another 40 tickets were sold.
And to blow my own blogging trumpet, it is because I read Noodlepie that I found that the I Love Pho exhibition wanted to go on tour. I put Matt in contact with Cuong from the Casula Powerhouse in NSW and so it has come to be at the Footscray Arts Centre as part of the festival.
I’m not here to bury Stephanie, a blogger and deputy on The Sydney Magazine. I know where she is coming from is her views that journalists are better than bloggers. I certainly feel vulnerable as I only make money if I can sell my words to magazines and newspapers. But I’ve yet to be paid anything to write for a website. And I may just make enough money this year from this blog to make up for the one article I won’t be writing for The Bulletin because it closed.
I want to defend the skills of editors, writing accurately to a deadline and pulling it all together in an engaging package.
But the truth is, just like stockbroking, management consulting, cabinetmaking, plumbing, cooking or nuclear physics, anyone with the intelligence can do it.
Desktop publishing unleashed a revolution and many dreadful newsletters and magazines. Blogs offers cutting edge technology that makes it simple to publish online in addition to being a social movement. Some blogs are boring and many are good.
Check out this magazine website built using Movable Type’s blog technology to see what you can do.
What did we really learn on the day? I discovered from Juliette that Tim White (Mr Cookbooks, not wine) described me as tall and looking like somebody who could be a friend of Anthony Bourdain. I think I’m flattered.
I observed that writer Bénédict Beaugé looked like he’d been out drinking the night before with Anthony Bourdain (who isn’t here as far as I know) and how many Australian panel members have been refused alcohol.
That Hugh Grant William Sitwell, the editor of a glossy magazine that is quite good but only survives because it is sponsored by Waitrose, annoyed a few people.
Chef Gabrielle Hamilton kills flies, is kinda cool, has a good website and has her finger on the pulse. (Think simple food, casual restaurants and the politics of food.) Perhaps I even fancy her a bit.
I heard from sevenish textures of chocolate Oriol Balaguer that the Llama is a quadruped (it may as well have been as the translation from Spanish was bloody awful) and that he was upset that a blog has a picture of something he no longer makes.
And that Stephanie loves blogging and is prepared to expose far more about herself emotionally that I. While I’m confused because I also support Vida who took Stephanie down a peg or two over her blogger attack.
The star of the Future Food, Future Media session was Claude’s Chui Lee Luk. She had good commonsense advice, spoke fluent English and has a brilliantly simple and elegant website.
Beaugé admitted he had no idea what he was going to do with his web presence which I quite like. The same goes for publisher Luc Dubanchet who admits his site is out of date. It is an excellent example of the worst excesses of flash animation.
I think I’ve made my views clear on Balaguer. Despite winning awards for his site, it is annoying because of the flash animation.
That leaves Gilles Choukroun. His website should be applauded for being content rather than design driven. You can read about his meals chez Ben Shewry au restaurant Attica, et le second, chez Robin Wickens dans son restaurant Interlude. All I know is that my poor French is better than the annoying rock music on this site.
I think that leaves Helen Razor (I’ve given up trying to find her blogs because it’s time for bed) who I wish would have moderated us a little less. But seeing her with Matt Preston on the podium made me nostalgic for her days doing breakfast radio with Mikey Robins on JJJ.
Check out the posts and comments on Stephanie’s Elegant Sufficiency, Confessions of a Food Nazi, Duncan’s Syrup & Tang for a full picture of the debate.

Popularity: 17% [?]

Check out the latest blogger review of Attica. Judi from Cakestorm won the Tuesday night Chef’s Table in the Menu of Hope Raffle. The interesting thing about Tuesday nights is you’ll get a chance to taste the dishes that chef Ben Shewry has in development. Read Judi’s review.

Popularity: 21% [?]

Spanish chef Frank Comorra is a laugh. When he sent me a copy of his sell out Movida cookbook he signed it as the CEO of Ikea. He’d read by blogpost where I’d complained Movida didn’t conform to the stereotypical Spanish restaurant and owed more to the Swedish superstore than dark oak, Pablo Picasso or Anton Gaudi.Of course, I’m nothing but inconsistent. Shannon Bennett’s Bistro Vue I complain is a French theme park with its beams, French furniture and a funny little bag in which warm bread is served. Oh, I’m told they sometimes have an accordion player there too.In reality, I don’t mind theme parks, and Bistro Vue, which serves the best pear Tarte Tatin I have ever eaten, may usurp Sovereign Hill as my favorite in Australia. And I’ve grown to love a seat at the bar of Movida. The review starts here…If you hadn’t realised it yet, Movida is quit possibly the most popular restaurant in Melbourne aside from Taco Bill’s. Lifestyle channel viewers voted Movida their fourth most favoured destination. And for anyone visiting Melbourne it is top of the list for lunch or supper.And so it was for my sugar daddy who, feeling down, popped a happy pill and decided he wanted lunch at Movida with me. An hour or so in seat 1A and a limousine ride later and he is plonked at the best spot in the restaurant- the bar - hoovering down a cold beer. Followed by a sherry, wine, beer and wine again. Eventually his head blurred as you can see in the pic above.Coincidentally, the bar is full of chefs who’ve come into town to see the Australian Open - including one from Sovereign Hill which makes my day.You won’t find food like this is any tapas bar or other Spanish restaurant in Australia. It is gobsmackingly good.At the bar we sticky beak at our neighbours food, jealous of the dishes we hadn’t ordered. By the end of lunch we are sharing.Luckily, I have a sugar daddy to pay. We could afford to eat 20 grams of acorn fed Iberico ham that costs $1 a gram (I recommend financially challenged mortals buy it from a deli for under 48 cents a gram and eat it at home). We also downed two 500ml bottles of stunning Roda 1 (which don’t seem to be on the wine list) costing nearly $300.The food? Two absolute stunners.There is the famous Ortiz anchovy (above) on a thin crouton and topped with a smoked tomato sorbet. At $4.50 each it is within the reach or most mortals and is a dish that shows real innovation.Second was Cucina (above), air cured wagyu beef thinly sliced (a bit like a bresaola) with a truffled potato foam topped with a poached egg at $17. This is a superb use of the magnificantly marbled Wagyu which is fast become the most misused meat in Australia in other poorer quality restaurants. And there is something aboutthe mix of flavoursome meat, earthy truffle, potato and egg that is meant to be.I defy you to visit Movida without ordering these dishes.Our only mistake was the timing of a dish of diced multicolored tomatoes topped with white anchovies (above). An acid dish, it is a palate cleanser and should have been ordered first.The dilemma here is to whether to stop and bore you with a list of every single dish and finally telling you whether or not to visit the restaurant. On balance I’ll show you the pictures and let you make your own mind up.Vieira, jamon y espuma 4.50Half shell scallop oven baked with jamon and potato foamMorcilla 13.50Grilled house made black pudding in the Burgos style thickened with rice and spicesBistec tartar de wagyu 17.50Spicy steak tartare of raw, grass fed Wagyu beefThe review ends here

Popularity: 30% [?]