Pop Restaurant, Melbourne (Australia) - Review

68 Hardware Lane,
Melbourne VIC 3000
PH: (03) 9642 1341

Opening Times:
Monday - Saturday 12 pm - 11 pm
Sunday 3 pm - 11 pm

Website: poprestaurant.com.au/ 

Pop restaurant is located down Hardware Lane neatly tucked away in the busy Melbourne City centre. Hardware lane is literally packed with gorgeous restaurants. When you arrive during dinner hour you will find that every restaurant owner is trying very hard to persuade you to come in. They will offer you free rounds of wine, appetisers and god know what else, anything so they can get their hands on your hard earned dollars. 

One waiter thought that the group of people behind us was with us and offered 2 bottles of wine for free. When I told him that it was just me and my girlfriend he quickly downgraded our free round to just two glasses of wine and a small appetiser with a very stingy amount of salami and olives. Nevertheless it was FREE.

Down to the food then - we ordered Barramundi Fillet for 29.50$, which according to their menu is a pan seared fillet served with sautéed potatoes and onions together in lemon beurre blanc sauce. We also ordered Ocean Trout for 28$, which is salmon with with carrot puree, rocket salad, and roasted chat potatoes. By this time the hunger is making me lose my mind and I order a bottle of house red.

The waiter that served us was nice but also not pretentious like you find in most poncy places (ahem Southbank...). When we asked if we could smoke at our outdoor table he quickly said I CAN'T smoke but YOU can.

I have to say the Barramundi was the best fish I have ever tasted. It was prepared exquisitely that not a single drop of delicious juice was lost. It simply melted in my mouth and with each bite I was taken to another place, a place somewhere up in the clouds. With this dish you want to prolong the taste for as long as you possibly can so I took my utter most time chewing. By this time I was happily drunk and slightly dazed from the cigarette smoke, and this food was the perfect icing on the cake. 

The salmon was also great but in my opinion as much as my girlfriend would like to disagree was a tad dry than it should have been. Call me fussy or anal or whatever... I think the salmon lost a lot of its juicy goodness in the kitchen. If you have not tried salmon many times before though you might feel different. 

This place has everything; chilled and not too poncy atmosphere, excellent service, and mouth watering food. My only complaint on the day would be that I did not eat enough...

Quality of Food: 9/10 stars
Quality of Services: 8/10 stars
Atmosphere and Presentation: 8/10 stars
Value for money: 5.0/10 stars

Average rating: 7.5/10 stars