During a recent visit to Melbourne, I impulsively booked a table at Vue de Monde (a Shannon Bennett two-hatted restaurant) as they had available tables on a Friday lunch. It worked well for us as we had no other plans that day. It was a 12 noon reservation and we got to the Rialto tower right on the dot (thanks to the free trams in the CBD). We followed the signage to the Vue De Monde entrance and were greeted by a friendly man wearing a black suit and headset. He ticked us off the reservations list and told us to sit down on some comfy chairs while he called for the elevator and quietly talked to his colleagues through his headset. Vue De Monde is on the 55th floor of the Rialto Tower but there’s actually no button for level 55 in the elevator, it only went up to 54. We felt like secret spies on a mission.
When the doors opened and our ears popped, we were warmly greeted by more people clad in black. A glass door was opened for us and we walked into a small wine cellar, the entrance way to the main restaurant. It looked impressive.
We were the first diners to be seated and our table looked out over the Melbourne CBD. The restaurant is very open with chefs preparing and plating food at the open kitchen benches. Mirrors are cleverly positioned so that you can see down onto the benches and watch the chefs work.
After we sat down, we were introduced to a person who asked if we wanted still or sparkling water. Then another person came by who introduced himself as the sommelier who provided a thick leather bound folder which was the wine list.
We were then introduced to another person who asked us whether we had dined there before (we hadn’t) and went through the menu options. There were only two options – a 7 course degustation ($230 per person) or a 10 course chef’s menu degustation ($275 per person) with the most popular dishes. We chose the 10 courses because #yolo. He also asked about any dietary requirements – no coriander for Mr FPJ.
The sommelier then returned asking if we needed assistance in picking a drink. He went through several options with Mr FPJ (matching wines to the 10 courses was an additional $200 per person) but he only wanted a glass or two. I asked for a peach mocktail of sorts and was pretty happy with my peach and passionfruit mocktail.
The cutlery used is all silver and I loved some of the patterns.
Our starter were the roasted summer vegetables (a bean, radish, squash and Dutch carrots) that arrived still smoking in charred paperbark.
This came with an eggplant dip sitting amongst our native flora. A very simple clean dish with a slightly smokey taste.
Course 1 – Flinders island lamb served raw in peas. This was a fresh and delicate dish. The lamb was soft and lean, and it was paired well with the freshness of the peas.
We received a Bateman’s Bay oyster (so close to home!) with lemon myrtle.
Course 2 – striped trumpeter served with green tomatoes and clams. I’m not sure if I’ve ever had trumpeter but it was a nice subtle fish, similar to kingfish. The green tomatoes were a surprise. They had the texture of celery – super crunchy but without the zingy bite of celery. I never would have picked that it was tomato. The clams were chewy and I enjoyed the slightly rubbery but natural flavour of them on the trumpeter.
Course 3 – this was Vue de Monde’s version of ‘snags on the barbie’. The two snags had been filled with a crab mix, there were two mini-baguettes, a side of apple mustard, and slaw. The snags were meant to be still cooking/smoking on the barbie but ours had gone out by the time it reached the table so they weren’t very warm.
The snags were super soft as the crab mix turned out to be more creamy rather than solid from mince. The baguettes were very oily, crunchy in the right spots and soft in the right spots. Delicious.
Served with this course was the mud crab rolled in pickled kohlrabi with squid ink and marigold. A cleaner take on crab and a good contrast to the greasier ‘grub’.
Course 4 – three plates arrived for this course of marron from Western Australia. The poached marron with pea was succulent and so soft. It didn’t last long on my plate. The slightly charred marron head had been topped with sweet corn bringing out the natural sweetness of the marron. The corn was crunchy and lathered in marron brown butter providing some nice crunch to the meal.
Course 5 – barramundi with roasted koji, sea herbs and desert lime. The barramundi was silky smooth and still warm in the broth. Although it looked fabulous, I’m not sure it was a good idea to serve this after the marron. It was too subtle in flavour after the delicious marron.
Course 6 – damper but not damper. Freshly made flatbread and vegemite croissants were placed on the table. A trolley had also been wheeled next to us with a wooden tub on top of hand-churned butter, which was scooped out for us and placed on the table. The vegemite croissant was my favourite. I was surprised to find no trace of the black spread inside yet the whole pastry had been infused with the vegemite flavour like magic.
Course 7 – heirloom green tomatoes in capsicum oil, strawberries and smoked beef fat. A fresh dish to break up the degustation.
