See! there I go again.
My partner and I took a little sojourn to Melbourne recently, we planned on going to some new places like Atticus Finch, my darling sisters house warming and Vue de Monde. If you know something about Vue de Monde and what it represents you might have done one of two things: recoil in disgust or squirm with envy. Such is the nature of the venue it polarises many that go and experience it.
I take food seriously (pretty obvious) but only to a point of being serious about aspects of it. I am serious about the quality of what I cook and pay others so I can enjoy. I am not serious about making food a status symbol to make others feel bad about there insecurities. I've done time in kitchens and front of house and I know how status and hierarchy work, it is ever present in hospitality and it is rare and wonderful experience when it is not felt at a customer level. So when we walked through the large doors of Vue de Monde on Little Collins St. I was fearful for the way we would be treated and what effect this would have on the experience. Having done some homework on the menu I was aware that the food is prepared to an extremely high standard, each dish is thought through and executed with precision. Setting a high standard is reason enough to continue to deliver time and again, the result of lowering this standard would soon have punters avoiding it. If however the service makes a guest feel a little insignificant or insecure how does the next punter respond? Do they take their money elsewhere? No, I have rarely avoided a venue on hearing of an indiscriminate event of below standard service. Combine these aspects I have mentioned and then include X to the equation, X being the cost of the experience to your hip pocket. The bigger X is, the more important the small things become to your experience.
Vue de Monde has dealt with the smallest issues in creating an extraordinary venue, materials have been selected on their utility as well as their vivid colour and style. Treading the stone entry lobby through to the tall glass doors there is a mood you could find in a Milan fashion house, this changes as we ascend the stairs after being warmly greeted and led directly to our table past the hum of a busy restaurant. My ears are hot... Brightly striped chairs contrast the white table clothes and richly coloured floor. I sit facing the kitchen with a good view of the rest of the now large room, it is evident by the ceiling that major work has gone on and this is no ordinary refit and make good. Red clothe power cords for our table and room lighting are knotted and looped in such a way that draws my eye away from other diners, and mutant wine glassware swings in the tangle with its little cargo of growing herbs. Ours are chervil, but I am not game to rip off a bit and try... Should've though, it would have given mother and son circa 1950 at table 6(?) something to talk about, as they were clearly communicating telepathically.
I was going to make the most of this opportunity, deciding to have a full degustation with potentially 14 courses on offer and something to take home. Champagne arrived and a little glass of 'Pea and Ham' soup with a little quail egg confit sitting on top a crisp lettuce punt. Starting with a fun and interpretive dish of a classic is pleasing, the menu aims to not stray far from what I would deem traditional fare. As the elaborate website of Vue de Monde indicates they are "classically inspired... with a modern interpretation". It is clear from the outset that this is also a deconstruction of elements of these classic dishes, segregated, intensified, morphed into what might heighten and challenge the guest's. We progress into more dishes with wine matched amazingly well, intensely fruity and tight flavour expanding as though decompressed rapidly to bolster the finesse of some dishes. I could not comprehend how a simple truffled risotto would change when matched with wine, namely Henriques & Henriques Sercial 5 years old Madeira, Portugal. The view down the barrel of this supremely efficient kitchen cannon was the added show, busy focus, with intermittent quiet banter. I glazed into imagining what these chefs would cook for their partners or mothers? Do they eat chips 'n' gravy or a lamb yiros at the end of a boozy evening? Unlikely, every last one of Shannon Bennett's minions would walk the walk of their craft. Although it would be nice to see one licking sauce off their wrist at a taxi rank at 3am, "Would Sir like chicken salt with your poms de fritte?"
All the wines were fantastic, but I found one mismatched for my palate especially when imbibed with an intensely flavoured pork belly and pork rillette (ground) pancake including stuffed baby apple. A superb wine with real character and qualities but was lost in such a concentrated dish. Open the picture in the next post to view the degustation menu for the matches of food and wine, there are some multiple options for dietary requirements which were managed with ease.
And as our evening drew closer to an end I was starting to sum up in my mind the overall experience, crunching the numbers and including the X's. When almost on queue our Sommelier mentions something about a wine cabinet holding some seriously expensive champagne and the Dom Perignon Room. We had to see, up out of our chairs down the stairs into a side room and there it is! One tall cabinet which could easily usurp inflation in Zimbabwe, down a luscious hall way into the Dom Perignon Rom, a monstrous table made from the old Ponsford Stand seating at the SCG which could quite easily seat 24. Live wide screen feed from above kitchen, to keep the well heeled guest interested in what is happening down the hall.
Feeling pretty chuffed about this opportunity to see something special we grinned our way through the remaining dishes and before we knew it it was into the next day and we were still at the table eating and drinking supreme quality. Glee is a word that springs to mind, so many happily satisfying moments that completely out weigh the few negatives. One waiter could have put our winning evening in jeopardy when he kicked an own goal for the X's, informing me that in his opinion he would stir through the freshly shaved Manjimup Truffles through the risotto. He looked so far down his 18 year old nose he might as well been looking at his baby teeth, I could see his youth and his eagerness to achieve would grind him against many customers. It seemed especially unnecessary to recite instructions contrived from the top, he will grow and learn to put his own spin on the words from the hierarchy. Almost every other waiter had an individual quality to their delivery, some left us confused, inspired and oozing onto the floor. Special mention should go to our Sommelier for the evening she was the gilding on the wonderful evening, putting so much effort does not go un-rewarded and she will be serving wine to the worlds obscenely rich in Oman... I assume that is a promotion?
Dish of the night: The innovation of a chocolate cigar including smoke was a too much fun, I wonder if they were rolled on the inside thigh of a buxom Cuban senorita? With a Muscat it was the clincher, Muscat and I are like cricket and whites (old and boring? not yet but soon)
Wine of the night: After the pork I was willing the Sommelier to hit the mark...Bulls eye! Gamey bunny loin matched with a 2004 Cascabel Monastrell Viña Cascabel McLaren Vale, Australia. That fluffy varmint did not stand a chance.
Giles
