Pop Restaurant

Pop Restaurant
63 Hardware Lane, Melbourne

We trained and trammed into the city on spec in search of tapas. Tried Movida Aqui, but it was too busy. It looked very funky and Melinda and Mark gave that knowing look to each other that said “We’re coming back here”. A short walk up Little Bourke Street brought us to Hardware Lane. An institution in Melbourne that is incomparable to anything in Sydney. Perhaps a close comparison would be the restaurants opposite Gladstone Park in Balmain, but with just as many restaurants on the other side of the footpath.

There are spruikers at each establishment, ala Italian Forum, and we went for the old grey fella in front of Pop, where loads of laughter was emanating from upstairs, and there was the promise of tapas. There was a Melbourne Comedy Festival show on upstairs that had seating for about 30 people. These little shows are on in all sorts of venues throughout Melbourne. We didn’t see the show, but the clientele coming down the stairs about halfway through our meal, looked like they had a good time!

After the meal we wandered up Little Bourke St, through China Town and then over to the top of Bourke St where we indulged in coffee and dessert at Florentino Grossi, before training it home.

The eloquently titled tapas we selected were:-

Otway free range twice cooked pork belly with romesco - tender
Tortillas of potato manchego and green herbs with gribiche - bit bland
Croquettes of jamon and potato with wholegrain mustard - touch of nutmeg
Bitterballen of braised lamb shoulder with mushrooms and spec - tender and flavoursome with an interesting paprika sauce
Braised asparagus and baby leeks with goats milk fetta- we had to have some vegies
Oven roasted quail with lentils and sherry- typically fiddlely, but nice flavour
Jamon Iberico “Gran Reserva Josilito” with fresh bread cornichons- best selection, sweet Spanish prosciutto with a salty tang
Fries- average

Given the up-market title of the dishes, the price was quite reasonable and the service attentive, even if the Czech barman required a wink to get the next order while the waiters were trying to fit the upstairs patrons on to tables to eat.

Rating: 7/10

And then we moved on to Florentino Grossi for coffee and dessert. Melinda couldn’t forget her Italian experience and had to have a glass of Proseco, while coffees and hot chocolates were ordered along with tiramisu times 2 (to share) and Lauren had mango and chocolate gelato. They made room for us outside on the footpath along with all the other overflow diners. There was quite a nice atmosphere outside, and the service was excellent, so no one felt like 2nd class citizens. A very pleasant experience really, and the coffee and hot chocolates were great.

Rating: 7.5/10