Bomba is a great Spanish tapas restaurant located in the Melbourne CBD. I’ve been here on several occasions for both lunch and dinner. I am a huge fan of their $15 ‘workers lunch’ – it is sure to leave you satisfied and is a great way to get a taste of some one the most popular dishes on the menu!
In this blog post we’ll go through just one of the meals that we’ve eaten here – a dinner with three other friends. Going in a group to places like this is always great as it means you can try a huge variety of dishes!
We started off with some drinks, the Fauxjito, a refreshing combination of Lime, Apple, Elderflower, Mint, Soda, Cucumber and the Baladin Spritz which was made up of Ginger, Bitters, Orange, Soda. Both were non-alcoholic and were delicious – who says you need alcohol to have fun!
One of us was in the mood for something with a little more punch and ordered a negroni which was appropriately boozy and definitely hit the spot for those wanting something a little stronger…
Our first round of Tapas included the Leek & manchego croqueta. Really, it’s hard to go wrong with this dish – piping hot, creamy and starchy filling packed with flavour and in a crispy shell. Careful you don’t burn yourself!
To heat things up we also ordered a serve serve of spicy chorizo which was delicious. The rich fattiness balanced out the spiciness and it had that great meaty chorizo flavour that you know and love.
The next tapas we ordered was the Marinated lamb ribs with sumac yoghurt. These rich, fatty ribs were a decadent course of tapas. The meat was incredibly tender and practically fell off the bone and the yogurt added a tinge of sourness to counteract the richness of the meat.
The final tapas course was the Baked Hervey Bay scallop with fino butter & migas. I’m a huge fan of scallops and this tapas course just cemented that love. The scallop meat was tender – just cooked – and the crumb on top gave the dish a nice crunch. This left me wanting another dozen!
Although we were almost tempted to have a meal comprised just of tapas, we decided we needed to move onto mains and started with the Paella with chicken, pork, peas & piquillo peppers. This was delicious, the rice had been infused with all the delicious flavour from the sauce and was a delight in itself. The chunks of meat added some more texture and the tender strips of pepper melted in our mouths. It’s hard to go wrong with some Paella!
For meat we ordered the Charcoal grilled Rangers Valley 5+ score wagyu tri-tip with mojo verde & horseradish. This dish definitely makes it on the list of my ‘must try beef dishes in melbourne’. The beef is beautifully cooked so that it is nice and tender, with the mojo verde balancing the richness out with that beautiful herb flavour. The marbling is a decadent treat and every bite has it’s share of delicious fattiness.
To go along, we got a side of the Freekah salad with broccoli, almonds, barberries, sumac & mint. I love the nutty taste of freeka and the use of sumac really elevated the dish while the almonds provided a great crunch. I’ve got to say that it was a close thing between this and the patas bravas which i’ve had several times before and is equally delicious, it not a bit heavier!
To end we got some sweet treats, the first of which was the classic portuguese tart. Eggy, creamy, and encased in flaky pastry. It’s always a delight to bite into these and enjoy the contrast of the soft custard with the crunchy pastry!
Because it’s a Spanish restaurant, we couldn’t leave without trying some churros! They came out piping hot and fresh from the fryer and the chocolate they came with was rich and intense. I love churros – the increased surface area makes for extra crunch which of course means extra deliciousness! A decadent way to end the night!
Overall, this is a fantastic venue if you’re looking for some solid spanish food, and if you’re looking to kick on, you can always just hop upstairs to the aptly named Bomba upstairs for a drink on their rooftop bar!
Love at First Bite 