Cafe Vue @ 401

At work, we had just finished a long project so we decided to celebrate in style and try the spin-off restaurant of  the famous Vue de Monde. Café Vue is located along the busy street of St Kilda Road on the corner of Toorak Road amongst other lunch bars and food courts. For a Wednesday, it was extremely busy compared to any of the surrounding options.

Due to the 'special' booking, we were placed at the main table at the rear of the restaurant with, what I thought was, a giant birdcage hovering over it. Quite interesting. The first thing I noticed was the random cutlery, everyone had a mixture of bread knives, sporks, dessert forks and mini serrated knives.

The menu had quite a lot of variety, and it was all 'frenched' up. As I had a chuckle when one of my colleagues asked me what a pomme frite was, I ordered a 3 course meal option or what is called the Menu du jour or "Menu of the day" in English. The meal was priced at $45 (2 course is available for $35), and for good measure I also ordered a glass of their cheapest Shiraz.

The first to arrive was the fresh pasta with truffle sauce and shimeji mushrooms. A creamy and light texture moistened by truffle oil, not too salty and not too filling. The mushroom flavour was not overpowering and a lot of colleagues were confused about where truffle sauce actually was. Again I chuckled :)

fresh pasta with truffle sauce and shimeji mushrooms

My friend had ordered the crab rémoulade with fresh apple. It was apparently only average due to the lack of sauce to combat the strong crab flavour, and he did not appreciate the way the food was presented. In my opinion, I think that he thinks he is a seafood connoisseur. It looked great to me!

crab rémoulade with fresh apple

It was at this point that I decided to put down my phone (yes, this was unplanned so my phone was my camera). I totally forgot to take a photo of my main! I remembered after I finished because I was so excited at first glance.

braised beef cheeks with roasted vegetables

Out came the roasted wagyu with crispy brisket with beef cooked in three ways. Crispy 'mini strips', stewed and a mini steak. It reminded me of the braised beef cheeks with roasted vegetables I had 2 weeks ago on the menu of that particular day. The steak lay on a bed of smooth and creamy potato mash and a smear of what I thought was a mustard and pumpkin mix. It was divine.

Every piece of beef didn't melt in the mouth much like the beef cheeks and I struggled slightly with the bread knives I had, but it was cooked to a lovely medium rare and was full of texture and had a burst of juices.

hazelnut soufflé

Last but not least was the desserts. This is when I checked my phone for an email and it clicked in my brain... 'get ready to take a photo'. The dishes that were about to arrive looked great on delivery. I dived right in and the fork disappeared into a spongy world of hazelnut soufflé. The fork was happy and so was my palate. It was fresh, hot, soft and nutty. Just like some people I know.

strawberry mille-feuille

My mate had a strawberry mille-feuille. Again, this was compared to my choice and did not reach the same heights of pleasure that I encountered. At this stage, I think the wine was helping me achieve this over exaggerated ecstasy as well as the three TVs with constantly repeating scenes. Funky.

To me, you cannot pass up layers of fruit and cream seperated by wafer discs. It just looks awesome.

Lessons from this blog.

1. Remember a high quality camera that can focus

2. Always order any beef dish, they are all delish

3. Don't forget to take photos! lol

Café Vue is a cute restaurant with a fully stocked bar and a speedy kitchen. Also available is a $15 lunch box available, which can be delivered to workers with no time for lunch. A peaceful experience for lunch. Not sure if you would experience the same atmosphere in the evenings due to the location which is busy during the day but not so much at night. Reservations can be taken for Menu du Jour option only.

Café Vue

401 St Kilda Road (cnr Toorak Road)
03 9866 8055

Hours:
Mon-Fri
7am – 11pm

Sat/Sun
8am – 11pm