The menu was typical of Vue's style. Eight courses, which are really more like 10 courss beginning with a series of amuse bouche style entrées accompanied by a Charles Heisdeck blended NV champagne which is going to become Vue's house champagne.
As always everything is done with style. Cutlery is exquisite resting on 100 year old vine roots
Glassware is extremely fine and a pleasure to drink from. Makers have stencilled their name on the base of glasses.
Salt and pepper reside in hollowed out stone.
Bread is presented in a small bag with a hot stone at the bottom to keep it warm
Oyster
Salt cured wallaby
Salted chips with a fantastic macadamia puree and pressed apple
Smoked eel, white chocolate, caviar
Duck tongue, mountain pepper
BBQ lamb hearts
Several courses were deconstructions of classic dishes including the first course Fish and Chips.
This Queensland mackerel had been lightly cooked and seared with ribbons of just cooked potato,fried capers and finished with a totally mouth watering topping made from oil, apple vinegar and garlic was an exquisite start to the savory courses.
This came with a 2010 Erath 'Estate Selection'pinot noir from Oregon USA which was remarkably good with light earthy forest tones.
BBQ lamb, a Flinders Island lamb chop with all the fat removed was a delicate and tender mouth full served with onion three ways - pickled, fried and baked (I think) and black butter had only one problem I needed three times as much. A gorgeous dish.
This was served with a bordeau, a 2010 Villa Bel-Air from Graves which was also very agreeable without being sensational..
Called carpet bag Roo the next dish was cooked at the table on Japanese charcoal.
Almost raw it was covered in an very strongly flavoured oyster emulsion topped with a miniature salad. This was not too successful. The emulsion was overwhelming and did not fit well with the gamy kangaroo.
The accompanying Pio Cesare barola was inoffensive.
I think because neither of us cared for this course chef Cory Campbell produced an extra course Duck breast with charred cos lettuce and pickled cabbage and apple puree. Yet another super course.
For this extra course we had the pleasure of a very excellent
Bass Phillip Premium Pinot Noir which was not on the menu The duck was great but the Pinot outstanding.
by an attractive young lady.
this grade 9 waghu was supported by a salad which included a bunch of very moorish pickled grapes
and shredded waghu cheek covered in a mayo dressing.
I enjoyed this dish more than Sandra, who did not care for the cheek. It was served with a 2013 Mount Langhi Ghiran 'Mast' Shiraz
Next came one of their special palate cleansers, a small bowl of herbs, wood sorrel, instantly frozen at the table with liquid nitrogen, which we crushed with a wooden pestle
before a fully flavoured quennelle of cucmber sorbet was placed over the sorrel.
Egg & bacon came next. A lightly cooked duck egg yolk sat on a truffled puree, brown butter, bacon strips and smoked marrow. An adventurous dish as many people find duck eggs very rich, especially as the yolk was so lightly cooked fortunately I'm not one of them and enjoyed the dish but it was not especially appealing -not a 'go to dish'.
I particularly enjoyed the 2006 Louis Roderer 'Cristal' they served with it.
This meal was not suiting Sandra very much at all and she let the staff know. A few minutes later another dish, also not on the menu appeared fpr her, a very tasty mushroom rissoto.
Marron , Gascony was the last savoury course. It was served with a sweet marzipan cream and a light chili emulsion. Another surprise since marrons are so delicate one does not think of them combined with chilli. The sweetness of the marzipan counteracted the heat of the chilli but it is not a great way to eat marrons.
The 2007 Yering Station 'Coombe Farm' Chardonnay was the only wine that did not appeal to me on the entire menu.
A second small palate cleanser 'Golden Vue' an ice cream rolled in cereal on a stick
came before the dessert called blueberry white chocolate.
This came with a lovely 2011 Kracher Eiswein from Austria.
Finally we were offered a choice of a wide range of cheeses off a cheese trolley and a variety of breads and jams.
This was served with a pear cider - 2013 Eric Bordelet 'Poir Grand; from Normandy.
Tea and coffee were served with an assortment of Vue's special petit fours.
These included a eucalyptus flavoured ice cream!
The tea spoon is disproportionately small for the handleless tea cup.
This was an interesting dinner with a capacity to disturb queasy eaters. Wines matched the food well and I had to be careful not to drink too much. Whilst I enjoyed the meal, unfortunately, Sandra did not. It was distinctive, inventive adventurous and curious. A meal I will remember, a special meal for a special night.
Score: 17/20
A few extra pic's
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