HWKR, Melbourne by Rockstar

I will admit to often having food FOMO. Not wanting to miss out on the new restaurant or that dish that everyone is raving about. I’m pretty sure I should be more mature than that now... but I’m not! I was catching up with old friends and some of their associated cute little people and took a punt that we’d have more chance of getting into HWKR on a Sunday than a weekday.

HWKR, Melbourne, salted egg lobster and prawn noodles

Salted egg lobster and prawn noodles

I walked in and got a table for six without waiting. It’s a neat set up - modern and funky, neon and wood and pop. HWKR houses a number of restaurants which are all pop ups; and they rotate every 3 or 4 months. You can order via the app or by going to each stall and paying, via card only, to have the food delivered to your table.

HWKR, Melbourne, crackling pork belly bao kit

Ms F45 was starving and in need of food to prevent ongoing hanger so she went up and ordered her salted egg lobster and prawn noodles from Pinchy’s while we were waiting for our shared crackling pork belly bao kit.

The bao were soft and fluffy, the cucumber and pickled carrots tasty and the pork belly crispy.

Ms Black and Ms F45 noodles arrived and both exclaimed on the first bite about how salty the noodles were (see first pic). Ms Black left half of hers uneaten for that reason. I had a taste and my first bite was a little salty; I had another while waiting for my food and had to stop due to the salt intensity.

I ordered the Maine to Melbourne lobster roll - lobster with lemon mayonnaise, butter and chives on a toasted buttery roll. After a trip to the US last year I became obsessed by lobster rolls - hence my need to visit HWKR when I saw they had lobster rolls! This one came with a small side of fries which were crunchy and salty but this time it was salty in a good way! My lobster roll was fine though a little disappointing for $22. The buttery toasted roll was a lovely base, but there was a lack of generosity of lobster flesh and therefore the main taste was the toast rather than lobster.

Ms Green’s BBQ Asian eggplant from Khao by Rice Paper Scissors was described as being in a ‘rich, exotic rendang style burnt coconut sauce’. We all tried it and couldn’t figure out why we didn’t like it. Ms F45 thought it was the eggplant texture, I found the sauce had a soapy taste. The majority of the dish was left behind.

I so wanted to love HWKR and I’ve read so many positive reviews. I’m not sure if it was a bad day, or as a Melbournian we have such high expectations but it was a really disappointing meal. Thank goodness the company made up for it.