Bomba Downstairs Melbourne

Summary

Bomba Downstairs Melbourne is a funky Spanish restaurant and bar located on Lonsdale Street in the heart of the Melbourne CBD area. It boasts a line of highly experienced staff poached from classy Melbourne establishments like Cumulus and Anada. However, it’s the impeccable quality and mind-boggling variety of Spanish tapas dishes they serve up to patrons that sets them apart.

Bomba Downstairs Melbourne

 

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Bomba Downstairs is a Spanish inspired restaurant and bar located on Lonsdale Street in the heart of the Melbourne CBD. They consider themselves to be a Spanish workers bar and the decor is in keeping with this theme in mind. Their menu focuses on local, fresh seasonal food packed into bite-sized flavoursome, simple and affordable tapas meals.

Their head chefs, Jesse Gerner and Andrew Fisk have worked in the kitchens of classy Melbourne restaurants such as Cumulus and Anada. They both have a love for all things Spanish as is highly evidence from their previous work and travel. Their dishes are fresh, festive, punchy and designed to share – in keeping with the Spanish culture.

The wine list at Bomba Downstairs Melbourne was created by Shane Barret (ex-Sommelier at Circa) who focuses on Indigenous Spanish varieties from small artesian producers imported from Spain into Australia. The drinks list also hosts a variety of cocktails, sherry and vermouth.

The floor is managed by Kelly O’Loghlen who has worked at other fine Melbourne establishments such as Taxi and Circa.

Bomba Downstairs also has a rooftop venue serving tasty cocktails, beers, wines as well as tapas which is a great location for summer rooftop parties.

 

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The decor at Bomba Downstairs Melbourne was quite eye catching. They have put a lot of thought into making the restaurant look very chic. The decorations gave the restaurant a nice atmosphere. There were decorations hanging from the ceilings as well as along the walls. Each of the tables had their own ambiance as the decorations above and around the tables were different. Different areas of the restaurant had a different vibe and fitting. The lights were dim which also gave the restaurant a romantic atmosphere so it’s a perfect place for date nights and romantic dinners.

 

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We ordered a jug of Sangria for the table. This drink didn’t have a strong alcoholic content to it; rather, it was a weak, summery drink. Other times we have had Sangria, both in Australia and Spain, they have been more alcoholic and have had a much stronger flavour. This Sangria was even more watery than a punch. Also, the quantity was insufficient for five people so we had less than half a glass each.

It was unusual for Graham’s dad to move on to a beer halfway through the meal given that he is a big fan of Sangria, so that’s saying something about the quality of the Sangria we had at Bomba Downstairs.

For dinner, we decided to try the $45 set menu which is a set of 9 served over three courses.

 

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Our first dish of the evening was Mussels with a breadcrumb topping in a picked and herb sauce. This dish provided a nice start to the evening and a glimpse of what was to come.

The mussels were lightly cooked giving the meat a nice texture. The sauce had a citrus base with shallots and chives. It was strong enough to compliment the delicate flavour of the mussels.  The breadcrumbs had a nutty flavour that was lovely; they added another dimension to the dish. The different ingredients went really well together in this dish. The dish was also nicely presented with the mussels resting on a bed of sea salt.

 

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One of the first dishes to be served was Serrano Gran Reserva jamon, a ham that had been aged for 24 months. This was a wonderful piece of aged ham, with lots of flavour. It had a melt-in-the-mouth style standard that you only really get from proper aged Spanish meat. It was beautifully cured and really delicious. It went well on its own but it could also be had with a piece of bread. It was a really well aged jamon that was very thinly sliced so the texture was soft and very lovely.

 

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Another dish that was served early in the evening was Leek and manchego croqueta – balls of soft cheese, bread crumbed and deep fried. The croqueta was deep fried with a soft, moist cheese filling. Unfortunately, they were under flavoured and didn’t hit the spot. This dish didn’t stand out in any particular way for us. None of the flavours really stood out. Croquettes are a common dish in any Spanish restaurant and we’ve had it many times before. This dish was good but nothing to rave about.

 

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Since Graham’s mother is gluten intolerant she was served Fried peppers instead of the croqueta above. This dish consisted of fried, long thin green peppers. They had a nice burnt flavour to them, perhaps they were grilled or charcoal-cooked. The flesh was nice and soft; it wasn’t spicy at all. If you’re into peppers it’s a dish that you’ll like, otherwise it’s quite a simple dish.

 

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The dish that stood our for us was a Spanner crab soup. We have never had this dish before and this was clearly a winner on the night.

The soup was similar to a seafood bisque with a strong liquor flavour. The soup was thick, and the flavour was really tasty but also very rich. It’s one of the richest soups we’ve had. Luckily, they were served in small portions in a tall shot glass so we got a nice taste without it being too much.

A surprise to this dish was chunks of spanner crab at the bottom of the glass. So when you get to the bottom of the glass you are hit with pieces of crab which are soft and succulent and just full of flavour. The soup in itself was very overpowering and the flavours were quite complex. It’s one of those dishes that you really love or hate.

