MoVida Next Door

The aptly named MoVida Next Door is one of the hot spots in the city. It is a soulful (meaning: full of souls or too damned crowded) bar in Hosier Lane, just next to Forum Melbourne, obscured in an artsy alley embellished with abstract graffiti and inspirational quotes, its outer façade too, does not lack the painted, witty, light-hearted jokes, which one can enjoy while waiting for a table. 

After Spring's gig on Tuesday, herself, Jayden, Edwin, Kaili and I decided to have a post production celebration dinner. Instead of Movida Next Door, we planned to go Movida. Unfortunately, there was only one table in Movida which could accommodate five and it was occupied. The waiter advised us to try our luck next door, literally. Still, it was an eternity of waiting and we were cold and starving.

We could not wait any more after getting a table. We were squinting at the menu and the specials board, trying to figure out the Spanish words in dim light. In the end, we ordered platija, mejillones, camarones, embutido, codorniz, two bombas and churros. I did the ordering, with the mock Spanish accent and the signature lisp.

Now, to get to what those words mean.

Mejillones.

Mejillones means mussels, not just any mussels but the sweetest mussels that I have ever tasted. There was no doubt about their freshness. Every pair of those iridescent shells cradled a sizeable mussel within. Each of those treasures were firm, succulent and absolutely exquisite. Upon biting them, them just broke apart and the pieces just bounced around my mouth, unleashing the torrent of juicy  goodness from within. Words utterly fail me at this moment in doing justice to the mussels. They were hands down the very best. I would have to credit MoVida Next Door for having found the secret to the miraculous mussels, by marrying them with a light broth. As such, the natural flavour of the mussels was put on stage and in the limelight, with nothing to mask or kill the flavour. On the other hand, the broth was flavoured by the sweetness of the mussels, which Kaili and I would have drank had the pot not been so heavy or if we had a spoon. 

Embutido.

Embutido is just a generic term for sausages. MoVida Next Door serves three types of meats for their version. One is a salami with fennel and aniseed, another thin slices of loin ham and the last being a spicy, chorizo-like ham.

The salami was probably my favourite. It had a more chewy texture due to the hardened spots of fats. The tastes of fennel and aniseed were quite prominent, which gave the salami a more complex flavour as compared to the usual overly salty ones.

The loin ham was quite a new experience for me. It was rather bland and was masked by the taste of olive oil that was drizzled on the board. I suppose one could call it a healthier and more premium ham, due to the light seasoning and the price. The texture of the ham was also typical of expensive ham. It had the texture of grated cheddar, only meatier and slightly softer.

The last of the lot was the spicy ham. There was a stark contrast between that and the loin ham due to the burst of saltiness and spiciness upon chewing. Texture-wise, it was somewhere between the salami and the loin ham. It was not too chewy but not too soft and quite a delight to chew on.

Platija.

Platija simply means flounder and MoVida Next Door fries theirs with butter, jamón and sour peppers. For me, the idea of frying whole fish until crispy with butter is just strange. However, only one side of the fish is fried until crispy, the other just looks like steamed fish. Interestingly, the sour peppers gave the butter sauce a slight hint of sourness while the jamón, salty on their own, did little to the taste of the dish as a whole. The fish itself was amazing though. It was fresh as can be as the flesh was firm and gave a lot of bite. Still, I think it is a rather unpleasant way to cook such a wonderful fish.

Codorniz.

Codorniz means quail. Jayden did not made much fuss about what to order but was rather insistent on the quail and he got what he wanted. The first thing that came to mind when the dish was served was: where is the quail? After digging in the jar that was served together with some shaved, white thing, four pieces of large croutons, we found a rather cute piece of quail meat. The quail, apparently, is pan-seared and then soaked in sherry and pomegranate. By itself, the quail had a wonderful, slightly rubbery texture to it which made it an absolute pleasure to bite. I wondered whether it was the sherry that altered the texture of the meat or was it like that to begin with. One thing the sherry did do was make the quail very sour. Though the idea of eating meat in vinegar is quite appalling to me, the quail had a refreshing quality to it.

When eaten with the croutons and the white things, it was quite a wide range of textures in one mouthful. The croutons were crispy and crunchy, the white things had a fibrous texture and the quail's was as described above. It was certainly an explosion of flavours, which would leave those who are curious and analytic about tastes flustered due to the rather chaotic mix. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? I think it could be both.

Camarones.

