Anniversary @ Vue de Monde
Last night Leighlu and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary in style at Vue de Monde. It was certainly a fantastic place to celebrate a special ocassion in style. The restaurant was quite different to everywhere else we've been. We walked in and were seated on a huge table with big white leather seats and a great view of the kitchen pass, which is viewable from most places inside. The lovely staff asked us what we would like to drink with to start with and came to explain the concept of eating there as they knew it was our first time. They asked us for our likes and dislikes and anything we were keen to try, asked for what sort of budget we were aiming for and said leave the rest to us. I quite enjoy this style of dining, everything that came out was a suprise. Leigh had matching wines brought out and carefully explained by the sommelier. As I had said to the waitress that I wasnt too keen on wines, the sommelier came over and asked if I wished to try a couple of wines over the course of the evening instead, he picked two of the most beautiful sweet wines for me to try. Even though they were sweet, they matched our food beautifully.
- Amuse bouche was a muscle on a lollypop stick covered in tiny potato fries with some sort of foam of something on the top, I cant remember what exactly, but it was really yummy and the presentation was so exciting.
- Scallop on corn puree with popcorn and crustacean butter. Firstly ive never seen a scallop that big in my life, secondly I was a little suspicious about the idea of eating popcorn and scallop together but it had the most amazing taste and texture. The waitress suggested that we eat the two togther.
- Truffle risotto - I am officially in love with truffles now. The risotto was beautiful and just the right texture and taste to balance out with the most decadent amount of shaved truffles over the top. I was grinning ear to ear eating it.
- Foie gras mousse with yogurt served on apple juice soaked french toast and green apple puree with gingerbread - I was so confused when this came out, it smelt so sweet and even looked like desert but tasted so savory. I must admit I wasnt to keen on the idea of eating foie gras again, but this was quite different to the last time we tried it. While it was amazingly rich, the apple really cut it down and made it taste quite light.
- Snapper fillet with mini fish pie & pea volute. The pea volute was served in a mini test tube that was placed in the top of the pie. The crazy waiter dude was rather excited that he was the one to pull the tubes out and let the lush green sauce flow out all over the pie.
- Chilled tomato consomme with tomato jelly - While this sounds quite plain compared to the rest of the evening, this was served in the most entertaining way. It arrived on the table in two tall shotglasses looking like some kind of science experiment with the jelly bubbling around and steam pouring from the top. The waiter explained to us to wait until the jelly had stopped moving as this means the dry ice has melted away.
- Wild hare done 3 ways served with garlic crisps and current jelly - There was a hare pate which was rather unusual tasting as hare is quite gamey, rack of hare, which was so completely different in texture and tasted a little lighter, and loin of hare which was marinated in eucalyptus oil and wattle seed marinate. It was certainly something i would never have ordererd for myself but im quite glad ive tasted it now.
- Frozen blood orange slice covered in lemon jelly - This was served on a lollypop stick and looked just like a lollypop from sugar, it was so light and refreshing but i felt so naughty eating it because it was like eating a huge lolly in the middle of a fancy place.
- Apple lasagne with calvados icecream and apple snow - This was quite refreshing as well, even though it was covered in such a rich icecream. The actual apple lasagne was basically caramalised thin layers of apple, almost like a tart tartin without the pastry.
- Souffle Rothschild - Grand Marnier souffle with an apricot and Cointreau sauce with vanilla foam. I've always been a little scared of souffles since our trip to Blakes way back, where they screwed up the first one and we ended up waiting an extra 20 mins for it to cook. But this one was perfection, the sauce was so flavourful and bright.
- Chocolate Biscuit - Basically a self saucing crispy on the outside oh so gooey on the inside chocolate pudding served with iced milk and chocolate sauce. Very chocolatey but also quite spicy with the ginger.