A small bowl of herbs was presented in front of us before liquid nitrogen was poured into it.
We were each given a pestle to crush our herbs which broke into very fine pieces after the liquid nitrogen froze everything.
A quenelle of plum sorbet was then placed in each bowl. This palate cleanser readied us for the meat courses coming up.
Course 8 – Kangaroo with fermented capsicum, quandongs and preserved white asparagus. The kangaroo was cooked beautifully as it was so tender and went well with the fresh tomato and broth. A beautiful dish.
Course 9 – Dry aged duck that had been brushed with leatherwood honey and dry aged for 2 weeks. It was a nice shade of pink and so easy to slice through. The skin was crispy and sweet from the honey. This was one of our favourite dishes. It also paired so well with beetroot and native berries on the side.
Next came the cheese trolley – a glorious timber trolley with glass windows and hutch. There were about 8 cheeses from around the world.
We basically could have anything we wanted, it was so overwhelming!
The waiter suggested a tasting platter of cheeses and we agreed to that. We had an Italian brie, a mixed cheese from Spain, cheddar from Tasmania, a gouda from Geelong and ended with a gorgonzola from New South Wales. Mr FPJ likes his blue cheese and asked for a taste of the other blue cheese on the trolley. This was so much stronger than the first one. Accompanying the cheeses were pieces of lavosh, apple mustard, caramelised onions and grated beetroot.
After the cheese, there was a nice little break before the sweet dessert course arrived. One person arrived with a mini portable fire pit to set up at our table. Two marshmallows on sticks were then turned over the fire until they were lightly charred.
We were advised to put the whole thing in our mouths to enjoy it. That’s because the inside of the marshmallows had a chocolate dome covering a liquid alcoholic centre.
After this, our chocolate soufflés arrived. How good does it look?
A scoop of espresso ice cream was slowly placed in the centre of the soufflé which then slowly slipped inside. Now that’s food porn.
Happy to say the soufflé also tasted as good as it looked. I think it’s the lightest soufflé I’ve ever had – straight out of the oven. Warm, melt in your mouth clouds of yum. The chocolate sauce on top was a good touch for that extra chocolate fix. The espresso ice cream also complemented the chocolate. It was just perfection.
We figured the soufflé would be the final course and were pleasantly surprised to find a small dish of macadamias, plum and cultured cream arrive at the table. The cultured cream melted in our mouths and was a tad sour just like yoghurt. It was a light dish with soft and crunchy textures.
We were surprised again with the final small plate of the degustation – a gin-infused watermelon to finish off. Since I don’t drink, Mr FPJ was happy to finish both pieces.
We were asked if we wanted tea and coffee but we were both too full to fit in anything else. The bill came to just over $700 for both of us, two glasses of wine, a mocktail and two bottles of still water. Vue de Monde is more of a special occasion restaurant, but I’ve been wanting to try it for a while now and I’m glad I did. It was a nice surprise to receive a small goodie bag to take home filled with a loaf of Vue de Monde brioche, muesli and a packet of tea leaves.
Service was excellent from the wait staff describing the food, the sommelier offering his advice on and a general chat about wines, folding our napkins if we left our seats, giving our space to enjoy our experience while also being attentive to our needs, and indulging me when taking photos of the food. Most of the staff were French and it was nice to have that little extra authenticity when dining at a French restaurant. The pace of the courses was quicker than we both expected, which was great as it still took us 3 hours to finish the degustation, though we almost would have liked a slightly slower pace to enjoy and digest. The food itself was presented beautifully, it was fresh and a lot of native items were used. It tasted just as good as it looked with some theatrics thrown in. We were both really happy and satisfied at the end.
The bathrooms are spacious and an experience itself with one pillar in the middle of the room being the sink that has a sensor and pours water from a pipe from the ceiling.
We didn’t want to end the amazing lunch so we went next door to Lui Bar to enjoy the sweeping views of Melbourne and have a drink. I asked for a berry-like mocktail while Mr FPJ opted for a cold drip coffee and vodka cocktail (can’t remember the name of it). The cold drip was placed on top of the glass for a few minutes to slowly drip through into the glass.
It wasn’t until about 4pm that we finally left the world of Vue de Monde. Bookings essential and to be made a few weeks/months in advance.
Vue de Monde
Rialto Towers
525 Collins Street, Melbourne CBD
Foodgasm 9/10
Value for money 8/10
Service 8/10
FPJ score 25/30
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