The Hardware Sociéte: What to eat?!

Restaurant: The Hardware Sociéte

Location: 120 Hardware Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000

After arriving late Friday night, our “first” official meal was going to be the neat little café which everyone talks about … the café in which everyone doesn’t just recommend but states, you just have to go to Hardware Societe.

While waiting, we didn’t even have to look at the menu to decide what we wanted, watching the food being served alone we had an idea of what we would order. That was until we spot another plate walking out, our order changed…

Cloudy Lemonade $10
Pot of green tea (for one) $4.50

Sitting in the cosy little café on the communal table, we came to our final decision. Feli had wanted scrambled eggs, so it just a choice of which she would have. The food came out so fast; we see how they manage to turn their tables so fast despite the massive queue.

Scrambled eggs with morton bay bug meat, zucchini & preserved lemon tortilla, aioli $19.00

The scrambled eggs were really lovely, cooked to perfection. It was light and fluffy.

Candice and I both wanted the poached eggs and baked eggs, so we came to conclusion to share.

Baked Eggs with chorizo sausage, piquillo pimento sauce, crunchy almonds, queso de cabra goats milk cheese $17.00

So … I know this may come as a surprise, but … it was my first time trying baked eggs, and I have always wanted to try. So, no better place to try baked eggs then … HARDWARE SOCIETE. OMG … just omg! I love it; the melted cheese, and the hidden chorizos’ with an egg-y goodness. Even towards the end, the melted cheese was being as we all like it, stringy!!

Poached Eggs Deux with salmon tartare, watermelon gazpacho, crushed avocado $20.00

I don’t know why, but I didn’t seem to have much of an expectation of the poached eggs, perhaps I secretly wanted the baked eggs a fraction more.  However, once it arrived I couldn’t wait to dig in (which of course being foodies is never the case).  The egg was cooked to perfection; the yolk was runny once our knife cut into it.  The avocado and salmon tartare was just sitting there teasing me “Eat more, eat more!” scraping up the tomato based sauce as well, just made me listen to my mental mind of talking tartare!

Overall, I do not only recommend this place when you visit Melbourne, but simply state “you must go to Hardware Societe regardless of a queue or not.” I mean; that’s what we had experienced and was definitely not disappointed.

Have you ever been recommended to a place and walked out disappointed?

Until next time,

- Cass x