I went to bistro vue as part of the restaurant express week. last time i went to matteo's, and i thoroughly recommend doing this - for $35 you get two courses and a glass of wine. Bistro vue was no exception and it was a lot of fun for the day.
The entree was a prawn cocktail, which we skipped (i had eyed the cheese off on the way to our table, and had a hankering for some dairy goodness, whereas my girlfriend wanted to brulee, a pistachio version).
braised veal shin 'a la chinoise'This was basically osso bucco, but oh so good. tender veal, amazingly intense bone marrow, and some ice bismati rice to soak up the juices. I could eat these all day long. The only thing was that we had no choice for the main course (even for restaurant express, you get options people!).
goat's cheese with a rosemary crust, cheddar, and assorted biscuits to carry said cheese to mouth.The goats cheese was very, very nice, however the cheddar was not so good - it had a yellow crust like it had been left out for too long... i didn't even finish the cheddar :(
pistachio creme bruleethe sorbet was grapefruit flavoured and i loved it - too bad i was warned off it by my girlfriend :(
the brulee was ok, but i felt that it tasted too much of marzipan, and didn't discern any pistachio in it!
CanaleThese were nice, but for some reason we felt that there was a bitter flavour to them. However when talking to the waitress, they said that these were only made with rum, sugar, vanilla and something else (flour?). however they were crispy, and nice and soft in the middle, and very good. these were right behind the veal i thought.
All in all it was a good lunch, but not as good as expected for bistro vue.
yes, i understand that it is a cheap meal with the purpose of trying restaurants, however i would assume that the meals would be indicative of what they have and make me want to go back. this did not, as all of it reminded me of foods that i can cook. Matteo's last time was amazingly good, and had some very special meals that i would see on their menus normally - they clearly see things differently to bistro vue.
i guess i would go back again, as the service was amazing and i liked the layout - it wasn't cramped, was easy to hold a conversation, and overall a lot of fun ;)
3 comments:
We had the same lunch special at Bistro Vue and also found it to be a slight let-down (especially after going to an outstanding cocktail night at the cafe!). But how cool was the table of cheeses?!
Michael's review isn't up yet - will post it early next week. :-)
it was the cheese table that sucked me in too!!!
it was on wheels you know... ;)
overall i think i would go back, but not on the basis of the meal that we had, but the potential that the restaurant holds. any restaurant that has an escoffier meal has to be worth another try.
i'm looking forward to doing one of the cocktail nights - i've seen so many pics and reviews now, it's just not fair!
you know, we should try to put out feelers for a blogger cocktail night at vue?
I too had the lunch special during Restaurant Express Week, and in comparison with our Express lunch at Mirka only a few days before, Bistro Vue came well on top.
It started with a delicious baguette and French butter, followed by the meltingly-soft braised veal, and finished with the pistachio brulee (although I do admit it erred too much on the side of marzipan). We had an orange sorbet, which was almost marmaladey in flavour (like the oranges had been roasted!). Service was slick too.
I'd like to go back and try the carte at some stage. But I like your idea of a bloggers cocktail night!
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