Bistro Vue

This is without a doubt one of my favourites at the moment. For lots of reasons. Last Saturday night we dined at Bistro Vue (the bistro behind Vue de Monde) and it was probably our 4th or 5th time there. On every occasion the service and food has been outstanding. Except for one small grip - more of that later.

Entrees were a delicate cepe omelette for me and my wife had the smoked salmon which is gorgeously presented. Probably 8 very thin slices of smoked salmon which I think they do themselves. On the side creme fraiche, some thinly diced white onion and tiny capers. The treat was the house baked brioche which sits in the middle of the wooden plate in the terracotta pot it is just baked in. All of it sensational

Main for me was pork with 4 cheeses - which while delicious was not what I expected. Slowly roasted pork topped with what I thought was a crust of 4 cheeses but was a soft airy pasty like substance. Honestly - has good as it was it would have been better if it was a crust rather than a spongey cheese matter. Makes me wonder how they cooked it ???

No room for dessert this time but in recent visits we have had the pleasure of the chocolate souffle and the tarte tatin - both of which are outstanding.

One criticism. In at least 4 visits over 18 months, the menu has not noticably changed. There is a daily special which always sounds good. But come on guys. If I'm paying $200 for dinner and like it enough to come back then maybe some seasonal dishes. I don't mind the strong favourites staying on the menu, actually I find it comforting. But to replace at most 3 dishes on a 25+ dish menu over 18 months is just taking the piss.

Service is always good - even though I am getting tired of getting served by pasty private school prats who think putting on a shitty french accent somehow adds to the experience.

I committed to going back because we like it - however when I ring to book a table I will be asking if the menu has changed and if it hasn't I will probably go to Bistro Guillaume for French.

Definitely worth going if you haven't been there. Overall it was about $195 which included 3 glasses of VC and 2 glasses of French white. Wine list is pretty good BTW. Here is a link to their website and you can download the menu here. They also have an express business lunch which looks good.

Having been to the bistro a few times and the restaurant twice - I would honestly go to the bistro over the restaurant. But that's just me.

Enjoy!

Some restaurants tire me

Melbourne is spoilt for choice when it comes to restaurants. We can eat anything, from any country, any time pretty much. We have great top end restaurants and the middle layer is quite strong - and probably what makes Melbourne a better place for eating than Sydney.

But it is this middle layer that is really starting to shit me. It seems that any hack chef hang out a shingle and call himself a restaurant. Now don't get me wrong, not every restaurant needs to be a ground breaking experience. Not every restaurant has to break the rules of convention and challenge our palettes, but by the same token not every restaurant has to serve up the same crappy dishes and think they are doing us all a favour.

My pet hate of the moment, "Grilled Atlantic Salmon, served on a bed of spinach, and creamy mash". Give me a fucking break. Next time you are out - count how many times you see this dish, or subtle unimaginative versions of it written up on blackboards all over town.

What the fuck did you people learn at school ? Do you have no imagination at all. Do you all have to do this freaking salmon dish ? Do you all have to have a "Chicken Caesar salad" on the menu? Do you even know that Caesar Salad does not have chicken in it? Call it a fucking chicken salad so we all know what we are getting. I don't want to order a Caesar Salad and not get a Caesar Salad.

When did you rag-arse hacks decide that spaghetti amatriciana has olives and peppers and other shit in it? If it's not a real carbonara then don't call it a carbonara. These names have been around for years - don't serve up crap and think you can get away with it by giving it a traditional name that everybody recognises. When I see something on the menu that has a known recipe then that is what I expect to get. If you're going to change it call it "Spaghetti alla I don't have a clue", then at least we know what we are getting and how much we should trust you.

So in addition to some rather random and intermittent reviews I am going to name and shame restaurants that are showing zero imagination, or that think they are smarter than years of history.

Stay tuned and feel free to share your "favourites".

Jimmy

Yak Bar - Russell St Melbourne

Two words - DON'T BOTHER. If the greasy grilled calamari isn't enough the tinny $2.00 sound system blasting overhead will push you over the edge. The place is grimy, dark and the food not worth mentioning. $60 for a plate of grilled calamari and a pea and "prociutto' (sic) risotto. Now I don't know about you but I thought risotto was cooked rice...cooked slowly, allowed to absorb the flavours and moisture of good quality stock. It seems Yak bar have changed the definition.

Sorry but don't waste your time here.

Bistro Guillaume

Having taken over the old Prada store at Crown Casino - Bistro Guillaume is simple and evenly tempered French. We started with drinks downstairs - I didn't even know there was a bar there, but our table wasn't ready so we opted for some bubbles. Good selection too. Not many places stocking Salon in Melbourne. Just going back to Prada - What the hell is taking so long with their Collins Street store??? I mean how hard is it????

