Bistro Vue

Bistro Vue
430 Little Collins Street

This post is a couple of months late, but unfortunately life gets in the way of these things sometimes. In the cold winter months I had the pleasure of both a cocktail night at Cafe Vue with the girls (Where’s the Beef did the vego version of the same month I was there) as well as a dinner at Bistro Vue with a group of friends. I guess the next logical step is Vue De Monde itself (are you reading this dear husband?)!

The lighting and my camera skills leave much to be desired so I don’t have any really good photos. Hubbie and I shared an entrée and a dessert (and had a main each) and the table finished with a huge cheese plate. I find I can not really fit in all three (or 4) courses at most restaurants, but I want to try so many things, it can get quite frustrating!

The service was great (much better than the service at Café Vue I should add which was almost nonexistent the night I was there) as was the wine we had (which I sadly didn’t take note of).

Styled after a ‘bistro’ it is almost a bit clichéd, with the velvet furnishings and French style furniture. However it still did make me a bit nostalgic for France. I guess I am just a sucker! Apparently some nights there is even an accordion player but luckily not the night we were there.

For the entrée, we had the 2 hour poached eggs with mushroom foam. I had read about this dish before and was curious. It was very very good. The presentation was impressive, with three eggs split in half with one containing the white and the mushroom foam and the other containing the yolk, and the 6 halves presented in a Vue de Monde egg carton! I love runny eggs and have been craving egg yolk ever since having this dish. The yolk is cooked (just set), but very runny and warm, not hot, so the flavours really stand out. The dish was served with bread sticks that you use like toast soldiers to dip into the egg.

For mains we had the wagyu steak with chips (friend in goose fat of course) and the confit of duck. As a side we ordered the brussel sprouts fried with pancetta and chilli. Both wonderful dishes. The steak was tender (and relatively cheap at about 50 dollars from memory) and the duck was probably one of the best confit ducks I have had recently. The brussel sprouts have prompted me to make my own copycat version at home, and covert my brussel sprouts hating hubbie!

For dessert we had the chocolate soufflé. The waitress put it onto the table, used a knife to put a hole in it and then poured chocolate sauce into the hole, causing the soufflé to expand. A nice bit of table theatre, but it also tasted great, worth the twenty minute wait upon ordering it. I wish I had written all the cheeses down but by this point I was a little tipsy. There was a fabulous French blue, a manchego and a French camembert style cheese, as well as another hard cheese which I don’t remember.

All in all a good night and a place I would definitely go back to. I forgot to mention the bread and butter that we were served at the beginning of the night (but sadly not replaced during the meal), which we all loved and made me rue yet again that there are no good bakeries near my house.