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381 Footscray Road, Docklands
Phone 03 8602 0300
Today I finally managed to visit Costco Wholesale, the American chain of über-stores that sells everything under the sun at wholesale prices. Costco has really taken Melbourne by storm, as evidenced by the long line of cars waiting to enter its’ Docklands carpark every weekend. Lured by cheap prices and bulk quantities, more and more Melbournians have been forking over their $60 annual membership to access this bastion of consumerism. So, what were my impressions?
Firstly, I should point out that a valid membership is required for entry and compulsory for purchases. Members can bring in a maximum of two guests, who can freely browse but not buy. If the quota of two is exceeded, a guest pass can be obtained by filling in a form. Unfortunately, the counter where this takes place is also the one for returns, so it took Mel and I about 15 minutes in the queue to finally obtain a pass. Not a good start.
When we finally entered I was, quite frankly, amazed. The sheer scale of the place has to be seen to be believed. Yeah, it’s pretty big. There were aisle upon aisle of goods piled high on the rudimentary pallet shelving system which Costco say was one of the reasons why they can maintain low prices. Still, the brightly lit hangar-like space was not an unpleasant shopping experience, kind of like picking up your Ikea goods after visiting the showroom. The annoyance and danger actually came from fellow shoppers pushing around mega shopping trolleys.
The range of goods was huge: Optometry and eyewear, electronic goods like plasma TVs and iPods, office products, clothing, pet food, jewellery, toiletries, furniture and power tools. The food range was very extensive, everything from canned goods, fresh and frozen foods, meat, seafood, bread, fruits and vegetables. Seemingly, everything you’d want can be found under one roof, and in super sizes. It was like a juiced-up combination of Woolworths, Big W and Target.
I was impressed by some of the items: fresh trout and barramundi, Levi and Lucky Brand jeans, and a range of Chinese sauces. I do have some issues, though, about the Costco concept.
Was it really cheaper than elsewhere? In many cases it was, especially if you bought in bulk. For example, I saw a 1.5kg packet of Carmen’s bircher muesli for around $9, and we bought a 355ml bottle of Tabasco sauce for around $6. However, it’s still worthwhile to check the unit pricing. This is not helped by Costco’s slightly different unit pricing system. For example, the ever popular 60 rolls of toilet paper was unit priced at 100 sheets per roll, however, a roll has more than 100 sheets. This makes it difficult to compare with the unit price at other supermarkets, which are priced per roll. For interest, the bog rolls that we buy from Woolworths worked out cheaper than Costco, despite not coming in a pack of 60.
Another point is that it’s false economy to buy in bulk when you’re not really going to consume all of it and you end up throwing things out. Does one really need a 4.5kg block of toblerone or a frozen pizza that can only fit into a commercial oven? Food waste in Australia already runs into the billions each year and we don’t really need to add to it. Unfortunately, Costco is set up for impulse buying on an unprecedented scale.
Another disturbing thing was the amount of processed foods that’s available in bulk. Chips, chocolate snacks, biscuits, soft drinks, candy, processed canned meats, and more. With obesity already in epidemic proportions, the last thing we need is to encourage people to buy up big on junk treats.
Good planning (shopping lists, etc) will help to overcome some of the above issues, but it’s still challenging given that many items are in bulk. There are some bargains to be had, but the convenience has to be weighed up with driving to Costco, fighting through the carpark, and potential food wastage. Getting to the carpark itself was a trip: one had to queue to use the massive carpark elevator which fit about eight of the mega trolleys.
Costco has its place. For people with large families, it can result in a lot of savings. For people who plan well and are not enticed by impulse buying, there are bargains to be had. The range and produce are quite good, junk food not withstanding. However, for me, the best shopping concept remains the local markets like Queen Victoria. America has not really been a shining example of ethical consumerism or good health trends, so I hope that we don’t go down their path of consumerism without cost. The European trend of local fresh markets is still the one that appeals to me the most.
