Bistro Vue

Bistro Vue, 430 little collins street, melbourne.

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 brulee

the 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!

Canale

These 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 ;)