MoVida Bakery
She Says
MoVida Bakery is inconspicuously located in a fairly non-descript building on a side street near Chapel Street, behind a petrol station. For a cafe that’s a little out of the way, it really attracts a crowd. I can see why though, I wasn’t all that hungry on my way to lunch but as soon as I saw the cases of pastries and racks of bread I was starving. Everything looked delicious.
The cafe/bakery itself is quite small. Most of the space is taken up by the actually bakery and cafe operations, with just one share table and a couple of benches along windows squeezed in for people to sit at. The premium on seating certainly didn’t discounrage the crowd, or the people sitting on the brick fence outside to eat. I’m not sure if they have tables out on the footpath during summer, they could definitely use them though.
The interior feels like a nice mix of cosy cafe and working bakery. On reflection a lot of the decor is actually just stacks of Movida cookbooks and merchandise, but hey, it looks good (and I assume you can buy them). It’s not a place that you’d want to sit for a couple hours on a Saturday and relax – I’m sure that one of the 9000 cyclists waiting for coffee would eventually chase you out with a tyre pump or something – but it has a fun, if slightly frantic, atmosphere and good, quick food.
He Said
Our last trip to Chapel Street & surrounds was a culinary disappointment with the café we’d braved the terrible weekend traffic for unfortunately being closed (I still haven’t had my Massive Weiner). Having to run some errands in the area last weekend, Marg suggested that we hit up the MoVida Bakery, which is the latest addition to the sprawling MoVida Empire. So new that it’s not even on the website [Marg: It's not actually that new, I think maybe the website update is just that slow].
Just a couple of streets back from Chapel Street, Movida Bakery nestles itself into an unassuming side street, the only indication of it being a Movida establishment is the queue snaking out the door. The bakery isn’t particularly big, with maybe 18 seats inside for those wishing to eat in. I was actually surprised by the fact that it has a genuine bakery element, with a number of delicious looking bread loaves for you to take home; it’s not just another café masquerading as a bakery.
The lunch menu has a selection of pies and sandwiches for your eating pleasure. As you’ll see below, the sandwiches are to die for, but I was a little disappointed by the pastry on the sausage roll. It was just a little too oily for my liking, but Marg loved it. She gave me one of those “what are you talking about?” looks on the way home. But I wasn’t worried, I was too busy wondering when we can come back for some of that bread.
We Ate
There’s no set pie menu at MoVida Bakery, only a pie of the day (or, as was the case when we visited, pies of the day). There was a choice between beef cheek and lamb, I went for the lamb. The pastry was really buttery, I thought it was delicious. The filling was also good, big chunks of tender lamb – no mystery meat pie filling here.
Gerard had a chicken sandwich. He liked the chicken but thought that the bread really stole the show. I stole a bite and agreed that the bread was pretty amazing. It may look like a humble sandwich but this was the surprise favourite of the day, it was unanimously (between the two of us) voted most delicious by a mile. I think we’ll probably go back just to buy a loaf of the bread. Well, while we’re there we’ll probably buy other things too, but the bread is the biggest drawcard for a return visit.
Gerard also had a sausage roll. He liked the filling but didn’t like the pastry. He thought the pasty was too buttery (I thought the butter-level made it, but each to their own). Overall he thought it was ok, but not a show-stopper.
We also split a bacon & maple syrup doughnut ($3.50). This was a bit of a surprise. I was expecting a doughnut that had maple syrup and bits of bacon through the batter, I was definitely not expecting a doughnut filled with a bacon & maple syrup flavoured custard. It was good (as good as bacon custard can be), but to be honest if we went back I’d probably try a salted caramel or lemon instead.
There weren’t prices on the menu for the pies, sandwiches or sausage rolls so I’m not sure quite how much they cost, but all up (excluding the doughnut, price of which was listed) the food came to around $24.
To Conclude
The pies and the doughnuts are good, the bread is great. If you can get a seat you deserve a medal.