111 Kingsway, Glen Waverley (map)
Phone 03 9561 1388
Many eateries, such as Old Town Kopitiam, Blok M Express and Singapore Chom Chom, have all tried to evoke the memories of hawker fare back home by naming themselves after famous food districts and icons. Most of these do not live up to the standard of their namesakes, but they certainly bring out the feelings of nostalgia in so many of us. Petaling Street is another such eatery, named after the Chinatown district of Kuala Lumpur’s Jalan Petaling, famous as much for food as it is for pirated goods.
Petaling Street has two locations, one in Hawthorn and another in Glen Waverley. Both do not have counterfeit Rolex watches (that I know of), but hawker food is definitely the name of the game here. The Glen Waverley restaurant is situated on the busy Kingsway, a buzzy strip filled with shops, restaurants and cafes.
The interior of Petaling was bright and cheery, with cafe style seating and a neat mural of KL’s Petaling Street covering one side of the room. The menu lists well over a hundred items and covers the gamut of hawker classics. You are sure to find something you’ll like here. Prices were also reasonable; most of the hawker dishes were around $9 and serves were pretty massive.
Dad had the char kuey teow, which was a winner. Nicely balanced, it had a fantastic smokey charry flavour, with a good lick of chilli for measure. The dish also contained fat prawns and lap cheong (Chinese sausage).
I greatly enjoyed my mamak mee goreng. A squeeze of lemon added a nice tang to an otherwise well balanced dish, the fat egg noodles accompanied by generous chicken pieces and prawns.
Mellie’s nasi lemak special certainly looked the part, with sambal, egg, fried peanuts and ikan bilis. However, it lacked a certain oomph, with the rice nowhere near coconutty enough. The curry beef that came with the rice was quite nice though, with a surprising spicy kick. Mum had previously tried their Hainanese chicken rice and was similarly underwelmed. Perhaps their flavoured rice dishes are not the way to go.
Mum had the winner of the day with the seafood hor fun. No kidding, this was one of the best hor fun’s I’ve had – not too sweet or too gluggy from excess thickeners. As with the char kuey teow, it had serious wok hei (breath of the wok) that imparted a beautiful smokey taste to the rice noodles. The prawns, squid and other seafood were also nicely cooked.
Alas, we didn’t get any satay but we’ll definitely be back to try them, and other dishes. The quality of the hor fun and char kuey teow suggests that all their wok-fried dishes will be a winner. From other tables, the curry laksa also looked interesting. Maybe avoid the flavoured rice dishes, although their fried rice and plain rice dishes (with rendang for example) might still be OK.
The food was also very cheap – $40 for all of the above, plus one ice tea. Man I love suburban prices!
Sataybar
Cnr of Flinders Lane & Custom House Lane (map)
Phone 03 9629 1466
Satay Stix
Now closed
On one of our days off last year, we decided to do a satay challenge for lunch. We wanted to know if we can find authentic, cheap and tasty satay in Melbourne CBD. Firstly, I have to say that I really hate how South East Asian hawker foods are so damn pricey here. I mean, a satay stick costs a few cents in Singapore, but here it’s a few dollars! I know that there are differences in labour costs, rents, etc.. but I think part of the issue is that hawker dishes are served as a restaurant food, whereas in SE Asia, it’s just street meat. If someone would just set up a satay cart instead of serving it in fancy surroundings, the price might go down. The public should also refuse to pay exhorbitant prices for street food! OK rant over.
We hit up two places that specialised in satay – Satay Stix and Satay Bar. Note that Satay Stix has since closed (let this be a lesson not to leave posts sitting around for too long), however, they did indicate that they might reopen in the near future. So whose satay reigns supreme?
The satay at Stix looked the business. The trimmings were all there: raw onion, cucumber and (shock horror) ketupat! These compressed rice treats are an essential accompaniment but virtually no restaurant in Melbourne serves them with their satay. We were very excited to see them, and they were quite tasty. The sauce at Stix was also very good – peanutty, smokey and with a great spicy kick. The let down was actually the meat on the skewers. The portions were a bit too big (satay is meant to be petite portions of meat) such that they resembled kebabs, however, the marinade was not too bad. The satays were around $2 a stick.
