My mum came visiting a short while ago and A, a friend of mine, had suggested visiting Hardware Lane to try out one of their restaurants. Apparently, Melbourne is known for  its laneways and Hardware Lane is one of them. (Chubbydija: we’ve been here for almost two years and we’re still discovering new things!)

Anyway, after a day at the Sustainable Living Festival, we headed to Hardware Lane to have dinner. After almost missing our way (no thanks to Google Maps), we finally arrived at our destination. The lane is flanked by restaurants and by the time we got there, diners were already munching away. As we walked down the path, restaurant hosts began to proposition us. We weren’t convinced by the host of the first restaurant, so we continued to the next.

The host at Grill Steak Seafood was able to convince my mum and we got a place to sit outside. (A little trivia: They claim to be the oldest on the lane. It’s also a very big restaurant that spans at least three plots or something.) It wasn’t very warm, weather-wise, however they turned on the heater for us. I was in the mood for seafood, which the menu had in abundance. Unfortunately, a lot of it was made with a variety of wine. I settled on the garlic prawns as it wasn’t made with wine. Turns out it was but the waiter told me he would instruct the chef to make them without. My mum got the seafood risotto. We also got the garlic bread to start with and they gave us bruschetta on the house.

The garlic bread and bruschetta arrived first. First off, I just have to say that Il Cantuccio has set the bar for bruschetta in my life. Their bruschetta is what I will measure other bruschettas by and Grill Steak Seafood’s bruschetta paled in comparison. It was fresh though. The cheese helped a bit to make it taste nicer, but Il Cantuccio wins. For those ‘in the know’, does bruschetta usually come with cheese? The garlic bread was nice and fluffy; it wasn’t overly garlicky in taste and had more butter. No complaints here.

When my prawns came, I was a bit taken aback as they didn’t come with a side dish. It was a good thing that we still had the garlic bread, otherwise it would have been boring to eat alone. The prawns were also quite spicy. Once again, I couldn’t really taste the garlic in the prawns. It is also worth noting that before I placed my order, I had asked how many pieces I would get for a medium portion (AU$ 18) and a large portion (AU$ 28). The waiter said it would be 5 and 10 pieces respectively. Clearly, the large portion made more sense.

I had a bit of the risotto which needed salt to taste better. It wasn’t a bad dish though.

Would I return? I would prefer to sample the other restaurants that Hardware Lane has to offer. And for my muslim brothers and sisters out there, this restaurant is halal certified. Of course, I would advise you to  confirm again if you decide to dine there.

I won’t leave you guys alone with this deliciousness and not at least provide a recipe. This one is for creamy garlic prawns appears to be simple! Happy cooking!

Grill Steak Seafood is located at 66 Hardware Ln, Melbourne VIC 3000.