The Hardware Societe

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 The 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 The 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!