The next place, Satay Bar, is a slick cafe-style set up that’s still in operation and catering mostly to the weekday business lunch crowd. For $10.60, you get a satay pack that includes 3 skewers, 3 sides and sauce, with sides including chopped salad and crackers. Instead of ketupat, you get steam rice in the pack. Unfortunately, we found this satay to be a let down. Firstly, the sauce has been doused all over the satay, as you can see in the pic. This would not have been a problem had the sauce been better. Instead, it was like eating liquified peanut butter. It was far too rich, thick and cloying for our liking, and we ended up scraping most of it off. Which is too bad, because the rest of the pack was OK. The meat was quite nice and better proportioned than Satay Stix, and the salad was crisp and fresh. I don’t get the crackers though. It must be an Indonesian or Malaysian thing, because I’ve not come across this in Singapore. If someone can verify, that would be great.
So which is the superior satay? Really, both had shortcomings but in this comparison we must give it to Satay Stix. Although the proportions were all wrong, it was very tasty, the sauce was kickass and it had the added bonus of ketupat! Pity that it’s now closed, as it had potential. Satay Bar’s sauce was just too thick, rich and peanut butter-esque. Maybe this appeals to their clientele, but I thought that it really wasn’t proper satay sauce.
Oh well, the search continues. We have since tried Old Town Kopitiam Mamak’s satay and it was quite good (no ketupat though) and I’ve heard good things about Jack’s Satay Bar. Does anyone have any good satay recommendations?
97 Main Rd, Hepburn Springs (map)
Phone 03 5348 2221
Chowder always reminds me of The Simpsons episode where Mayor Quimby’s nephew, Freddy Quimby, ridicules a French waiter over the pronunciation of this soupy classic. ”Say it Frenchy! Say Chow-dah,” Freddy would mock in a high pitch JFK parody, to which the waiter would defiantly reply ”Chaudière”. Pandemonium subsequently ensued.
However you pronounce it, I have always wanted to try this dish. I got my wish, not on the east coast of America, but in the spa capital of Victoria (Hepburn Springs) at the popular Chowder House.
The name of this diner proclaims its speciality as loudly as the decor of its kitsch interior, which is a mish mash of retro 50’s vinyl chairs, tablecloths and paraphenalia. There’s even a vintage ladies hairdryer (one of them conical ones on a stand) in the loos. The main attraction, however, were the charming staff and owners, one of whom was reading out the newspaper quiz as we walked in, with diners calling out the answers.
The menu consists of seven or so chowder (natch), plus brekkie dishes like pancakes and Frenchies (toast, not waiters), as well as muffins and cakes.
We opted for pescatorial chowders in the form of smoked cod and the New England classic of clams. Just look at this bad boy! A rich, creamy yet light broth came laden with chunks of cod so smokey, we felt like we had just left a BBQ stoked by a forest of hickory. Mellie actually found it a tad too smokey to finish it all.
We ordered side serves of the most delectable corn bread - a slight crunch on the outside and moist and corny on the inside. I know that this term has been poo-poo’d by many blogger/tweets but feck it – it was TO DIE FOR!
I channelled my inner Kennedy with the extremely tasty clam chowder. The soup base was a little less rich than Mel’s and it was chock full of little sweet pippi-like clams. It was seriously a Soup Nazi moment for me, a broth so tasty you had to sit down to eat it.
The servings were so huge that we didn’t quite finish everything, for which we were good naturedly chided by the owners. In reply, we lamented that the serves were so big that we now couldn’t fit in one of their passionfruit fairy cakes. Imagine our surprise when, after we had paid and were leaving, one of the owners gave us a free fairy cake to take away! Money just can’t buy the happy and friendly vibe coming from this diner.
