Chef Frank Camorra would like you to know that the bar area is no longer just for waiting until your table is ready. And when Camorra speaks, we should listen.
A branch of his iconic Melbourne restaurant, MoVida, has just opened in Auckland’s Seafarers Building in the space formerly occupied by Ostro.
His advice is to grab a bar seat, make some noise, talk to your neighbour, and enjoy the sort of food that has made MoVida famous across Australia for two decades.
The location is perfect. Climbing up the tiled stairway to the second floor of the Seafarers Building is not unlike trying to reach an old apartment in somewhere like Barcelona.
It’s a great scene-setter for MoVida, arguably New Zealand’s best Spanish restaurant, which was opened by Spanish-born foodie legend Camorra and NZX-listed Savor Group.
The original MoVida in graffitied Hosier Lane, Melbourne, has been one of my favourite restaurants since I first sat at the bar there in 2007.
I’m not alone in that. As one colleague said to me, “I ended a very significant relationship at MoVida in Melbourne, but all I remember is the food.”
Team transferred from Victoria
I went to MoVida Auckland twice in its first fortnight purely in the interests of making sure that I had a good grounding in what was on offer. And NZME, BusinessDesk's parent company, was paying.
The menu of tapas, raciones (sharing plates) and parrillada (wood-fired mains) is a mix of MoVida Australia classics – such as Ortiz Cantabrian anchovy on crouton with a smoked tomato sorbet, or calamari sandwich with pickled jalapeño – and dishes that make the most of NZ seafood.
Several people recommended MoVida’s pāua and the Cloudy Bay clams, and I was looking forward to seeing how Camorra handled our crayfish. He is in the kitchen running things, assisted by head chef Josh Shields (ex-Ostro) and a team that has largely moved here from Victoria.
Camorra will be in situ for the first few months and then will return regularly. The main MoVida restaurant in Melbourne is shut for a month for a refit and to allow staff to work in NZ.
A feast of cured meats.Front of house, chefs and even Camorra’s business partner, Andy McMahon, are all here for the first weeks. They’re training locals to help run the shop. He’s been looking for staff “with a bit of character”, but also wine and food knowledge.
To develop the Kiwi menu, Camorra rented a campervan to tour the country meeting local food producers and getting familiar with our seafood. He also just wanted his family to see more than the main centres.
On my first visit, we order the selection of small goods (tabla de embutidos) and another platter of jamón. The waitress (a Camorra by relationship) explained that this was a LOT of preserved meats for two people. It was, but we survived well and would do it again.
Wagyu beef tartare with pickled kohlrabi and cured egg between almond-and-horseradish wafers.The wagyu beef tartare is a flavour explosion served between wafers made from almond and horseradish. “Jeez, that’s good,” was the feedback from my guest at our second visit.
The crayfish, leek and seaweed croquette is sweet and rich and, well, perfect.
The pāua is served whole (but sliced) after being slow-cooked over fire, and served with Australian favourite finger lime, diced firm pear and a butter sauce. At $24 each, it is the most expensive item on the tapas menu and, though delicious, I can’t help wistfully comparing it to the outstanding minced pāua on toast on offer at Peter Gordon’s Homeland.
We’re back on top with the next dish, though. Bollo is a pan-fried potato bomba filled with chorizo sausage on a red mojo. Again delicious, like the world’s fanciest sausage roll.
Forget the potato bravas and get your carbs via the setas – oyster mushrooms with straw potato, raw egg yolk (which becomes the sauce) and confit garlic.
We finish with the carrillera de buey, a super-rich Pedro Ximénez sherry-braised beef cheek. It is a massive serving and, after so much food, might just have been too much if not for a subtle cauliflower purée that cuts the cloying sweetness of the meat with a savoury smoothness.
Ugly delicious: carrillera de buey.The secret to MoVida is superb food and friendly, even cheeky service in a buzzy atmosphere. It nails it every time.
Camorra tells BusinessDesk MoVida’s first weeks have been “really positive”. Although the restaurant, with its spectacular harbour views, has been packed, he thinks it needs to educate diners about the 25% or so of the space that is dedicated to high bar tables.
“The difference between restaurants in Melbourne and here is the concept of bar seating, where you can have a great experience by not being at a table – actually a better experience by interacting with staff and customers next to you.”
Camorra would like to let people know you can sit at a bar and have a life-changing meal. It’s a Spanish thing.
“It is growing, and that's because the dining room is booked out most nights and so people are happy walking in and finding it is a great option to sit up here, and then it's more convenient.
“The worst thing is that you get the restaurant unbalanced. It is more staid. It needs that energy of people sort of carrying on at high tables and the extra noise when that happens.”
'We're selling an experience'
Conducting the whole experience is what Camorra is about. “It’s about having an experience. I mean, everyone says that, but MoVida really is that. You are going away … you are going to be entertained.
"Obviously, the food's got to be up-to-scratch delicious. And then service has got to be up to scratch. But I want people to use it as an experience.
“Order a few little things, then order a few more little things. Then decide, okay, what do we feel like now? Have a chat to your waiter; you know, interact.
“We're not selling food. We’re not selling wine. We're selling an experience or entertainment. That’s not just MoVida, but restaurants in general. That's what I hope people are getting out of it. And especially after years of not experiencing that. It's a great feeling when you do."
Key discoveries for Camorra have included NZ olive oil, Cloudy Bay clams (“just incredible”), and Tora Collective crayfish and sea urchins. “We’re trying to make use of things we can’t utilise in Australia. I think the seafood here is sensational. It’s amazing.
“We’ve got turbot on the menu today, which is one of the most exceptional fish in the world to eat. We find it very difficult to get that in Australia.”
I order the turbot and it is served bone-on with just lemon and olive oil. Nothing fancy about the preparation, but it pleases the whole table.
Camorra has also been impressed by the range of imported small goods available here. As my guest and I very much appreciated when we indulged in cured meats, Ibérico ham that can’t be imported “legally” into Australia is readily available here, and at good prices. “The guy was showing me and I had to ask, 'Is this legal?'”
Bollo: a great combination of potato and chorizo.Camorra has taken the opportunity to spoil his guests with the exquisite quality of Spanish cured meats mixed with local creations in a platter of lomo Ibérico, morcón, salchichón and local venison-and-walnut salami. “The way we think about the ingredients is if the local stuff is as good or better, we're not going to use the imported, but if it's not, then we’ll go for that.”
He is still, however, on the lookout for good NZ table olives.
As well as our avoidance of bar seating, Kiwis have another strange quirk, Camorra says. “New Zealanders have this habit of going to pay at the cash register, which is like nowhere else in the world.
“When they're ready to pay, there's no one's asking for the bill. It's, ‘I've just been sitting over there’. Even in a relatively formal setting – a super-fine dining restaurant – it is one really interesting difference in the dining culture. I think it is just politeness.”
Where: Level 2, Seafarers Building, 52 Tyler Street, Auckland CBD.
Hours: Tues-Sat, noon till late.
Welcome to Auckland.