 

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There was a break during the meals at which point we were served Sourdough bread with olive oil. It was one of the nicer breads we’ve had in a while. The bread was fresh, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside just as a good quality sourdough bread should be.

 

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The next dish served was Quail with pistachio and buckwheat. This was one of the highlights of our dinner at Bomba Downstairs.

There were two pieces of quail served on the plate – one piece was a drumstick and the other portion was a piece of breast. These two portions were quite different in texture and flavour. The drumstick was crispy and fried with a lot more flavour, while the quail breast had a more subtle flavour with a soft, moist and succulent meat. What impressed us was the fact that there was quite a substantial amount of meat to this dish given we were eating quail which usually doesn’t have a lot of meat on it.

The quail was nicely served with pistachio and buckwheat topping with some oil through the sauce. The quail was beautifully cooked; we can’t remember the last time we had quail so wonderfully cooked. We don’t normally like quail as it tends to be full of bones; however this dish was really well filleted so there was only one bone down the middle of the thigh piece. It was a beautifully cooked, succulent piece of meat with a nice flavouring to it.

 

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The next dish of the evening was Charcoal grilled corn with dried maize. The grilled corn had a dried maize topping and was layered on a bed of tomato flavoured sauce. It was a dish of corn on corn which we thought was a strange concept.

There were two different textures of corn in this dish – a freshly cooked sweet corn on the cob with dried corn dust wrapped around the outside of the cobs. It was a nice way of doing corn as we have not had something similar to this dish before. We liked how the two different textures worked together in this dish. The sauce gave a lot of moisture to this dish as the dried corn made the dish a bit dry. The flavour of the sauce was also quite strong which added a depth of flavour to the dish and complemented the subtle flavours of the corn.

 

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Towards the end of our dinner we were served Freekah and cauliflower salad with almonds, sumac, barberries and mint. Freekah is a Middle Eastern ingredient made from green wheat that is roasted. It is quite similar to buckwheat kernels.

This dish was one of the biggest surprises of the evening. When I first thought about this dish I wasn’t too keen on having it but after having a couple of spoonfuls I was surprised at how good this dish actually was. Each mouthful was bursting with a combination of different flavours; the salad also had several different textures. The crunchy texture of the barberries, freekah and almonds contrasted well with the softness of the cauliflower. The fresh mint flavour with the tartness and sweetness of the berries combined beautifully with the salty flavours of the cauliflower and freekah salad.

This salad wasn’t a normal cauliflower salad as it had a lot of freekah through it. It was a lovely combination of ingredients that made this dish very special. Everyone at the table really enjoyed this salad as it had a lot of different flavours as well as a good combination of different textures that worked well together. It was also really filling due to the freekah so it was a nice dish to have towards the end of the evening.

 

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Valencian salad of baby gem lettuce, honey, shallot and orange

 

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Charcoal grilled 6+ score wagyu rump cap with mojo verde and horseradish

 

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Our second last dish was Pedro Ximenez braised pork jowl with celeriac. This was also a really well cooked dish – the meat was tender and fell apart as we put our fork into it. The celeraic worked really well with the pork as it gave the dish a different texture to what we would normally expect. The Pedro Ximenez sauce that went with the braised pork really highlighted the pork flavour. Graham didn’t realise it was pork until later; he thought it was beef given the quality of the meat and the strong flavours.

It seemed like the pork had been cooked for several hours as the meat just fell apart so easily. The sauce was beautiful and strongly flavoured and complemented the delicate flavour of the pork really well. The interesting part of this dish was a celeraic (turnip-rooted celery) puree which we really loved. It tasted and had a similar texture to mashed potatoes but it had a slightly sweeter flavour. Its subtle flavour and creamy, soft texture was beautiful and complemented the dish superbly.

 

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Our final dish of the evening was Shark Bay king prawn pil pil. These were prawns with their shells removed served in a slightly spicy garlic sauce. The prawns weren’t huge but were a decent size. They were nicely cooked. The flavours in this dish were a little under par as we would have liked the sauce to have a bit more flavour from more garlic or herbs. The prawn meat was a tad too dry. The whole dish needed something to kick it into gear which was missing. Unfortunately this dish didn’t do what it should have done.

 

The customer service at Bomba Downstairs was quite exceptional. They were really attentive throughout the evening. They came over and sorted things out as soon as it was required. One of our party arrived halfway through the course so they kept their portion of the meal on the counter and served it later when she arrived. We also had a gluten free person at the table and the staff brought out separate dishes which were different to the dishes served to the rest of the group. The service was very attentive, friendly and amiable. Friendly banter was made between the staff member and the guests at our table while remaining professional at the same time.

Overall, we thought that the set menu was good value for the price we paid and the number of dishes we were served. However nine dishes were a bit too much for dinner; we were really full before the last couple of dishes were served. We didn’t need to have nine dishes for dinner so we could have had a cheaper bill and less dishes and still felt really good about our evening meal. If we were to go back to Bomba Downstairs Melbourne, we would order our own selection of tapas dishes next time around.