Alas, we drove by the next day and noticed that Chowder House has a Business For Sale sign on the door  We were somewhat saddened, yet hopeful that the new owners (whoever they may be), continue the legacy of serving top broth in spa country. Less hopeful are we about replicating the charm of the staff and owners, who will prove a hard act to follow.
Level 1, 206 Bourke Street, Melbourne (map)
Phone 03 9663 0005
The new complex at 206 Bourke Street, billed as an “Asian dining, retail and entertainment hub” has so far failed to impress in culinary terms. When I first read about the multi-million dollar redevelopment of the former Village City Centre, I was excited at the potential reinvigoration of a Chinatown dining scene that has, in parts, fallen into such mediocrity that restaurants rely on street touts to lure in customers. Amongst 206’s star recruits are Dynasty, a 600-seater Cantonese and dim sum specialist based at Shanghai’s Renaissance Yangtze Hotel; a high end Japanese restaurant called Opulent; and Nan Xing Steam Bun, another yum cha specialist. All of these restaurants are yet to open. The existing tenant, John So’s Dragon Boat, has reopened, having been renovated and expanded over two floors. You can see why I’d be excited.
After lacklustre dim sum at the restaurant of John So (he’s no longer my bro), we decided to have dinner at 206’s other new restaurant, The Bund. Named after Shanghai’s famous quay, the Bund specialises in Shanghainese cuisine, with influences from Zhejiang, a province known for dishes like Dongpo rou (Fried pork belly stewed in soy sauce and wine), Jiaohua ji (beggar’s chicken) and Xi Hu cu yu (West Lake sweet and sour fish). It is also the region where the famous Dragon Well green tea originated.
The alarm bells should have been ringing after the spin campaign touted ”affordable luxury with 5 star chefs from Shanghai’s Shangri-la Pudong Hotel” who will ”bring the amazing taste of Shanghai to Melbourne’s doorstep and present it in one of the most opulent settings the city has seen”. The opulence obviously includes “two five-tonne shark tanks”, the purpose of which caused me some confusion when I first read it: were live sharks’ fins going to be offered? The sales pitch continued on their Facebook page, which offered daily free glasses of wine and “buy one cocktail get one free” deals.
The Bund is located on Level 1 of the 206 complex. Led up the escalator by one of the two friendly touts at street level, we arrived at a pleasant and modern dining room dominated by a large marbled bar smack bang in the middle. Starched table cloths and funky light features lent to the opulent aspirations although this was somewhat cheapened by A4 paper plastered all over the front windows which advertised the specials. The entrance also had a design quirk in that it didn’t have a partition or front greeting area, so that the table closest to it feels as if it’s halfway out the door! (Luckily that was not our table).
The sales puffery started to dissipate once we were seated: the shark tanks turned out to be a colourful aquarium behind the bar – nice but nary a shark in sight – and we were not offered any free drinks, with wine glasses quickly whisked away after we asked for water. Perhaps they should have made it clear what the conditions of the offer were?
Now to the food: the menu was divided into various sections for seafood, meat etc. However, descriptions were scant, with the provincial origin of dishes often not stated.
 Drunken Chicken  Shanghai smoked fish  Xiao Long Bao We started with entrees of Shanghai smoked fish, drunken chicken and six Xiao Long Bao (soupy pork dumplings). The smoked fish was tasty though nothing exceptional. The XLBs were also nice, with a good broth inside each dumpling, however, the skin was a tad too thick and certainly not a patch on Hu Tong. The poached drunken chicken had great flavour and was very tender indeed. However, it was marred by the bright red bone attached to most pieces. I know that the cooking technique calls for the bone to remain rare, but it’s off-putting to cop shards of bloodied bone whilst eating and for one’s plate to pool with red liquid. Perhaps the chicken could have been deboned or presented differently?