Camarones means shrimps. These were tiny shrimps deep fried and heavily salted, served in a paper cone, on a wooden board, with a wedge of lemon and aioli, a rather novel presentation. The shrimps were crispy but not completely dry. Despite being thoroughly deep fried, the flesh still retained some moisture.

By themselves the shrimps were terribly salty but when dipped in the aioli, the creamy sourness balances perfectly with the saltiness. It certainly made a good snack. The only thing I have against this dish is the portion. It was by no means hearty.

We were still quite famished after the five dishes. So we ordered some tapas and a dessert.

Bomba.

By now, one would expect another literal name for the next dish. If so, this dish would come as a shocker. It does not take a polyglot to figure out what "bomba" means.

The menu describes the Bomba as a chorizo-filled Catalan Potato Bomb with a spicy sauce. I guess it reminded me of Indonesian perkedel (potato cakes), just with a more Mediterranean touch due to the spicy sauce. The crust was crispy and the potato inside was silky. However, at AUD 4.50 a piece, I would expect the Bomba to stay true to its description "chorizo-filled". I could only find two pieces of chorizo in each of those golf ball sized balls. This one really let me down.

Churros.

It would be an understatement to say that Spring and Kaili were enthusiastic about the churros. It was all they wanted from start to end.

MoVida Next Door's churros are powdered with cinnamon instead of castor sugar, which made it less in-your-face and more of an adult taste. Diners only looking to satisfy their sweet tooth would not be able to appreciate the subtlety of the churros and the dip, which they described in the menu as drinking chocolate. The drinking chocolate is atypical of those usually used as dips. It was not too thick and too sweet. Instead, the taste is more of a complex amalgam of nuts and cocoa.

All in all, MoVida Next Door has a mix of great, good and decent dishes. Fortunately, there was nothing that stood out by putting me off. When it comes to seafood, the freshness is guaranteed but their way of cooking might not be so suited to my taste. Would I return for another meal? Probably for the mussels or if MoVida, which is next door to Next Door, has any vacancies, it would be a much better choice.

I would like to credit Edwin for being my lighting specialist for the night.

1 Hosier Lane,

Melbourne,

VIC 3000.

03 9663 3038

Google Maps does not seem to have 1 Hosier Lane as MoVida Next Door. However, I will still include a map.

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Orchid Live Seafood

Orchid Live Seafood Restaurant.

This leg of the journey in Singapore takes me to Orchid Live Seafood Restaurant with my parents and my dad's former schoolmate. The restaurant certainly looked impressive from outside with the parking assistants instructing customers on which parking space to take, and the illuminated signboard with its two lobster heads on both sides looked imposing as well. Still, to be truly impressive the food has to be top notch.

Cold crabs.

I have never sampled cold mud crabs before. The only cold crabs that I have eaten are flower crabs, which I am not such a fan of. Hence, I was a bit sceptical with this dish.

I went for the shells first due to the obscene amount of roe in them. A spoonful of roe into my mouth and I was delighted. The creaminess and fat in the roe just melts in the mouth. From what I could tell, the roe was seasoned with a bit of shao xing wine, which added a strong fragrance to the roe without getting rid of the roe's intense flavour.

The meat was rather fresh but had a tough layer of skin in between the meat and the shell. I think that was due to the crab being in the moulting stage. Nonetheless, cold crab meat is not too special to me although it does have its merits as an appetiser. There is something about crab meat that makes one turn hungry.

Unknown vegetable.

I am beginning to see the connection between Teochews and this vegetable. In every Teochew restaurant or restaurant with a Teochew influence, this dish was on plenty of the tables. Yet again, it was just another fried vegetable. Nothing special there. I did not quite fancy the soggy vegetables and the overpowering flavour of garlic.

Lobster congee.

I have always thought that cooking congee with lobster is a waste of a good ingredient. Orchid proved me wrong, so wrong in fact that now I think cooking lobster in congee is perhaps one of the best ways of preparing the shellfish.

Although lightly seasoned, the congee was sweetened by the lobsters. Despite that, the lobsters still retained their natural flavour. Also, the generous amount of shao xing wine in the congee complemented the sweetness of the lobsters well. The lack of robust flavours is made up for by the juicy, succulent texture of the lobsters. Another praise I have for the dish is the number of lobsters in the claypot. I swear there must have been more than ten halves in there. That kind of generosity is much appreciated when it comes to seafood.

Steamed fish.

Another steamed fish dish. Nothing to shout about here. The fish could have been fresher but by Singaporean standards, I am not complaining.

Steven chicken.

I did not know the name of this dish until a quick Google search. I am guessing that someone by the name of Steven invented this dish or is a known coward. However, the look of the dish definitely raises more questions than the name.

