Bomba Tapas Bar, Melbourne

Recently for a work celebration, a group of us attended Bomba Tapas Bar for dinner.  We ordered the banquet menu ($45), which gave us a good variety of Bomba's offerings to try.

My friend M and I arrived first, and we both ordered an Adelina Fizz cocktail  (manzanilla, St Germain, lemon, orange blossom water, egg white and soda) - $14:

It was very refreshing and slipped down way too easily.

Our first banquet dish was this sliced sausage:

Given this is a Spanish tapas bar, I am sure it's not called salami, but that is what it tasted like.

Next up was the leek and manchego croquet:

These were very tasty, with a crispy outside and a soft, melting filling.

At the same time, we were presented with an attractive platter of natural oysters:

I am an oyster fan, so this one was a no brainer for me.

Some sour dough bread with oil appeared to accompany our banquet:

I was going to skip it, but M said it was so good that I tried a piece - and was glad that I did.  The bread was lovely, and the small pieces meant that it was not unduly filling.

Our host ordered the wine for the table - he chose the 2012 Aragonesas ‘Don Ramon’ Crianza, Garnacha Tempranillo Campo de Borja Spain ($40 per bottle):

This was quite a smooth drop, not too rich, and was the perfect accompaniment to our Spanish feast.

Our next dish was the green tomato gazpacho:

This one was not a favourite of mine, but it was OK.

Next up was a spiced lamb cutlet each:

These were very good.

The next dish was, unexpectedly, my favourite of the night - charcoal grilled corn with dried maize:

The corn was coated with what is best described as spicy crumbled corn flakes, and the corn was served with a really delish spicy sauce that set off the flavours beautifully.  More please!

Seafood lovers were not cut adrift, as our next dish was Shark Bay king prawn with pinenut picada:

followed by Pedro Ximenez braised pork jowl with celeriac:

Our final dish was the most amazing freekah and cauliflower salad with almonds, sumac, barberries  and mint - my second favourite dish of the night:

As you can imagine, I had no more room for anything else after all of these dishes.  The quality of the food was superb, and the service was friendly and efficient - for example, when I dropped my knife, I was given a clean one almost immediately without even asking.

For a great night out, I highly recommend Bomba.

 

Bomba Tapas Bar

103 Lonsdale Street

Melbourne VIC 3000

Ph: 03 9077 0451