Frank Camorra of MoVida on Spanish Flavours, Cutting-Edge Cooking and Obsessing Over the Details

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From humble beginnings in a graffiti-coated Melbourne laneway to a tapas empire to rival anything else in Australia — MoVida has come a long way. Co-founder and head chef Frank Camorra has been a driving force behind that growth. Now, over twenty years after MoVida first opened its doors, Camorra is turning his eyes to the horizon. Fresh off his latest tour of his Spanish homeland, Camorra is coming to Sydney for a partnership with another Spanish brand — CUPRA.

Taking over CUPRA's Pitt Street City Garage on Thursday, October 31, the Barcelona native is bringing his specialty flavours to the Harbour City in the name of obsession. Ahead of the occasion, Concrete Playground sat down with the chef to chat about MoVida and more.

On How MoVida Makes Spanish Cuisine Special

"MoVida is a Spanish restaurant but it's in Melbourne. So Spanish ingredients and techniques are the starting point for our dishes, and then there's always some form of innovation but a reference back to a traditional dish. A very good example is anchovy with a smoked tomato sorbet, which is a classic Spanish combination of flavours — anchovy, bread and tomato, but it's just slightly tweaked so your tomato's now a sorbet, it's all refreshing and with the best quality Spanish ingredients that we can find."

On the Origin of the Brand's Name

"So MoVida is actually a cultural movement that happened in Spain in the late 70s and mostly through the 80s as well. It's what happened after the dictatorship ended as a new sort of blossoming in movies, music, literature, in all sorts of cultural ways because everything opened up. It's kind of like the Spanish punk movement, in a way.

And MoVida literally means movement. So now when you go to Spain, if you ask "donde esta la movida" [where is the movement], you're asking where is it happening? Where is it interesting? We took that name because we wanted to relate to a modern interpretation of Spanish food."

On the Moment He Realised MoVida Was Something Special

"When we first opened MoVida, half the restaurant was a dining room, half the restaurant was a bar and high tables, and I remember that in the first three to six months, it was incredibly difficult to get people to eat at the bar. The dining room was always full. But people were happy to just sit on the bar and have a glass of wine and maybe a couple of tapas.

And I remember, like, six months in, it almost happened overnight, but I looked up and saw this bar completely abuzz with people enjoying, eating and drinking convivially and thinking…jeez, this is exactly like what happens in Spain. So that was kind of the moment that I went, yeah, this is something good."

On the Best Restaurant He's Ever Eaten In

"The best restaurant I've ever eaten in is Aponiente, a restaurant in Puerto Santa Maria. It's all based around seafood, and they have some incredible innovations. They play with things like plankton, have dishes with bioluminescence, they even have seafood elements in the desserts—it's quite amazing."

On an International Ingredient He'd Love to Bring Home

"There's one thing I just tried recently, which was plankton. They said there's somebody pulling it into Australia, so I'm gonna try to do something with that. It's a plankton that's grown in the south of Spain. It seems weird, but it's farmed, and then they dry it and serve it as a powder. It was in rice, and it's almost like eating an oyster, that sort of flavour. Like the flavour in the ocean when you're going for a swim. That was pretty awesome."

On Creating a Perfect Spanish Cuisine Starter Kit

"There are a few ingredients that stand out as quality of Spanish food and really set it apart. One is anchovies. I think it's the product Spanish do incredibly well. They really care about the quality of the fish that goes into the can; it's very different from the usual kind of anchovies you'd get. Another one is Jamón Ibérico, Spanish ham.

I just visited a factory where they cure the ham for four years, and [the pigs] eat acorns for four months before then. They take so much care and it shows in the final product. The other one is paprika, it's just one of those things…if you're gonna cook Spanish food you can't not use it. Like Italian food, you wouldn't cook without parmesan cheese, French food you wouldn't cook without butter, Japanese food without dashi, so this is that cornerstone ingredient. A bottle of sherry too, actually, that's essential just for me."

On His Next Big Idea

"We just opened in Singapore a few months ago and will open in Bangkok in December or January next year. We're going to try more international restaurants. That's what's on the horizon: bringing more Spanish food to Asia."

On Working with CUPRA

"Cupra is kind of the embodiment of what we do at MoVida or what we try to do. It showcases Spanish flair and innovation in carmaking but also in food. So I guess it's a nice symbolic clash, that flair for design, that boldness. Tradition and innovation together—that's what we do. Representing that modern side of Spain—that's what we're about."

On What to Expect at The CUPRA Event

"It's all about tapas, standing up, brushing shoulders, the food and the ambience that we're trying to create. It's that modern Spanish tapas, as if you're in a tapas bar in Spain, having that experience, but you're in Australia. That's what we're trying to do — standing shoulder to shoulder having good food, good wine, everything that the Spanish do so well."

On His Own Definition of Obsession

"Obsession, in a good way, is just trying to refine what you do. In my life it's the craft of being a chef, of obsessing over the details and doing everything you can to improve it. It's such a privilege to showcase Spain, a culture I know so well, to a group of people and obsess about making sure they're not going to have an inauthentic experience."

Frank Camorra will be taking over the CUPRA Sydney City Garage, located at 68 Pitt Street on Thursday, October 31 from 6pm. For more information about CUPRA or to get behind the wheel on a test drive, visit the website.

Want to win a double pass to attend? You can head to the CUPRA website and share your obsession in 25 words or less to claim a ticket.