Bar Pulpo by MoVida (Airport)

31st March 2013

With a 10pm flight to Egypt and having not been on an International flight since the renovation to Melbourne Airport, I decided to try one of the Airport versions of some well known Melbourne restaurants. After trying to decide between The Movida and Shannon Bennett (Vue Du Monde, Bistro Vue & Cafe Vue) outposts, i decided on Bar Pulpo by Movida.

The menu followed some of the same patterns and elements of the regular MoVida experience, with a selection of tapa and raciones. They also had a selection of sandwiches to eat in or takeaway. The decor and aestheticwas built to replicate the style of the original with wooden chairs, a main bar with stools and separate tables. Obviously it had less of a dark and clubby feel being in a brightly lit airport terminal but the concept was similar.

After taking a seat at one of the high tables, i decided on a mix of old favourites and new items for my dinner. I decided on 4 different tapas with 3 being old favourites from previous Movida visits and one being a new item i hadn't tried before.

The first was the chicken escabache on a crisp crouton. Slightly spiced chicken in a creamy spicy mayo between two crisp croutons. Delicious and as good as remembered.

The next was the new dish called Viera. It consisted of a Oven baked scallop served inside on the half shell with Jamon and Potato foam. Unfortunately this will not be added to the list of favourites from Movida although i can appreciate the attempt of the dish. However the potato foam was too dense and would really not be classes as a foam whilst the other elements were too salty for my taste.

The next was the Bocadillo De Calamares, fried calamari served inside a warm roll with peppers and lemon. Again very good and a fair effort compared to the original Movida.

The last item was The Bomba and this is where it was a let down compared to the original. Something was just off and whilst nice was nowhere near the taster explosion of the original. A potato bombe that was still crisp on the outside and filled with chorizo which lacked punch and the sauce brava also was a bit on the plain side. Normally a stunning dish but a bit of a letdown at this venue.

I decided to skip desert due to the likely high amount of sweet and fatty foods i would have whilst on holiday. Whilst not as good as the cooking at the original restaurant it was a very nice meal and much better than the usual airport and airplane food that you normally have to endure. Coming in at less than $50 with a couple of drinks was decent value as well and the service was fair especially given the location.