Aspro Ble

It was closed. Said it would reopen for «exiting changes» in first week of February but there are no signs of life or any changes. In fact there’s tons of mail sitting inside the doorway. Don’t bother with the place.

Melbourne is known for it’s great Greek cuisine. Aspro Ble delivers in spades. What a great place to come on a balmy Melbourne night for a romantic evening. Or anytime. Surely one of the best Greek restaurants in Melbourne. Greek cuisine and ambience at its finest.
Aspro Ble is still a fairly new restaurant but it gets rave reviews from the punters. The place hums with laughter, groups enjoying themselves, and the romantics like us. Hardware Lane itself is a great precinct. As we dined, across the Lane was a jazz group playing away, adding to the ambience.
Surprisingly, the owner doubles as a waiter. He adds the X factor to a great night. He recommended dishes and chatted about all sorts of things — surmised he is charming and extremely passionate! Loved how he recommended a special Heathcote Shiraz not on the wine list. And he told us of his wonderful years in the restaurant industry.
Having experienced some excellent Greek food in the past, we were harsh critics. But everything at Aspro Ble was high standard and enjoyable. The prawn and calamari dumplings were extraordinary! The haloumi with olive tapenade was a great combination! The four hour slow cooked lamb was exquisite and perfectly cooked lamb! Melt in your mouth! As for the moussaka it was amazing — cooked in a pot. The side dishes went perfectly with the mains. The beetroot and walnut salad was incredible as were the roasted potatoes…
The ambience of this place is great as part of the Hardware Lane scene. One of my favourite restaurants in Melbourne!

This is among my favourite places to eat in Melbourne.
Seriously (seriously!) delicious food, friendly staff, surprisingly decent prices. And also surprisingly unpretentious for it’s Hardware Lane location.
Personal favourites:
Baked cheese — guilty pleasure
Calamari and prawn dumplings — another guilty pleasure
Stuffed red pepper — great vegetarian option and something to make you feel better about aforementioned guilty pleasures
Home made baclava — make sure you save room for this!!!
The beet salad also seems to be quite popular but I find it a bit much for one person. I would get it to share. Actually I would probably suggesting sharing most of the things on the menu (though the red pepper is a bit tough to split).
I always end up ordering too much at this place, so I would suggest ordering less than you think you’ll want, as the portions are quite generous.

I like a business on Hardware Lane that doesn’t scream for your attention. Aspro Ble is a quiet, unassuming Greek restaurant on the edge of Hardware Lane that has no need to hustle business. The food will do that for you.
A girlfriend and I went for a casual mid-​week dinner and ate until we could eat no more.
We asked for a wine recommendation and the owner came out to have a chat with us and suggested an off the menu bottle that was only $ 33. It was exactly what we asked for and we appreciated that he took the time to source what we wanted.
For mains, we shared the swordfish (the most tender and fall-​apart I’ve had, it was brilliant) and the slow-​cooked lamb with a side of chat potatoes. After that (and the entrée of sagnaki) we were spent. I’m sure they do a nice dessert but I was about ready to explode.
I don’t often venture through Hardware Lane (for the same reason I don’t go down Lygon St) as I’m not big on the spruiking and tourist-​trap fare but Aspro Ble certainly stands on its own.

I had a hankering for Greek food and headed over to Aspro Ble for lunch. Great service and great food! The owner came over and explained the dishes to us. He was so nice!
I had the lamb souvlaki with crispy chat potatoes and my hubby got the Greek island goat stew. Yum! To top it off, we had the homemade baklava that came with a side of homemade ice cream. We are definitely going back.

Slow service. But awesome food and friendly staff makes up for it.