Reviews

Reviews of Restaurants

Vue De Monde, Melbourne

When I was in Melbourne, I managed to get along to Vue De Monde for lunch. It was really great (:

	First, there was bread and butter..
	Amuse Bouche! warm Ham consommÃ© with a ball of melon (which, I’ll have you know, explodes in your mouth with a burst of deliciousness in a way which makes it impossible to not smile); topped with a wafer and greenery-puree
	Cubes of terrine / ox tongue / foie gras; served with dinky bread circles, along with a fruity jam and little piles of spices (which you can’t see). This was on absurdly wide plates which caused the wait-people to dance about shuffling everything around on the table so they’d fit (:
	Seared Wagyu on top of a sweetcorn puree, with salady greens. The noodly thing on the right is made of soy, and apparently made in rubber tubing(!)
Science! It’s what’s for lunch.
	Pork and Apples. Whee! There’s belly pork, a galette (I think? – kinda a pate of pork with pastry) and the interestingly textured porkstrands; On the apple front, there’s a thing with peel, a lil apple filled with tasty, and the green sauce was a green apple sauce (as opposed to something vegetably). There’s also a glaze type sauce hanging out that was brought to the table in individual test tubes, and poured over the plates by wait-people. Which was, another interesting little dance.
	This was the course betwixt the savoury and sweet – kinda frozen melon in a fruit jelly of some description.
	This was the first dessert – strawberry soufflÃ©, with a frozen-strawberry-thing on top, with a strawberry powder, which was delicious.
	The second dessert was like a tube of cakey-biscuity, filled with molten chocolate ganache. So tasty.
Last of all, petit fours.

I’d totally go again; although maybe for dinner next time. Although that will probably involve making dinner reservations before booking flights (:

Consumption

We had great delivery food for dinner! It does produce a lot of garbage, though.

We ordered in pizza and tiramisu (for me, at least) from Pizza Pomordoro. Last time, we ordered a Carne off the menu; this time, we opted for what was effectively a Pollo without avocado but with pepperoni.

Pizza was delicious – they are cooked in a manuka-fueled wood oven; and the tiramisu was also gorgeous.

Yum.

Wheeee!

And now we are happy and fed (:

So I don’t forget; here’s a quick overview:

Glass of Bubbly (Quartz Reef Chauvet)
—
Zeroth Course – Amuse Bouche: Beef Tartar (raw beef) with a poppy wafer and relish
—
First Course: Citrus dressed scallops and prawns with tartare sauce + mesclun salad
Second Course: Seared tuna with endive, pear, popcorn shoots and honey+rosemay dressing paired with Odyssey Viogner
—
Third Course – Soup: Kumara (sweet potato) with smoked paprika
—
Fourth Course: Duck+Snail tartlet with ratatoullie jus and salad paired with Chateaux Des Ertes (something (: something red)
Fifth Course: Seared lamb with sweebreads, served with tomato couli and saffron infused cauliflower puree with Puriri Hills something (another red.. I think this one was 1/2 cabernet franc, 1/2 merlot; or perhaps this was the Chateaux Des Ertes… Argh. I’m sure I was paying better attention at the restaurant.)
—
Sixth Course – Cheese: Triple cream brie with HNNGGHH! we’ve forgotten. A couli of some description. Dark red, sweet and tart. I had a Spanish dessert red to accompany, Cyrus had Armagnac.
—
Seventh Course – Refresher: A white cranberry beverage infused with orange essense and thyme
—
Eighth Course: White chocolate panna cotta with espresso mascarpone, served along side macadamia butter parfait.
Ninth Course – Petit Fours: Valrhona bittersweet kiss (think hersheys kiss, but bittersweet rolled in cocoa), rice-bubble slice and ginger kiss.

Yeah. Nine courses. Yet just the right amount of food… I will endeavour to fill out more details tomorrow when I’m feeling less festive (:

Café Bastille

This evening me and Cyrus went to Café Bastille with Vivian, Sam, Ami, and Cyrus’s Nana, Olive.

Cyrus had Veal tenderloin with a mushroom and cognac cream sauce and pommes frites. Judging by the way he decimated it, he enjoyed it (:

I opted for homemade sausages with potatoes, onions and a rich jus… also delicious.

For dessert, Cyrus had crepes with an orange caramel sauce; whereas I opted for chocolate mousse. The chocolate mousse was pretty good in the grand scheme of things.