There were 6 of us at dinner - the bill was about $800 which included 2 glasses of Dom at about $60 a pop so not too bad. Overall everyone loved their meals. I had the french onion soup and steak frites. The soup was fantastic - thick and rich - probably down to the hearty veal stock that is used as the base. One of my fellow diners had the smoked salmon - served with a toasted brioche. Almost exactly the same as the bistro at Vue de Monde.

The steak was a treat - perfectly medium rare and full of flavour.

Complaints - well the staff were a bit of a let down but I think that may have been just our young lady. The more senior staffers seemed to be on their game but our young girl had to be reminded of some drinks that never found their way to the table and there was a noticeable lack of knowleged or confidence when she was telling us about the specials.

For those of you who want a closer look at the menu you can find it here .

It's a gutsy call to open this place given the success and hype that surrounds Vue. But I think they do it well. The bar and restaurant work well together and the menu, overall, is quite tempting and well crafted.

Worth a look - especially for a special night out but maybe a little crowded for an intimate dinner for two.

Enjoy!

Bamboo House - Lt Bourke St, Melbourne

People in Melbourne will crap on about Flower Drum and how good it is......all I have to say to them is get a freakin' clue! Don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with Flower Drum but you can get better Chinese at half the price in a lot of other places. I mean give me 2 waiters instead of 6 and charge me half the price! Sure you might see someone famous there but give me a break.

I digress.

Bamboo House is a sensation. I'm not going to go on about every dish but the Peking duck, smoked duck, pan fried dumplings, chilli prawns, mandarin pork, szechuan dishes....whatever...all SENSATIONAL.

The guy there will look after you - Alex, Russell, who can remember ?? You'll know him when you see him - Chinese guy with a beard and a really deep voice.

Just get there and you'll love it.

Fingers

The Society Restaurant - Bourke Street, Melbourne

The Society

I won't bore you with the history. You can read that yourself at http://www.societyrestaurant.com. Bottom line - The Society was around when my dad first came to Australia many years ago. Then it disappeared for a while and now it's back in an updated form.

They've tried to capture the Italian restaurant feel that is a little bit cliched (chandeliers, mirrors, random Italian images and writing on the wall) and they've done it really well.

Overall the food is great. The night I was there we had entrees mains and dessert:

Entrees:

Eggplant Parmigiana - fantastic. Delicious layers of eggplant, tomato & buffalo mozzarella. Great napoli sauce over the top. Hints of fresh basil.

Twice cooked duck - served layered with delicate flaky pastry, this was an absolute delight.

Mains:

Gnocchi with a rich beef ragu hinted with white truffle oil. Delicate. Delicious. The actual gnocchi were good (not as good as the bar at Florentinos but the sauce was MUCH better). Just enough truffle flavour from the oil and the ragu was rich and flavoursome.

Pan seared pork rib eye served on the bone with a "just sweet enough" orange glaze. The apple cider jelly was well presented but had no real flavour - if you can't taste it what's the point??

Sides - rocket salad and some hand cut chips. All good.

Dessert

What a disaster. Chocolate ravioli that were tough and actually tasted pretty ordinary. Almost (but not quite) saved by the vanilla bean custard filling which was nice. I'm sure this sounded like a good idea when someone said, "hey how about some chocolate ravioli?", but overall this was actually quite bad.

Coffee - short black. Not my favourite brand of coffee (Dimattina) but ended the meal well.

We drank a couple of glasses of prosecco and pinot grigio - both from the north of Italy and both great.

Service was also very good. Attentive enough without being over-bearing even if our young waitress had a bit of trouble remembering the specials. They did make us feel very welcome in typical Italian fashion and I'd definitely go back.

At $160 for 2 people it was pretty good value for what you got. They also kept an eye on my illegally parked car for me.

If you want a good night out, reasonably priced with a nice touch of Italy - this is the place. Just pick carefully when you get to dessert.

Eat well!

Fingers

Why is this blog here?

So why does this blog exist?

Well over my 42 years in Melbourne I've eaten at pretty much most of Melbourne's bars and restaurants. Ok maybe not most but lots of them. This place is somewhere you can come to get a warts and all review of where I've been.

No gimmicks. No fancy reviews. No lies. Just what it is. Feel free to add, message ask...whatever.

Over the coming weeks I will add some from recent history and we'll go from there.

Hope you enjoy the read and better still get to the good places and close down the crap ones.

Drink less but drink better.

Fingers