MoVida Aqui 2023 restaurant review: Kara Monssen reviews Frank Camorra stalwart

Smart snacks, zippy drinks and a new-look venue. MoVida’s Bourke St stalwart is proving why only good can come from a glow-up.

MoVida Aqui is still firing, 14-years after opening at the Bourke St site. Picture: Yvette Scott.

“Intense. Paprika sausage. Oily, shattery corn crunch. Green pepper hit. The best.”

The skittish ramblings punched into my phone’s notes app are chaotic at the best of times.

Written on the clock at MoVida Aqui, while feverishly hungry with urgency to resume eating, I later realised my frenzied description of the Talos Con Txistorra was void of an obvious descriptor: “Sausage taco.”

Did someone say sausage taco? Picture: Yvette Scott.

Perched on a tostada, fried for ultimate crunch and slicked in a lively green pepper piperade – it truly was one of the best bites. Well, aside from that wet rice, but we’ll get to that.

And if you’re overdue a trip to the Iberian Peninsula via Frank Camorra and Andy McMahon’s famous tapas joint, you must spare a visit.

Not to the Hosier Lane tourist trap, but to the larger (and now more spacious) outpost part of the 500 Bourke St development in Melbourne’s legal hub.

Cured meats are MoVida Aqui’s game. Picture: Yvette Scott.

We’ve seen MoVida Inc flourish in different faces (Bar Tini, Tres a Cinco), places (Sydney, Bali, Auckland, Lorne and soon Geelong), spaces (MoVida Next Door) and in the behemoth’s latest move its freshened up Bourke St digs; MoVida Aqui.

“Handsome, broody, sleek,” another musing from the digital notepad, describing the major changes to the dining room.

Adios to the noughties crate “art feature” glowing above the bar and hola to a mahogany coloured room and ... space.

Spanner Crab Crumpet. Picture: Yvette Scott.

Camorra’s passion and pursuit of pickled, punchy and pleasurable eats burns strong.

Try the cangrejo ($11); a “creamy, corny, warm and squishy” spanner crab crumpet.

Or the “underrated” battered fried globe artichokes alcachofas ($7.50) and the bocadillo de calamares ($9.50) – a calamari slider “everyone is ordering.”

And you know my thoughts on Talos con txistorra ($12).

Add a nip of Manzanilla to cut through the richness.

While on wine, Duncan Peppiatt ensures there are many Spanish and local drops to suit all budgets by the glass and bottle, though in the warmer months it’s hard to shake the urge for a chilled sangria.

If you’re hankering for meat, MoVida has your back. Flame tickled pork cutlet, roasted lamb, and 1.8kg wagyu rib eye.

It’s hard to pass on the iconic slow-braised Pedro Ximenez beef cheek, but Arroz Caldoso ($65) dials up the wholesomeness on chilly nights.

Think “wet style” paella, rich with tomato and saffron, with fried pancetta, butter beans, and a confit duck leg drumstick. Hot in temperature, not spice, but as someone who enjoys scalding showers this warms the body and soul.

MoVida Aqui has proven why there’s no shame in getting a glow up. With a new look and old favourite flavours, I’m sure this nip tuck will keep the motor running for another 14 years, and beyond.