Vue de monde - paradise on ten plates

The Captain and I rarely do any fine dining these days.
Since the arrival of the Batsman and the Bowler we have only celebrated both of our fortieth birthdays with a fine dining experience and other than that we have done the simplest of date night food like pizza, pub or laksa.
We love our food and no matter where you go, it's always a treat to be out for a meal.

The Captain has been working very hard of late. Actually, he has been working pretty hard for about a decade. In November, his place of employ may just have realised this and offered to pay for he and I to go out for dinner, to ANYWHERE we want to in Melbourne. Yes I know, a great and generous offer.

Vue de monde has been on my wish list for a long time and never more so since Shannon Bennett moved his flash city digs to even more flash digs on the fifty fifth floor of the Rialto building. So we made our reservation and since December we have cooled our heels ever so patiently courtesy of the three month wait to get a table for two on a Friday or Saturday night. But never mind that.

It was worth the wait. Every single second of it.

This kind of experience is not at all something that the Captain and I would have the means or justification to pay for ourselves but hey, on the company dime, we were not going to miss it. A ten, yes 10, course degustation menu with wine later and we pretty much had to ask our beautiful waiting team to wheel us to the lift on the cheese trolley. Stunning, divine, exquisite and absolutely flawless service. It was certainly an experience with food that I will remember forever.

I know there are some of you who read here who love your food so I thought I would share the menu we ate.

FRIDAY 2^ND MARCH 2012

  

Oyster

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Salt cured venison

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Celeriac, Sunflower seed

&

Smoked eel, white chocolate, caviar

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 Spanner crab, rockmelon, salmon roe

2007 Dönnhoff ‘Norheimer Kirschheck’ Spätlese Riesling, Nahe, Germany

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 Tomato, fennel, watermelon, wasabi

2011 Moss Wood Semillon, Margaret River, Western Australia

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 Marron, kohlrabi, caviar, tarragon butter

2010 Te Mata 'Elston', Chardonnay, Hawkes Bay, New Zealand

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 Fried duck egg, lamb sweetbreads, pickled onion, truffle

1995 Yarra Yering Blanc de Noir Sparkling  Yarra Valley, Victoria

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Cucumber sorbet, crushed herbs

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 Barramundi, herb emulsion, prawn, smoked bone marrow

2008 Paradigm Hill L’Ami Sage’ Pinot Noir, Mornington Peninsula, Victoria

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 Pigeon, carrot, clove, orange

2007 Cirillo 1850 Old Vine Grenache, Barossa Valley, South Australia

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 Blackmore wagyu beef, fig, pear

2007 Tinto Pesquera Reserva, DO Ribera del Duero, Spain

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 Assortment of cheese, bread and jam

NV Eric Bordelet ‘Poire Granite’, Normandy, France

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 Passionfruit, licorice, coconut

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 Lemon meringue ice cream, white chocolate, lemon curd, parsley

2007 Pressing Matters ‘R139’ Riesling, Coal River Valley, Tasmania, Australia

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Tonka bean soufflé, smoked cocoa ice cream

NV Romate ‘Cardenal Cisneros’ Pedro Ximenez, Jerez, Spain

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 A selection of coffee, teas, infusions & petit-fours

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 WINE

2007 Cirillo 1850 Old Vine Grenache, Barossa Valley, South Australia

And while it's not really the done thing to photograph your food in such refined 55th floor air, I couldn't resist snapping a pic of one of the dishes. I give you.......lemon meringue. YUM!