Vue de Monde has been sitting high on my to-eat list for some time. Spu decided he was too povo to come along for this culinary ride but Dr. R, Tina and Shazza happily joined in for a most expensive nom-noms. Sure there is an a la carte menu but we decided to hit the Gastronomes Menu which at $250 a head (without wine - eep) is not for the frugal. What's the point of coming to a place like this and eating like a tightarse? Go hard or go home!
Booking a seat at this restaurant isn't as difficult as one would expect but that's if you're willing to eat outside of the typical peak Friday and Saturday nights. Hence our reservation was at the more reasonable time of 6.45pm rather than 9pm. I don't think there's a dress code at VdM and I sure didn't try too hard to impress the wait staff but I did make a conscious decision to wear one of my 'nicer' work dresses today :D
We admired the intricate patterns on the cutlery and the rocks and sticks on the table. The rocks doubled as a butter plate and salt and pepper holder!
We confirmed our degustation dinner with the waitress and she said that if we didn't mind, there may not be much time between plates as we needed to vacate our table by 8.30pm. Well that's not really a problem for us diners, it's more a kitchen problem eh? Bring on the feast!
(L-R) Parsnip chips to bide some time. Smoked eel, white chocolate and caviar. Celeriac and sunflower seed.
Yes. Eel. Covered in a crispy white chocolate shell. Weird fusion but it somehow worked! The celeriac parcels were cutely served on a rock and I really can't remember how they tasted.
(L-R) Oyster. Salt cured kangaroo.
The oyster tasted like oyster. But check out the gelatin dumpling skin! The roo came out on a slab of Himalayan salt (yep) and then it was rolled and placed onto a rock. I like roo meat. My tastebuds aren't that smart though and if you told me this was cured beef, I'd believe you.
(L-R) Pumpkin, squash and goats cheese. Spanner crab, green tomato and wild herbs. Roasted marron with tarragon butter.
So far so good. The first two were tasty and while I am probably under-appreciating the effort put into the dishes (the goats cheese was a snowy powder), we were still at a ho-hum. The marron was served to us by the greasy haired head honcho himself,
Shannon Bennett. When I quizzed the others if they recognised the "waiter" who served up the crustacean, I was met with blank faces. I think Mr. Unwashed Hair may have been surprised by our lack of fawning! Oooh but the marron was lurvely. Such a plump piece of seafood meat just cooked to perfection. The 'plumpy-ness' was more so appreciated by our fingers, the 'utensils' we were advised to use to eat the marron. I could easily have scarfed down an extra tail or two.
(L-R) Fried duck egg with lamb sweetbreads, picked onion and truffle. Cucumber sorbet with crushed herbs. Barramundi with prawn, smoked bone marrow and a herb emulsion.
This is where the 'experience' started to ramp up. First of all, I can never say no to a yolk. Fried eggs are at the top of my favourite foods. Actually this wasn't fried but rather slow cooked like an
onsen egg. A duck egg meant that this yolk was about the size of my lady-palm. The truffle was grated right in front of us and they didn't skimp. Noice! I joked to the waiter that he was pouring soy sauce over our eggs and I think he got offended. Haha. I'd always thought
sweetbreads were strictly a bull/sheep/animal's testicle but nope, they can be other glands. I really liked this dish but I do hope I didn't eat a ballsack.
Now if only we took a photo of how we got to the crushed herbs. We were given a mortar containing fresh herbs and a pestle. The waiter came along and poured a bit of liquid nitrogen in and then we had to crush our own herbs! We were too busy trying to out-crush each other to take any photos/videos. The cucumber sorbet was very light and fresh. I think it was intended as a palate cleanser. The barramundi was next and err I'm sure it was nice but I can't remember it!
(L-R) Pigeon with carrot, clove and olive. Wagyu beef with fig and pear.
I like my pigeon not fearlessly walking alongside me and this one was done very nicely. Tastes like duck. The wagyu was nicely done and my only complaint was that there weren't more pieces served.
(L-R) "Beer and Nuts" aka passionfruit, liquorice and coconut. Pavlova. Chocolate souffle with chocolate mousse and creme anglaise.
Onto the desserts. If VdM would allow me to just come for dessert I'd be doing this the regular. The 'beer' came out in a shot glass and it was a real Heston Blumenthal moment. It looked just like a mini pint of beer right down to the frothy head. You'd expect it to taste like beer too but nope, it was passionfruit. The 'nuts' were a coconut sorbet - yum! Next we got a deconstructed pavlova. I never say no to a pavlova and I especially liked the mini meringues.
By now, even with my Supergut I was pretty darn full. But there was still a chocolate souffle to come. I was expecting a mini sized one but nup, it could have easily been served as a full sized dessert on it's own. Not enough on it's own, the souffle was then punctured and creme anglaise poured in. *uurggggggghhhhhhh* So light and fluffy. So... full... but... must... finish!
Next we were asked to have a seat in the adjoining bar to finish off our meal. I think they needed to clean the dining room. It was certainly well past the 8.30pm vacating time we were advised at the start of dinner. Me thinks that the other peeps must've cancelled.
Cheese, bread and jam platter.
I thought we'd have one cheese platter to share between us. Nope we all got a platter each. As if we weren't already full, there was bread on the side. The others aren't fans of blue or goats cheese but I loved them all! I would have gobbled up everyone else's share if I wasn't so damn full!
Petit fours which included lamington, gin and honey jubes, popping rocks edible bark, eucalyptus flavoured sorbet balls and musk flavoured eucalyptus leaves. Yes that is a Happy Birthday on the other plate. Although it technically wasn't anyone's birthday, it's nice to tell the restaurant that it is :D
Fark, I was at explosion point. The 'lamington' was actually a chocolate mousse dusted in coconut. Good for that because I really could take swallowing anything more cakey. The popping rock bark was cool! Just like the popping rock candy you used to buy from the now non-existent milk bars. The musk leaves tasted like '
Fags' and we reminisced about how politically incorrect our childhood lollies were.
I had to call it a night by now because I happened to the be the only person working the next day. Overall I was pretty darn satisfied with my experience at Vue de Monde. The service was friendly and not at all stuffy. The maitre d' even joined in our very serious conversation about NKOTBSB. However the big question remains - was it worth $250? To put it in perspective,
Tetsuya's degustation is $210 and arguably a more internationally lauded restaurant. I haven't eaten at Tetsuya but clearly you can't directly compare the Japanese cuisine to VdM's errr French/molecular/modern Australian!? offerings.
Would I come back? Sure I would. Within the next year? Don't think so! Maybe within the next five.
