Vue de Monde

Melbourne, Australia

Vue de Monde came highly recommended by co-workers of my daughter, Hilary, and it didn’t take much discussion for us to decide that we wanted to try it.  The restaurant has received critical acclaim for over twenty years.  In 2011, Vue moved to the 55^th floor of the Rialto building, providing panoramic views of the city.  Upon arrival, guests are greeted in the lobby and then personally escorted up the elevator and into the restaurant.  A host then takes you to your kangaroo skin table and seats you in kangaroo fur trimmed chairs.  The menu is a tasting format and because I couldn’t imagine not indulging in the cheese trolley, we opted for the Chef’s Signature Tasting Menu.  I will never be able to adequately describe the thirteen courses that were to follow.

The first decision we faced was which Champagne to select from the Champagne cart.  We decided on NV Dom Ruinart Rose and it was a perfect accompaniment to the beautiful oyster first course and the sea urchin and caviar second course.  I requested assistance with wine and had the pleasure of meeting Dorian Guillon, the master sommelier.  Because of the number of dishes and the fact that we did not know what was coming, I put the decision making into Dorian’s capable hands. 

A particularly interesting course was delivered to the table with a hibachi.  The little “sausages” were crab – a sort of mousse or pate texture – served with little buns, cucumber, and tarragon.  With this course, Dorian presented us with a mystery wine and gave us time to try to guess what it was. It turned out to be a 2003 Bannockburn “Museum Release” Chardonnay from Australia.  The wine also worked beautifully with the next course, a local crayfish, called a “marron.”  The sixth course just boggled our minds.  It was a beautiful little dish of flash frozen herbs and flowers that we were encouraged to pulverize with pestles and then a perfect scoop of sea parsley sorbet was placed on top.

Still to come – cured kangaroo and then saddle of lamb with 2013 Castagna Genesis Beechworth Syrah.  Rich and deeply hued, it was an ideal pairing with the meats.  On we moved to the incredible cheese course and then a trio of desserts.  The Barney Banana ice cream bar added a whimsical touch (like the crab “hotdogs”), and then there was chocolate soufflé with espresso ice cream.  Dorian had another surprise for us – Chambers “The Forgotten Barrel” – a Muscat from a small family winery. 

Dorian took us for a fascinating tour of the restaurant’s wine cellar, showing us a jaw dropping selection of the world’s finest wines and some very old vintages.  Returning to the table, we finished our meal with the last of the dessert selections and enjoyed a few more minutes of the view over Melbourne. A side note, at some point, I believe after the meat courses, our serving team invited us to move to another table closer to the windows.  We said no, we were perfectly content – but they insisted and we moved to the table with the better view!  Crazy, how often have you been moved to another table unless you complained and asked to be moved??

Vue de Monde’s parting offering is breakfast to go.  Brioche, and tiny jars of jam, granola, and tea.  I believe we were in the restaurant for four hours.  It was an incomparable evening that we will never forget.