A++ would dine again (:

The Last Supper Club

We went to the last supper club last night. And it was good. How good, you may wonder? Extremely good.

To begin with, it turns out that twinset was playing (Jazz trio); which was pretty sweet. I guess that may have been why it was a little on the busy side – we had a ten minute wait for a table; but that was all good. It gave us a chance to have cocktails!

Any place which has a cocktail menu is going to be a good place to get a cocktail.

The cocktails here, are divided into “books” – there’s the books of martini, rum and gin; along with the book of classics (margaritas, cosmopolitans et al), the book of inspirations (a curious collection), and the deadly sins (theme-ish cocktails).

While we were waiting, Cyrus had Envy from the deadly sins – a combination of vodka, lemoncello, sour apple and absinthe, strained in a martini glass. He found it… potent. I found it… a bit strong for my liking as well. I opted for Pride, again from the deadly sins. It was feijoa vodka with mint, lime and apple juice in a tall glass with ice. It was a much gentler sort of a drink, and extremely delicious.

Just moments after finishing off my pride, there was a table for us; so off we went. We ended up in a booth-like arrangement in the window; with nice comfy boothcouches.

Since I was now cocktail-less, I had no choice but to order another. This time around, I went with something a little less certain. I picked the Arch Angel, from the book of inspirations. It was a strange one – it was made from vodka, white cream de cacao and sour apple; with cream floating on top (and chocolatey powder/sauce). I’m not sure if I’d have it again; but it certainly was.. inspired.

From the menu, after ~~much haranguing~~ a gentle suggestion, we had the antipasto platter as an entree. This was a marvellous idea – even getting the small size, I reached the point where I was concerned about fitting in all of my main; and there was still a bunch of delicious antipasto goodies left.

For the mains, Cyrus opted for a slightly spicy dish, with udon noodles and honey/ginger/soy marinated chicken thighs. He seemed to enjoy it quite a lot, based on the Mmms he was making. I chose thyme infused rabbit, that was served with braised vegetables. It was extremely good – the rabbit was melty and extremely delicious.

It was getting late, so we opted out of having desserts; but next time, there’s a good chance we’ll make the time. There was a lemon tart that Cyrus had his eye on; and a decision that I didn’t want to have to make for my dessert.

Now that the food has been dealt to; I should mention the service – it was noticably good. Food arrived promptly, glasses were filled, and the staff were polite.

The Last Supper Club was fantastic, and we’ll probably eat there again. Just as soon as we can justify it (:

http://www.thelastsupperclub.co.nz/ / 21 Blair Street, Wellington

I see Rouge

The lovely and charming Cyrus and I went out to dinner this evening. It’s been a long time since we’ve done that. He’d wanted to go to Maria Pia’s; but alas, they are closed for renovations at the moment. Instead, we went to the relatively new Rouge on the corner of Cuba and Vivian.

To start, we shared the bread+dips. This was more impressive than it sounds. First, the bread – there were all sorts of types of bread – lightly toasted, wholemeal, and a couple of types of white bread. The dips, on the other hand, were presented wonderfully – circular dishes of a pesto, a beetroot based dip, crushed olives, yogurt+cucumber and diced tomatoes; with a dish of olive oil balanced in the middle.

With the dips (and our main courses), we each had a glass of wine. Cyrus went with a Viognier (Shelmer ’03? can’t really tell too much from the receipt(!)), where I went with a Melbus Estate ’01 Merlot. The merlot was lovely and fruity.

For the main course; Cyrus had Chicken ‘n’ Tequila, which came with carrots and leeks; and a verjuice and lime jus. He seemed to be pleased with it. I had poached veal loin on a potato confit with a saffron and chilli vinaigrette. The veal was just delicious, as was the confit. The vinaigrette I could take or leave.

Between the main and dessert, we had cocktails. Cyrus went with a golden margarita which was very nice as margaritas go; but much too salty for my liking. I chose the Apple+Vanilla sour which was suprisingly sweet. As a nice decorative touch, both cocktails were served with rose petals floating on top.

For dessert, Cyrus had Kapiti ice-cream. You can buy it at the supermarket, so it’s not too exotic. I went with a Toffee Pop mascarpone cheesecake. Mmmm. The cheesecake had a really smooth texture; and was drizzled with a sticky caramel sauce; and decorated with strawberries and rasperries.

All in all, it was a wonderful meal, and would certainly go again given the opportunity.