Last night was Mr SO's (Significant Other) Birthday. I wanted to take him somewhere nice but worried that if I went too high end and special occasion, I would set the bar too high for future outings. So we went off to Mo Vida Acqui. The third of the Mo Vida chain based in Melbourne, Acqui is much larger and quite a different experience from the first two Mo's Vida.
Slightly industrial by design, it is a cool space that has an enormous amount of milk crates as part of its lighting structures - loved these. The rest of the space is eclectic but has a certain cool vibe that the restaurant needs.
Starters - hand filleted anchovies across a cheesy type wafer, with a smoked tomato sorbet. The clash of cold, salty, crispy and sweet was a cracker of a sensation in the gob and one worth trying again. Calamari sandwiches were interestingly presented but supremely morish in the gob as well. Thin strips of good calamari, lightly crumbed and jammed between a small white roll with oodles of aoli and some marinated little green peppers for good measure.
A platter of Jamon was great - introducing new sensations to SO was great... loved watching the Jamon melt on his tongue and the lights come on in his eyes.
Onto a huge dish of Arroz - rice with some duck, Buttafica sausage and chick peas. Its not every day the kitchen happily provides the recipes for anything but the staff were truly good at what they do. Oh- back to the rice - beautifully prepared again, slightly lacking in some kick to match the heat of the sausages and maybe a little more duck wouldnt have gone astray, but all in all, excellent.
Tempted by dessert for all of 30 seconds, we had to decline.
What would I do differently were I in charge? The greeting left both of us cold - we wondered were we intruding? Said person warmed up later when swinging by for a chat and overhearing our comments... and ended up providing us with said sausage recipe. Mark looked after us so very well and was clearly 'of the faith' and seemed to work out that we were somehow 'involved'.
A lovely little Spanish Verdejo was the perfect marriage to the above foods, after a cava starter....
I love Mo Vida - always have - back to the days when Mykal was the man in charge and the perve was as good as the food. The perve is now at CODA but I am a fan of the new Mo Vida Acqui and maybe, it might outstrip the others as my Mo Vida of choice.....
If I were the counting type, a 7.5 of 10 would be something in the ball park.
Tonight - Lucky Coq on High Street for Pizza and Beer before a Gay Ole Cabaret at Red Bennies.
