Bomba
Disclosure: I dined courtesy of Bomba.
Lots of things in life seem to be cyclical. Food wise, one of the trends lately is for more informal, cheaper dining, with most of the new restaurants opening lately being of a more casual nature. I’ve personally succumbed to this trend – you may have noticed a lack of fine dining on this blog this year.
In line with the more casual theme, The Aylesbury in Lonsdale Street recently closed and has been revamped as Bomba, a Spanish style bar and restaurant.
Along with an entire restaurant of other people, I was invited to check out the revamped restaurant and menu before their official opening. After a quick drink on the rooftop bar, we headed downstairs and my fellow food bloggers (Shellie, Hazzie, Gaz, and Allan) and I perused the menu.
The menu is divided into different sections:
Aperitivo
Charcuterie
Montadidos (toppings on bread)
Tapas
Paella
Raciones
Verduras (vegetables)
Between the seven of us, we managed to order and eat our way through a fair amount (most…) of the menu.
Charcuterie: Blackmore’s 9+ score wagyu cecina ($12 for 20 grams).
Charcuterie: Serrano Gran Reserva jamon ($9 for 20 grams).
Montadidos: Tomato, burrata and aged sherry vinegar with hand filleted Nassari anchovy ($4.50 + $2.50 with the anchovy).
Montadidos: Tomato rubbed bread with Serrano jamon ($2 + $1.50 with jamon).
Tapas: Hervey Bay scallop with Serrano, lemon and bread ($6).
The scallops were a highlight from the tapas section. They were sweet and fresh, and I really liked the crunchy, porky topping.
Tapas: Chicken, manchego and smoked paprika croqueta ($3.50).
These were also really good. Crunchy croquettes filled with an oozy chicken and cheese filling – delish.
Tapas: Quail with pistachio and buckwheat ($6.50).
Tapas: Charcoal grilled lamb t-bone ($8).
The lamb chops, another highlight, were a thing of beauty. The chops were smokey and juicy, and we all sat there gnawing on the bones.
Raciones: Tuna tartare with seaweed cracker ($16.50).
Raciones: Shark Bay king prawn pil pil ($15.50).
Raciones: Pedro Ximenez braised pork jowl with celeriac ($16.50).
The pork was fall apart tender in a sauce flavoured with Pedro Xiemenez. This was also one of my top dishes that night. My only criticism is that the celeriac was a bit too overpowering for the pork.
Raciones: Charcoal grilled 6+ score wagyu rump cap with mojo verde and horseradish ($24).
The wagyu rump was another highlight (I know, there’s quite a few – I’m terrible at picking favourites). The beef had so much flavour and was complemented by the freshness of the mojo verde and horseradish.
Paella: braised duck and pork paella with peas ($36).
This paella was very rich, holding a large amount of braised duck and pork belly pieces.
Paella: Arroz negro with prawns, pippies, calamari, mussels ($36).
The black paella – coloured with squid ink – was a wet style paella. Which is fine, but I thought it was too wet. There was so much liquid it was a bit like a congee.
Verduras: Patatas bravas ($7).
It’s hard to go wrong with fried potatoes, but these would’ve benefited from being crunchier.
Verduras: Freekah and cauliflower salad with pinenuts, sumac, pomegranate and mint ($7).
Dessert was an easy choice. We ordered one of each!
Churros with chocolate ($8).
One of the desserts I was looking forward to the most was the churros (hey, what can I say? Donuts). Unfortunately they needed to be fried for longer – when they came to the table they were chewy and not that enjoyable.
Portuguese tart ($4 each).
The other dessert I was really looking forward to was the Portuguese tarts. Unfortunately the pastry on these were also chewy. A bit of time in an oven could’ve improved them?
Chocolate croquetas with custard and hazelnuts ($10).
The other desserts were good though. In particular, I was surprised by the chocolate croquettes. They were the dessert of the night for me – deep fried, chocolate, surrounded by custard, yes.
Turron parfait ($10).
Goat’s curd sorbet with rhubarb and pistachio ($8).
Orange and vermouth sorbet ($8).
While there were some things that could’ve been improved (and remembering that they hadn’t even officially opened yet) on the whole I thought the food at Bomba was really good.
For more on our dinner at Bomba, check out Iron Chef Shellie and The Chronicles of I-Hua and the Boy.
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Bomba
103 Lonsdale St
Melbourne VIC
Phone: 03 9077 0451
Web: bombabar.com.au
msihua (@msihua)
November 11, 2013 @ 9:28 pm
Oooh Nice pictures.. looks brighter than it actually was!
Agnes
November 12, 2013 @ 5:52 pm
Eurgh it was so dark. I did my best with the pics. 🙁