I marvelled at the transformation which Hardware Lane in downtown Melbourne had undergone in the past decade. From a grungy, dilapidated back-lane into a pleasant cafe-lined little thoroughfare, with trees and shrubs, nowadays. In the middle of this stretch of eateries is White Mojo, which would be my cafe of choice when I’m in the vicinity. And like most Melbourne cafes, they open pretty early (7am onwards on weekdays, 8am on Saturdays & Sundays) but close around 4pm/5pm.
Spicy chorizo, smoked belly bacon, lemon-and-ricotta green pea mash, homemade hash brown, tomato kasoundi, roasted mushroom & tomato on organic sourdough bread was more-ish. I’m quite intrigued by the widespread use of “kasoundi”, a Bengali condiment, in many cafes’ breakfast/brunch plates around Melbourne. Of course, the Oz version, with its tomato-ey red sauce , is far removed from the characteristic mustard-yellow of the “real” kasoundi.
We actually wanted to try this place on our visit to Melbourne, however… to those that visit, I do not suggest going on a holiday.
We arrived around 4:20 pm on Easter Sunday thinking we had just enough time to catch the store before they closed. We walked in and had one of the baristas tell us that the place was closed though there were a fair number of people still drinking coffee. A little puzzled, I pointed to the door where it says they close at 5 pm, asking if they had different holiday hours. The barista changed their tune to saying that they ran out of all ingredients to make coffee.
Well, I guess that’s that. A couple that came right as we were leaving received the response that the store was closed. Alas.
Honestly, I don’t think they ran out. They seemed eager just to close shop and go home especially when they changed subject from we’re closed to oh, we ran out of things.
Happens pretty frequently in Melbourne, I noticed. Their cafe culture is such that a vibrant part of the city suddenly turns into a ghost town by 5pm as most places do breakfast/lunch business only. I’m just amazed that they have good places which opens as early as 6am, but starts boarding up at 4pm.