 Spinach cooked with salted and century egg  Dragon Well Tea prawns  "Grandma's" braised pork belly Our mains arrived in extremely quick succession, almost without a break from our entrees. We shared spinach cooked with salted and century egg, Dragon Well Tea prawns, “Grandma’s” braised pork belly, and seafood fried noodles. The spinach, which turned out to be snow pea shoots, was the dish that was probably the pick of the bunch (pun intended). Swimming in a nice soupy gravy, it was tasty though the century egg lacked a bit of flavour. The prawns were very bland, with a complete absence of any tea flavour. Instead, Mellie noted an unpleasant aftertaste which suggested that the prawns might not have been very fresh. The fatty pork belly was OK, though it was too sweet and cut a little too thickly for our liking.
 Seafood noodles After instantaneous serving of our mains, the fried noodles took an eternity to arrive. We had to ask about it twice. When it finally arrived, it was disappointingly not worth the wait, as it was the stinker of the night. Completely lacking in wok hei charriness, the noodles were soggy rather than crispy, with a tasteless brothy sauce containing some bland seafood, particularly the rubbery calamari. Terrible.
Service was friendly but a little lacking in areas. We were not offered spoons with the XLBs or the noodles and had to ask for these. Plates with piles of chicken bones were also not cleared promptly.
I realise that The Bund is newly opened and every restaurant has teething problems. I do hope they sort these out, but our dinner was very disappointing. It’s all fine to have a great fit-out but it has to be matched to good food and intuitive service. Additionally, the ugly side of social media of the kind that’s been perpetuated by the complex must be backed up by substance. You can fool tourists but food-savvy locals will be turned away if things are not up to scratch. I will continue to try the other new restaurants at 206 as they open, as I believe in giving eateries a fair go, but I now do so with trepidation given our two experiences so far.
As we left the complex, The Bund’s touts, obviously having forgotten who we were, asked if we wanted to try some Chinese food. No thanks.
392 Bridge Road, Richmond (map)
Phone 03 9421 1661
Despite many visits, I’m surprised that I haven’t written about the venerable Momotaro Rahmen until now. It’s the place that probably kicked it off for specialty ramen joints in Melbourne, boasting hand-made noodles and authentic flavour. As I am ever on the quest to find the best ramen in Australia, it would have been remiss not to include Momotaro on the list. So we decided to check it out one afternoon after an intense ramen craving brought on by a viewing of Chef of the South Pole and Jeroxie’s tweets about going to Momotaro the night before.
Located on a street best known for cheap fashion rather than noodles, Momotaro is a small cafe that can be a bit hard to spot from the road (just look out for the awning in Mandarina Duck yellow). Not quite the greasey spoon vibe of some of Japan’s ramenya’s, it’s a neat little space with cafe -style tables and chairs indoors and out; you can also perch on a benchtop next to the window.
The menu is of course geared towards ramen, and selections include shoyu (soya sauce), shio (salt), miso and tonkotsu (pork) broths, with toppings of either charshu (pork), seafood (my Dad’s favourite), wakame (seaweed), and yasai (vegetables). Prices are very reasonable but be warned: servings are HUGE. They also do other fare like gyoza and rice dishes, but trust me: stick with the ramen.
I almost always go for the shoyu ramen wih extra charshu, and this time was no exception  This beast of a bowl came chock full of beautifully tender charshu pork slices, dried seaweed, half a hard boil egg and plenty of veg including corn, mushroom, and spring onion. It’s certainly not the usual shoyu ramen, but the broth has wonderful depth of flavour and the hand-made noodles were very tasty and eminently slurppable. It certainly satisfied my ramen craving!
Mellie had the veg yasai ramen, which was similar to mine but with no meat and the addition of more greens like carrot and broccoli, all in a light flavoursome vegetable broth. Vegetarians should rejoice in this one, and it’s pleasing to know that a ramen joint has such a fantastic meat-free option, as normally the chances of finding such an option in a similar noodle place is, let me see, zero.
We also tried the veggie gyoza. They were filled with garlicky chives and were OK, but I much prefer the pork version.
So, is this the best ramen in Melbourne? It is certainly an extremely good bowl of noodles but, if compared with the ones served in Japan, it’s sadly not the same. But, I can categorically say that it’s probably the healthiest bowl of ramen in Melbourne, and one of the best value. And the regular Japanese patrons don’t seem to mind that it’ s not 100% like in Japan. Highly recommended!
