Moëca
Seafood restaurant · Neighborhood Nine ·
Creative seafood small plates with global flavors and gelato
Creative seafood small plates with global flavors and gelato
"Between Harvard and Porter Squares Moëca is one of the area's best spots for sustainable, small-boat seafood, and the most dramatic menu highlight is the XL Crispy Oyster: large, brash and topped with uni, dollops of Kaluga caviar and housemade seaweed ranch." - Todd Plummer
"From skewered squid to buttermilk-fried hunks of monkfish, Moëca’s is very good at re-examining traditional New England seafood fare through a more playful lens. The restaurant is run by the same team behind nearby pasta powerhouse Giulia, which means it’d be a mistake to overlook Moëca’s pasta section, including the lobster spaghetti with fermented chili and the salt cod-stuffed ravioli. Whatever you do, don’t skip dessert." - Celina Colby
"Boston is bursting with seafood — lobster rolls, scallop crudo, oyster happy hours, you name it — but seafood that sidesteps familiar New England preparations? That’s a bit less common. Enter Moëca, the younger sibling to the perpetually booked-out Italian restaurant Giulia just down the street on Massachusetts Avenue in Cambridge. This is where you go for craggy, buttermilk-fried monkfish showered with sesame seeds and a pool of tamarind hot sauce on the side, or steamed mussels served not in a bowl but over a whopping hunk of sourdough soaked in a Basque pil pil sauce. Seafood takes unexpected, surprising forms at Moëca, and it is well worth the ride. Best for: Bringing that out-of-towner who loves to yap about how the city’s dining scene is subpar and has tasked you with convincing them otherwise." - Erika Adams
"From the highly regarded team behind Giulia, this inventive seafood spot makes 'no dish is quite as it seems' part of the appeal. The mussels are a signature example: cooked in pil pil (a Basque sauce), removed from their shells, and then the whole concoction is poured over a hunk of fluffy sourdough bread — a one-two punch where you pop the plump Maine mussels and then tear into the sauce-soaked bread underneath. (Note: you’ll need a fork and knife for this one.) The restaurant earned induction into the Eater Boston 38 this year." - Erika Adams
"Reservations are slightly easier to come by at this seafood-focused second act from the team behind perpetually booked-out Giulia just down the street. Set the tone for a fun night out by starting with an order of unicorn oysters topped with an icy tomato granita, and be sure to stick around for something sweet as pastry chef Renae Connolly is one of Boston’s top dessert talents." - Celina Colby