The Hardware Societe - (Melbourne)

  I was acutely aware of the constantly high ranking of this Café on Urban Spoon,  although I was only starting to become aware of Urban Spoon in 2011,  which might be a bit late by everyone’s standard because I was more of a eatability.com.au person back in the days   -  as a blogger who is not really a blogger but constantly out of sync with reality due to the lack of spare time to write properly  (I do have a private and working life as a priority mind you).    That’s unless I am writing an article for a magazine once in a blue moon and when I do actually proof-read and try to write as maturely as an adult.    I often use my personal space to express what I really feel deep-under but may be sometimes I become a little evil and whinge just a little bit too much!    I write on my blogggg only for the sake of having fun rather than becoming all pushy and trying to be the ultimate food snob blah,  which is totally uncool..   However it might seem unfair to the shop nevertheless,  I personally thought that this shop was slightly too hyped up to live up to expectations.   I thought it was enjoyable yes,  but in my mind there were a few shops which were better than here and deserved equal if not more praise than the rating suggests.   *This is not to mention our suspicions that someone is illegally trying to jack up the ratings online, to generate more noise and therefore turnover behind the background,  which is not totally implausible.

 

 

There is a Queue here -
Truth be told,  the quality of this Café is good in general. 
However I think I expected more in the end,  as I had already locked in my favourites in town…

 

Display Fridge -

 

Menu is Average,  by 2011 Melbourne Café standards -
Still interesting, but predictable..  Although this is in my opinion only!

 

 

 

Cidre Au Manoir du Kinkiz -  $7.5
From Southern Brittany in France,  this was a less farmhouse like cider than I’d imagined.  Which is a positive thing for the 1st drink in the morning!   

 

Cocotte Eggs, Crab Meat, Salmon Pearls, Spinach, Crème Fraiche, Lemon -  $17
Cocotte was spelt incorrectly as Cocette here on the menu.  Look, let’s not be anal about spell checking because I carry a lot of typos too until I bother checking,  although I don’t receive any profits from my blogging either.   But when this arrived,  this looked anything but like a French Cocotte but more like a Spanish Cazuela dish.   Call me being particular about details,  but after 2 separate false starts I was beginning to suspect whether they do care about sticking to their philosophy or recipe.  This is not helped by something else I noticed afterwards.    Back to the dish?   The egg was cooked well and the crème fraiche was a little too watery.   The crab meat was sweet and worked with the spinach well.  The bread with olive oil was the highlight,  surprisingly.  I liked this dish’s taste,  bar the wateriness,  but the question keeps coming back to my mind as to how much they did even bother to adhere to their intended recipe and presentation and consistency  ~  7/10

 

 

 

Cappuccino  (Blend by Padre Coffee) -
The coffee is the same as the 1 out of 3 House Blends offered at The League of Honest Coffee, but here it was more caramelly rounded instead of imposing or making a statement.    Coffee quality was good but not totally exceptional I guess.  But could drink this all day!  ~  7/10

 

 

 

Arrrgh…
Remember I mentioned above,  the spelling typos,  and questioned whether they do vehemently stick to their recipes and abide by them!    The look of these Caneles convinced me finally -  look how out of shape they look and totally wrong…   These are probably the worst caneles I’ve seen in my whole life and shouldn’t even be presented to the customer.   A carefully QC’ed kitchen even from a café would never have let these out for sale.    My Egg Cocotte dish above might have been tasty,   but just like the caneles,  it was presented hastily without much thoughts or quality control,  or paying enough respect to the customer.   

 

 

 

 

Price: AUD $25
Coffee:  ♕♕♕♕
Food:  ♕♕♕ 1/2

Opening Hours -
Mon to Fri: 7:30 am - 3:00 pm  (Operating Hours are a bit early)
Sat: 8:30 am - 2:00 pm

Address:  120 Hardware Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
Ph: (03) 9078 5992