159 Spring Street, Melbourne
Phone 03 9654 6657
One of my absolute favourite spots for a bit of refined CBD lunching would have to be City Wine Shop. It ticks all my boxes; superb service (with a smile), a kickarse wine list (but of course!), an interesting and ever changing menu, and food that will leave you swooning. It also holds one of the best outlooks on Spring Street, especially if you’ve scored a spot in the portico.
We decided to tackle two of the specials of the day, Dan going with pan roasted fish and shellfish with baby veg and gazpacho ($21.50). Just looking at this photo makes me want to grab a hunk of bread and dig in! All the seafood elements were perfectly pan grilled, and underneath, little cherry tomatoes, baby potatoes and jerusalem artichokes sat in a cool pool of tomato broth. The crunchy garlic shards on top were a great contrast.
I on the other hand could not resist the allure of the chicken schnitzel with Italian coleslaw ($24), a plump crumbed juicy breast, still on the bone, with a lemony coleslaw of fennel, sweet red onion, cabbage, parsley and capers. The crumb too had a bit of herb, I’m thinking parsley, and a little parmesan.
For dessert, we decided to share in the ricotta and lemon cheesecake with strawberry salad ($12.50), a perfect little puck of creamy lemon infused ricotta, a dollop of double cream spiked with dehydrated strawberry shards to garnish. The strawberry salad on the side had been macerated with mint, which added another level of refreshment.
Danny and I are really enjoying diving into the cookbooks for Meat Free Monday options, and this recipe, though originally made with bacon, caught our eye from the Bills Sydney Food cookbook. It was Dan’s turn to cook tonight (we usually take it in turns), and this is an absolute corker of a dish. I just loved the sweet nobby corn kernels and the hint of spring onion and herbs, the slow roast tomatoes and the lime/salt/pepper spiked avocado. It also wasn’t too heavy, and makes a superb light supper or brunch.
Ingredients
1 cup plain four
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp paprika
1 tablespoon sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 cups fresh corn kernels, cut from the cob
1/2 cup diced red capsicum
1/2 cup sliced spring onions
1/4 chopped coriander and parsley
4 tbs olive oil
4 roma tomatoes
Method
Firstly, get the tomatoes cooking. Cut about 4 tomatoes in half and place on a baking tray, cut side up, and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Season well with sea salt and cracked black pepper, then roast in a moderate oven (180 degree Celcius) for approximately 40 minutes.
Then turn your attention to the fritters.
Sift flour, baking powder, salt and paprika into a large bowl. Stir in sugar and make a well in the centre. In a separate bowl, combine eggs and milk. Gradually add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and whisk to a smooth batter.
Place corn, capsicum, spring onions and herbs into the batter and mix well.
Heat some olive oil in a non-stick fry pan on medium heat, then drop in two tablespoons of batter per fritter, spreading the mixture out slightly into a round shape. Cook for about two minutes, or until nice and golden brown, and flip for a further minute or so. Transfer to a plate to keep warm while you cook off the rest of the batter.
To serve, place one fritter on the plate and top with a bit of salad greens, the slow roast tomatoes and the sliced avocado. Finish with a second fritter and some more greenery (if you like) for garnish.
Serves 4
Obviously as there are only two of us, the leftovers will make an awesome lunch the next day. Can’t wait to eat it!
120 Hardware St, Melbourne
Phone 03 9078 5992
Okay…I don’t want to get all gushy again and fawn over places I fall in love with, but dang, it’s hard not to fall in love and fawn all over Hardware Societe.
Many of you may remember a post I did on a fabulous lil’ cafe called Beetroot a few years ago. At the time, it was run by Di and her husband Will, and was pumping out seasonal breakfasts and lunches, and the most decadent fairy floss topped hot chocolates. In 2007, after five years at the coalface, they decided it was time to move on, and sold the business to return to the 9 to 5.