I suppose it could be called a semi-deboned chicken wing, or a semi-dechickened wing bone. The idea behind this technique I suppose is to expose more surface area to the batter to give more crisp and crunch to an otherwise boring friend chicken wing dish. Whatever it is for, it definitely worked for me.

The sauce that is used to lightly glaze the chicken wings was a sweet, tangy sauce which had a honey-like consistency, very much like those applied to honey glazed pork ribs. It was not too heavy in flavour, robust but not treacly and applied in a sensible amount such that it did not make the batter soggy. Very good balance between taste and texture.

Deep fried seafood tofu.

By the time this dish came I was stuffed to the brim, but still I could not resist deep fried goodies.

The fillings in the tofu I could not identify but it definitely tasted like a mix of seafood, most likely prawns, with pork. It tasted like the generic deep fried seafood tofu available in most seafood restaurants. Perhaps it due to me being so full that I could not really enjoy this dish and do it justice with my review.

Orchid Live Seafood Restaurant is the kind of place where you would think of going to every now and then for their famous dishes, but not to go so far as to call it your favourite seafood restaurant. However, one thing that left a great impression was the generosity in the portion of the food which is unknown to our region due to the culture of "frugality" among restaurant owners, especially when it comes to more pricey ingredients like seafood.

16 Jalan Kelulut, 

Singapore 809033.

9636 1909

No Name Seafood Restaurant

Remember the name, or lack thereof.

Interesting name for a restaurant, eh? Do not be fooled by the unassuming name. No Name is a name you ought to remember.

No Name is the kind of restaurant you would not stumble upon, unless you got lost in one of the housing areas deep in the heart of Pengkalan where it happens to be in. Dad found out about the restaurant from a friend, who happens to be the father of the restaurant owner.

If I am not mistaken, the first time I had dinner at No Name was back in 2007. Back then it was a single shop, with few customers and a friendly lady boss standing at the counter near the entrance of the shop greeting customers with a sincere smile; today, the shop is twice the size and so is the crowd, but the lady boss is still there with her signature smile. Some things have changed but the excellent quality of the food stays.

The older half of No Name.

That should be enough background information.

We usually dine at No Name with family friends. Today, however, there are only four people dining, hence the limited number of dishes I can review.

Fried Choi-tam (Brussels sprouts)

First up is the fried choi-tam. I have tasted better but this one is above average I would say. Nothing much to say here.

Deep-fried egg tofu with minced pork.

A common dish found in most, if not all Chinese restaurants, deep-fried egg tofu with minced pork. Many restaurants can achieve a delicate balance between crispy tofu skin and a soft interior. However, No Name takes it up a notch with the secret sauce which makes this dish put those of other restaurants to shame. The minced meat is also just right. Moist and juicy from being soaked in a light amount of the savoury sauce, the minced meat makes a perfect complement for the less salty tofu. This dish is definitely a must-eat.

Steamed pomfret.

I would not call No Name's steamed fish the best, but it is definitely one of the better. Usually, steamed fish is drenched in sauce that can match the saltiness of brine. No Name's fish sauce is a bit light on the palette, but nowhere near bland. However, for today, which is out of the ordinary, the fish lacked freshness.

The flagship dish: fried crabs with salted egg yolk.

Last but not least, No Name's signature fried crabs with salted egg yolk. Words cannot describe accurately how good this dish tastes. For years, No Name has been the benchmark for this dish and it still is so. It is hard if not impossible to delineate the wonderful burst of flavours as the tongue comes into contact with a full pinch of solid, fresh crab meat dipped into the buttery yet chunky salted egg yolk sauce. This dish is by far the most superior among that of all restaurants I have ever ordered this dish at. It is, for a lack of a better word, epic. It is most definitely the best thus far. Enough said.

The next best thing, or the best thing if you are a cheapskate, is the price. The meal cost us RM125.50 including rice and drinks. We paid RM38 for two crabs, RM66.50 for a huge pomfret, RM8 for the tofu and RM6 for the choi-tam.

The downside of having a dinner at No Name is definitely the fact that the restaurant is so hard to find. Had No Name been in a less secluded location, the business would be better by leaps and bounds. On the flip side, there might be a compromise in quality if there is a crowd. I guess you cannot have the best of both worlds.

Restoran Makanan Laut No Name

No. 20, Jalan Pengkalan Indah 5,

Bandar Pengkalan Indah,

31650 Ipoh,

Perak.

Tel: 017-5088523/012-5673115