Lunch @ Hardware Sociéte, Melbourne

Greetings from Penang (Malaysia)! We're here on a very short weekend trip to attend my cousin's wedding, and I've already eaten some very delicious durian bought at a streetside stall. I haven't finished blogging about our Australia trip, but rest assured that I will write up about our current trip with lots of photos of delicious Malaysian food. In the meantime, here's our final eat in Melbourne:

After a morning of frantic packing, we checked out of our hotel in Melbourne (about 20 minutes later than the already extended check-out time) and managed to squeeze in a quick lunch at Hardware Sociéte before heading to the airport. This little eatery is currently sitting at the number 1 spot on Urbanspoon's list of Melbourne CBD restaurants, and is one of Melbourne's most blogged about restaurant. Lunch at Hardware Sociéte almost didn't happen because we arrived during the in-between period which was neither breakfast nor lunch, the kitchen was still busy churning out breakfast orders while preparing for the turnover to the lunch menu (we got the impression that the kitchen was pretty chaotic), and we were on a tight time constraint. However we stayed, and it worked out pretty well in the end. Hardware Sociéte is open only during the daylight hours, and is very popular for breakfast and brunch. We were there on a weekday, and it was already a very tight squeeze - I can't imagine how busy it is on weekends. We missed out on the breakfast menu by a few minutes, but the lunch options also looked pretty good. Service was pretty good considering how busy it was, but I got the impression that the chef is rather inflexible to requests. We'd ordered two items, and because of our tight schedule, we'd requested for each to arrive as they were ready rather than arriving at the same time - to which the waiter said that he could try asking but the chef wouldn't be happy. There's also a disclaimer at the bottom of the menu that said "Menu items cannot be changed. Food allergies - please let us know". However the food was pretty tasty and came out in good time, so we had little to complain about.

Busy little eatery:

The simple signage above the entryway that wasn't visible from the street unless you're standing right in front of the entrance:

Ocean trout with wild rice pilaf, hazelnuts and rocket aioli. The ocean trout was prepared well, fresh and juicy:

Quiche with swiss chard, broccoli, St. Agur cheese, rocket salad. This was also pretty good, and is a delicious way to eat vegetables:

The food was pretty good here, but nothing outstanding. It is worth a try if you happen to be in the vicinity. Hardware Sociéte
118-120 Hardware St
Melbourne, VIC 3000
Australia
Tel. +61 3 9078 5992