But they obviously couldn’t keep away from their love of food or the laneway, and have returned with their take on the cuisines of France and Spain, inspired by their travels and cultural heritage. We’re talking just honest-to-goodness bistro-type fare, awesome produce and spectacular attention to detail. At present they are only open Monday to Friday, for breakfast and lunch, but please, please, please, open soon for dinner so I can languish with a glass of wine and some tapa! Fingers crossed this becomes a reality in the New Year.
And Di – I must confess my admiration that you remembered our coffee order after two years away from the business! We were WAY impressed. As you can see, the delectable Coffee Supreme is their coffee of choice, and I absolutely adore those retro looking cups. The minature doughnuts on the side, spiked with a hint of annisete, was the perfect accompaniment.
Now excuse the continuity of this post, as I’ll be talking about the food from a few different visits, as is my want.
To kick off a lazy lunch, one excellent place to start would be the tapa. From the back we had little bowls of potted mussels (buttery and tender), the most delectable sardines and green olives. Now I must confess I am not a big sardine fan, but I have been turned by these ones. In fact, I initially thought they were mackeral! Yum! Then to the front, there were some slices of chorizo, tortilla de patatas, caper berries, smoked almonds, roasted peppers, manchego cheese with a beautiful dulce de membrillo to offset the salty with sweet, slivers of jamon and then, oh yes, some delectable croquetas de bacalao (salted cod croquettes).
The tortilla de patatas gave me one of those food memory jolts, of my Italian grandma making patate fritte in her old black cast iron pan; basically thin slices of potato cooked in a ridiculous amount of oil. It is like the confit of the potato world, and this tortilla reminded me of that delicious flavour. I confessed to Di how wonderful it tasted, and she confessed how much oil she used to make it
The paella mixta is also a triumph, a family recipe from Will’s Spanish grandmother. The saffrony rice is studded with little chicken wingettes, mussels, calamares, prawns, roasted peppers, olives and peas to name just a few. The garnish of lemon, when relieved of it’s acidic juices, just totally lifted the dish. Seriously, this is one damn fine paella. It absolutely leaves mine for dead.
As mentioned above, I just love detail. Look at those lovely fresh tulips. I also love the mobile herb shelf, which is wheeled outside to get a bit of sun during the day, and wheeled back in for protection during the cool of the night. It is nice to see a bit of greenery in Hardware St.
They usually have one or two specials on a day, and this was the salad of asparagus, potato, jerusalem artichoke, slow roast tomatoes, rocket, chickpeas and pan fried chorizo. The chorizo had unleashed a few of it’s tasty fatty paprika juices, which added to the lovely lemony dressing.
They also do a mouth watering selection of baguettes, and for lunch EG had the thinly sliced pork rillette with brandied apples. As you can see, the crunchy bread is from one of my favourite bakeries, Noisette.
They also do breakfasts, and on this occasion I went the brioche french toast with chestnut puree and marscapone cheese. All I’ll say is that it’s a helluva moreish combination.
Now one might think that macarons are “the new cupcakes” by their sudden popularity in Melbourne, but let me just say there are macarons, and there are macarons. I feel like I’m eating cardboard when I bite into those lacklustre ones at Lindt. But these lil’ chewy jewels are frankly, to die for. They might not be the most perfect looking (especially in the eyes of some purists), but they are some of the best tasting ones in Melbourne. Above are the nutty pistachio and awesome lemon curd, bright as a daffodil.
On another visit, I also couldn’t resist the blueberry and strawberry ones. EG and I have come to an agreement of sharing our macarons, so we can delight in both flavours whilst not over indulging (well, too much anyway!).
Anyway, one of the nice things about Hardware Societe, is that they have a lovely rotating specials menu, which might one day be garlicky escargot, or another day, a steak. I love this attention to keeping things fresh on the menu, seasonality, or to what’s looking best at the market on any given day. It makes me want to go back for more.
I just wish it were closer to my work so I could do exactly that!
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