Movida Sydney, Surry Hills

I waited TWO long years to get a chance to eat at Melbourne's darling, Movida but just mere months after one of my long held dining wishes came true Movida moved north and opened in Sydney. Typical.

It seemed remiss not to take advantage of them being virtually on my doorstep now (well, 20kms from my doorstep which is closer than Melbourne) so Miss M and I make a booking (yes, they take bookings) and headed on down for dinner.

Although I didn't want to compare my Melbourne experience with my Movida dinner in Sydney I just couldn't help it. Whilst I liked my dinner in Melbourne I didn't love it. The food was just as delicious as I'd hoped but we ordered wrongly - all little tapas dishes which meant we left hungry. I wish the waitstaff there had given us some direction.  I didn't make the mistake of ordering wrongly this time - and we had a super helpful waiter who helped us get it right.

We kick things off with a drink - I've not idea what I was drinking...I just asked from something white, cheap and not nasty. This $11 glass didn't disappoint and went down a treat - nice and "crisp".

Dinner starts off with some freshly baked crusty bread that has been dusted with sea salt and served with Spanish olive oil.  After demolishing this we start our meal with BOCADILLO DE CHORIZO - grilled chorizo and padron sandwich ($7.00 each). This is all a  fancy way of saying "slider" (aka trendy, mini-hamburger). No matter what you call it, it  really is delicious. The chorizo is perfectly spicy and the Padron (pepper) is crisp + sharp enough in flavour to cut through the fatty chorizo.

Next up we have CALABACIN - zucchini filled with Crab served with Pea and Mint Gazpacho ($9.00 each).  These were fresh + tasty little morsels though a little pricey but I guess crab meat isn't the cheapest thing to come by.  I love the CIGARILLO DE QUESO - Goat’s Curd and Quince Cigar ($5.50 each) - when we tried it in Melbourne and it didn't disappoint this time. Sweet + super crispy quince cigar wrapped around lusciously creamy goats cheese = good stuff!

We had a few meaty dishes coming up as our main so a salad was in order and  the ENSALADA DE TOMATES - Heirloom Tomato Salad with Avocado, Pickled Cauliflower and Tempura White Anchovies ($18.50) - was a perfect choice to offset our meaty mains. I especially loved the zingyness of the pickled cauliflower and fresh, natural flavour of the heirloom tomatoes. And of course, you cannot go wrong with a serve of slightly salty anchovies.

The special of the night CONEJO - rabbit stuffed with chorizo + served with glazed shallots and turnips ($24.50) was a lovely dish that was surprisingly quite delicate in flavour.  I expected the flavour of the rabbit to be fairly strong and gamy, but it was actually very mild.  I liked that the chorizo was encased in tender minced meat rather than wrapped a "piece of meat" - I think this added to the lightness of the dish. Last up is the delicious COSTILLAS - Spicy Pork Ribs on Charcoal ($35.00) - there's nothing light or delicate about these tender, meaty and slightly salty ribs. Oh boy!

There's always room for dessert when you're sharing, right? We choose the special of the night - burnt orange ice-cream served with a rich chocolate brownie that had been embedded with dulce de leche ($14.50). Yes, it was as rich and decadent as it sounds!

Movida Sydney is at 50 Holt Street, Surry Hills. Phone them on 8964-7642.