Shopping centre Spanish fare at MoVida

NEW RESTAURANT MoVida Singapore #03-43 Raffles City Shopping Centre 252 North Bridge Road Singapore 179103 Tel: 8380-8509 Open daily from 12 pm to 10 pm

FINE dining restaurants have been doing it all wrong.

All that fuss about designer surroundings, beautiful food, refined service – everything to make their diners feel, you know, comfortable. And then wondering why people don’t come. No, no, no. Want customers? Don’t give them face.

The secret to success is to find some vaguely famous foreign name like MoVida and bring it to Singapore. Rent a shopping centre space from a landlord who gives a discount for bad acoustics – who cares if people can’t hear themselves speak? Punish those who come in pairs by sticking them in tables so small and so close together, you can reach out and steal your neighbour’s churros when they’re not looking.

Discourage hostesses and servers from trying to make guests feel welcome or even be knowledgeable about the food. Their job is to remind diners to get out within two hours, and clear dishes fast even if they’re in mid-chew.

Finally, sit back and watch the queues form. And they do, especially on a Friday night when you walk out to the kind of lines you see when someone is offering a one-for-one tendon deal.

The main reason for going to MoVida – said to be a famous Melbourne tapas bar – is that it’s there. It’s convenient. It sits in a fairly isolated cul-de-sac on Raffles City’s third floor, cosying up to its sister eateries Surrey Hills Grocer and ramen import Mensho Tokyo. A new sibling – Andre Chiang’s Bon Broth hotpot – will open next door soon.

Other than that, you’re just part of the churn, contributing to the restaurant’s constant turnover but not getting a lot of joy in return. There is plenty of decent Spanish food in town to go around without getting stressed out here. MoVida’s menu is palatable enough, but nothing stands out.

The place is big, styled like a low-ceiling, low-lit wine cellar with brick-face walls. Think Marche Movenpick, but with table service. The prices don’t look high at first glance, but portions are small and at S$8 to S$15 for a single tapa, it adds up. 

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Stuff melts fast here. Like the sobrasada butter served with crusty sourdough (S$6), seasoned with paprika-enhanced sobrasada, or cured Spanish sausage.

Same with the tarteleta (S$9), a high-fat chicken liver mousse in a whisper-thin crisp tart shell topped with bruleed sugar that’s one of the more interesting small bites here. Finish this savoury-sweet, rich and crackly mouthful quickly before it dribbles all over. It’s better than the ho-hum cangrejo (S$9), a small crumpet topped with a crab-mayo mixture, saffron cream and little excitement.

Croqueta (S$9) or bomba (S$8)? Only the shape sets them apart as they both share the same panko crust and a creamy filling within. Croqueta is a deep-fried bolster-shaped snack filled with bechamel and indiscernible lobster bits, while bomba is a ball of mashed potato stuffed with minced meat. Nothing challenging, just easy pleasers.

The pace of the food is as erratic as the service, though we don’t blame our servers who are otherwise pleasant and hard-working. They seem to be under a directive to keep things going fast and impersonal, with no time for hospitality. Chalk that up to a management that hasn’t quite got its act together.

Meanwhile, we’re ambivalent about the pulpo (S$15) or junior-sized chunks of octopus that are charbroiled and rather bouncy but bitter on the edges. They’re skewered with tasty potatoes and served in a romesco-like sauce given extra oomph by the smoky gaminess of the sobrasada. 

Then there’s the strangest interpretation of squid ink fideua pasta (S$32) we’ve ever seen. Instead of an alternative to paella, we get Spanish Hokkien char – the short noodles braised in a soupy squid ink gravy with clams, topped with whole tiger prawns and a dollop of aioli. If you can get past the way it looks and resist asking for a “ta pau” in an opeh leaf, it’s pretty decent.

But for something more culturally appropriate, cecina (S$32) has thin slices of air-dried wagyu fanned out on a plate surrounding a mound of truffle-enhanced potato mousse and runny poached egg. This classic combo of truffle potato and egg is universally pleasing, although the cured wagyu leans towards extra salty.

Churros for dessert (S$12) are a good choice, with well-made, thin, sugar-dusted deep-fried doughnut sticks dipped into a chocolate sauce so runny you might as well drink it instead. We prefer it to the overly fussy rice pudding (S$14), which comes with a caramelised pineapple slice, ice cream and a large puffed rice paper “hat”.

MoVida is on a high now with its novelty value, and food-wise, it has some merit. As far as convenient mainstream shopping centre fare goes, it’s probably par for the course. But if dining out means more to you than that, you’ll probably feel at home somewhere else.

Rating: 6