7/10
30 Hardware Lane, Melbourne
La Belle Miette is a very simple and small shop, serving only macaroons and coffee, tea and lemonade. The shop itself obviously attempts to invoke an elegant Parisian store, and it is a nice addition to the sometimes tacky establishments that line Hardware Lane. La Belle Miette uses a simple formula that is winning many fans, and you only have to visit at around lunch time to see how popular the tiny store has become.
And herein lies part of the problem, as on many occasions recently I have popped in for a mid-morning or afternoon macaroon fix, only to wait in an incredibly slow moving queue, eventually giving up in frustration and returning to the office minus my sugar fix. The shop is so small that it can only fit two staff behind the counter (and that is probably pushing it) meaning that if there is a crowd, service can be slow. Last time I attempted a macaroon run, one staff member was busy making coffees and the other was stuck serving an incredibly finicky woman who was buying about 7,000 macaroons and constantly changing her mind about which flavours she wanted. It went something like, ‘I’ll have 17 pistachio … no wait … make that 15 pistachio and 13 lemon blossom and sake … no wait …’. It was painful to say the least and I left frustrated and empty handed.
BUT if you do manage to visit at a quieter time and snag yourself one of their macaroons ($2.50 each, unless you opt for the Cocoa Single Origin Venezuelan Chocolate, which is $2.80), you won’t be disappointed. The macaroons themselves are tight little packages of loveliness, and I have sampled the rose, violent, raspberry and caramel to name just a few.
The flavours seem to change on a regular basis, but the quality of the macaroon itself remains the same. That said, the macaroons are not the best you will get in the world, or even Melbourne for that matter. The macaroons at Hardware Society, not far down the road, pack far more of a flavour punch and come in a more generous size. Of course, at Hardware Society you can’t get the lovely little boxes that La Belle Miette can provide. A box of La Belle Miette macaroons would delight any self respecting grandparent.
Only time will tell if the macaroon craze will last or fade away into obscurity, but La Belle Miette is a welcome new addition to the Melbourne CBD.
