VUE DE MONDE

430 Little Collins Street, Melbourne

Vue De Monde used to be just up the road on the corner of Drummond and Faraday Streets, Carlton, but recently moved to the the city. I'd heard lots about its infamous degustation menu and it seemed everyone in my family had been countless times, yet somehow i'd never had an invite. In exclaiming so and arranging one, it was pointed out that a year or so prior, there had been a 'New Beginnings' lunch at Vue De Monde that i had failed to commit to. Probably having planned a big night prior and anticipating i would be too hungover to deal with schmick table service, french accents and intense flavours.

It had already long been a not-so-funny joke between my family that i'd never made it to a 'New Beginnings' lunch, that i was too lazy and couldn't get out of bed for a new beginning. Most notably i missed one at the Windsor in 1999 before i was due to start VCE, which my mum would now say was an omen, that set the tone for my going on to just scrape the barrel and pass.

But finally i made it to Vue Du Monde in November for lunch with my mother, brother and sister-in-law to be. It was the last day of their lunch special - 2 courses, wine & coffee for about $40 a head. Very cheap by comparison to their regular très cher menu.

It wasn't exactly dubbed a new beginnings affair this time around, but glasses were chinked to recenlty becoming a grandmother, an uncle and aunties. To my brother's promotion to executive somethingorother. To the upcoming wedding. And i probably jokingly charged my glass at being 'single and ready to mingle'!


Ocean Trout Tartare with Gnocchi and Baby Sorrel


Crazy tomato consommé drink with dry ice that was fizzing around & smoking out the top


Lamb Pistachio sirloin


John Dory


Petits-Fours - blueberry popcorn up the end was killer!

In their new location, asides from Vue Du Monde, they've opened adjoining cheaper incarnations, Bistro Vue and Cafe Vue. Apparently there's a special Cocktail Night on Fridays offering 5 courses and 5 matching cocktails at $75 a head - presumably they're degustation-style courses and taster-size cocktails, or it could land you full to the eyeballs.

If anyone wants to join me for cocktails and french food sometime, or has a new beginning to mark, then holler at me, i'm keen for an escargot or two. Don't even talk to me if you're vegetarian or vegan!

http://www.vuedemonde.com.au/

MOON OVER MIAMI topped with Organic Barossa Bacon & Canadian Maple Syrup

On those nights when no one could be bothered to cook in my household as a kid, Moon Over Miami was always a favourite, second only to toasted cheese and baked beans or tinned spaghetti sandwiches.
Moon Over Miami - otherwise known as Egg in a Hole, Toad in a Hole, amongst other things - is simply an egg fried in a piece of bread with a hole torn out of the middle.
My take on it this time around draws from that fact that it's practically a lazy version of French Toast and goes brilliantly with Maple Syrup. But with the monstrous hangover i'm nursing, it would have been remiss of me not to marry the eggs with bacon. The only stuff in the fridge was super-thin organic bacon, which went down a treat.
The trick is to cook the eggs pretty lightly, so that the yolk runs when you cut into it. Just look at it oozing out, would ya?! Looks revolting, but it was just what the doctor ordered for my weary soul on Australia Day.




Sidenote: I found a list of Moon Over Miami monikers on Wikipedia... Some of the good ones were Black-Eyed Susan, Yolk Doughnut, Humpty In The Wall and my favourite, Ghetto Omelette! Say what you like though wikipedia, it'll always be Moon Over Miami to me.