First look at MoVida Aqui’s slinky new interior after a two-month makeover

MoVida Aqui, the legal district sibling of Melbourne’s best-known Spanish restaurant, reopened on Tuesday after its first major refurbishment in nearly 14 years, ditching grungy laneway trappings for a more polished look fitting its besuited clientele.

Diners will no longer be greeted by a milk crate installation above the bar, a nod to the original MoVida’s Hosier Lane address. Black leather, bright light and flashes of chrome are also out. Comfortable bistro touches are in.

“We wanted to warm up the space. I like it during the day, but I felt in the evenings it lacked a bit of warmth. It didn’t have intimacy,” says chef-patron Frank Camorra.

Izzard, the firm that designed MoVida’s Auckland restaurant last year, were tasked with the interior refresh. The new-look Aqui is overall a more welcoming restaurant, with clean finishes, softer edges and earthy colours that reflect Spain’s produce-led cooking.

Red and cream chequerboard floor tiles, not milk crates, now catch the eye upon entering, as does a generous velvet banquette, which snakes around the main dining room, complementing plush bottle-green leather chairs.

A whole new bar has been installed in a light timber with chiselled details and a red vinyl bartop, which Camorra chose for its tactility. Alongside the kitchen are pillbox-shaped high tables for small groups, with smooth brick-red edges and powder blue tops.

“We wanted to retain that sense of what a Spanish restaurant is, with a dedicated bar area that is the hero of the space,” says Camorra.

The menu maintains the MoVida formula of tapas and raciones − larger plates to share − with Aqui’s signature paella still on board. But the team has come up with several new dishes for their reopening.

Spanner crab on warm crumpets, Basque-style cornbread with pork sausage and caramelised peppers, and a stuffed Barnsley chop cooked in Basque farmhouse cider with anchovy are among the new additions.

Work is also underway on a new heated and weather-protected terrace with views of the Supreme Court dome.

Early next year, the restaurant will be joined by other drinking and dining outlets, including a casual restaurant by Lee Ho Fook chef Victor Liong, as part of an overhaul of the office building where MoVida Aqui is located.

Open Mon-Fri noon-3pm, 5pm-late, Sat 5pm-late

Level 1, rear 500 Bourke Street, Melbourne, 03 9663 3038, movida.com.au/aqui