My View: Bistro Vue

I thought that when I moved back to Melbourne I'd get to see my friends more often than I do, so we've set up a monthly meet up where one of us chooses a restaurant and we do the catch up thing. This month's choice: Shannon Bennet's Bistro Vue

We accidentally walked in the wrong way and consequently had to be lead through Vue du Monde to get to the cheaper, more affordable sister Bisro Vue. The inside of this little French -inspired treasure is exactly what I imagine a little countryside town bistro to look like. Antique wooden furniture and chairs to match, mismatched crockery, floral designs galore. The atmosphere was an experience in itself, all very perfectly planned. The toilets are reminiscent of what you'd find in a trendy, shabby chic Paris night spot.

I'll go ahead and say straight off that Bistro Vue is not very vegetarian-friendly (let alone vegan) and the only vegetarian entree available was lacking in the imagination department despite how tasty it is. You can never really go wrong with vegetables neatly tucked away in a crisp, flaky parcel of puff pastry, but really, how many restaurants do I have to go to and eat puff pastry with vegetables while my non-vego friends are chowing down amazing sounding things like braised, stuffed trotters or Dory "a la meuniere"? Call it what you like guys and gals, pithivier, gallette, tarte, parcel, stack, etc -- it's still essentially puff pastry with vegetables. I ordered the Provençal pithivier with tomato jus ($18), and it was tasty. One of the girls ordered a side of curried spinach and I'll be honest, I'm not sure I've ever had spinach that tasted so good (let's hope it wasn't made with chicken or beef stock). The pomme frites are cooked in goose fat, which is interesting, but from the one chip I sampled it didn't taste any different.

The sweet finale to the meal was definitely the highlight to the meal. We settled on the pear tarte tatin with creme anglais ($24 for 2 persons, it huge and could definitely be split with 5 or 6 persons) and the pistachio souffle with pistachio ice cream and chocolate sauce ($12). The July issue of the Australian Gourmet Traveller is dealing with all things French this month and the recipe for the tarte tatin is in it. Again, puff pastry. You can't go wrong with it, especially if you add butter, sugar and slow cooked fruit. Every bite of the tart tatin was rich with vanilla bean and clove flavours and worth every calorie in every bite. The souffle was also lovely, but the presentation far exceeded the actual taste satisfaction factor. The ice cream tasted like pistachios (yum), the souffle tasted like eggs, sugar and pistachios (interesting and delicate) and the chocolate sauce, well, it was chocolate sauce.

I'd go back just to have another bite of that tart tatin and a pot of tea served to me by the very attentive and knowledgeable staff. They make the tatin to order, so it's great to enjoy tea or coffee while you wait.

Even though the vegetarian entree was surprisingly good with each (and every) bite, the name of the dish was the only imaginative thing about it.

Bistro Vue
Normanby Chambers
430 Little Collins St (Entry via New Chancery Lane)

Off To Mecca We Went

Our 3 day hiatus from responsibility proved successful. Will and I took a mini holiday, rented a car and went (and ate and drank) where ever our hearts desired. We shopped 'til we dropped at Chadstone, boozed our way through the Mornington Peninsula, dined at the Docklands and nearly bought half of Dan Murphy's. I really feel rested enough to make it through to my next holiday from school in September, but not quite rested enough to download photos and such.

I was set of having Middle Eastern food for some reason so we headed off to Mecca Bah at Melbourne's up and coming boardwalk area, New Quay at Docklands. It'd been ages since I'd been down to the area to eat, but the yum cha places I ate at seems to have since closed...

Mecca Bah kind of lacks the individual character and personality that the majority of Melbourne restaurants seem to have, but the interior is sleek, trendy and popular with diners of all ages. You have a great view from anywhere you choose to sit, the waitstaff is attentive, the kitchen seems to run efficiently and the menu is comfortably 'arabesque'. The menu as a whole isn't that vegetarian friendly, but the silverbeet rolls (which were unavailable) and fatoush are well worth trying. For entrees we settled on the dips and Turkish bread, which included hummus, tatziki and babaganoush. Nothing spectacular, but the the smokiness and creaminess of the babaganoush was enough to keep me spreading lashings of it the Turkish bread until my main came. For vegetarians, there were only two options: tagine or Turkish pizza. I don't think the tagine at Mecca Bah could have topped what I had in Morocco, so I opted for the roast pumpkin, feta, chili and pomegranate jam pizza.

I still have visions of pomegranate dancing around in my head; the pizza was that good. It was shaped like a miniature gondola topped with a bit of rocket splashed with balsamic vinegar. The size of it just about sparked a conversation on the ever increasing portion sizes in contemporary eating establishments until I discovered that the base is nearly paper-thin. Every topping was just the right bite-size and eat mouthful was just as good as the last. The slight tartness of the pomegranate jam blew me away with the way it went so well with the saltiness of the feta and the sweetness of the roasted pumpkin. At $15 for the dish, I'd go back again just to have another bite of vegetarian deliciousness.

Thumbs for a fantastic vegetarian option that doesn't include mushrooms, risotto or a stack of vegetables.

Mecca Bah
55a Newquay Promenade
Docklands, Melbourne (next to Livebait)

Brunch At Caffe Cortilé

I'd been looking forward to the Queen's Birthday, practically as if it were my very own. The last Monday I had off from school was Easter Monday and I agreed to go into work that day. This time I declined and started the day off with a lovely brunch in the city with Will, our couple friends and another couple that we have recently added to our list of "people we can do social things with". I had planned on checking out Pushka, but being that it was a proper holiday and all, this little mystery will be kept a mystery until further notices because it was closed. Instead, we headed over to my backup -- Caffe Cortilé-- which turned out to be one of the couple's favourite brunch spots.

Caffe Cortilé is snuggled between other cafes on Place Place in the Block Arcade off Little Collins. The place was packed when we walked in, but surprisingly enough when we told the waitress that we were a party of six she led us to the back where there just happened to be an open table for six. As soon as we sat down we were given two carafes of water to sip on while we browsed the menu. Everyone seemed to have ordered more or less the same thing: 3 soy chai lattes for the vegetarians and 3 lattes for the non-vegos and 4 vegetarian breakfasts, 1 eggs Benedict and eggs Florentine sans the hollandaise.

The soy chai latte came with a rather nice layer of foam. It didn't taste like powder, but I couldn't be sure they didn't take the syrup route like Gloria Jeans and Starbucks. It was one tasty chai, though. The vegetarian meal was different that the Melbourne standard, which usually tends to have mushrooms, a poached egg, spinach, avocado and a potato cooked in one form or another. Cortilé's vego breakfast came nicely presented and showed some imagination on the kitchen's behalf. Half of an avocado stuffed with feta and lashings of a sweet tomato relish came on bed of "seared" spinach (read: practically raw) perched on mixed seed toast.

Since I work in a kitchen myself and hate it when people make changes to dishes on the menu to suit their own tastes, I hesitated to ask them to hold the mushrooms and replace it with spinach. But I did and they complied with my request. I think mushrooms are an overused vegetable in vegetarian dishes and I don't like them, so I just HAD to ask them to replace them.

Personally, I think the vegetarian dish could have used an egg or beans or cheese to add some protein the dish. It was quite fatty, although tasty, with cheese stuffed avocado. Either way, the saltiness of the fetta cheese, the sweetness of the relish and the buttery fruity blandness of the avocado went quite well together.

The atmosphere is conducive to having good conversations, they have a great selection of sweets and the inside is chic and trendy. My biggest complaint? The service was really, really slow. But, apparently the food always takes a long time to arrive according to our couple friend who goes there for brunch often. I probably won't be going back on a regular basis simply because they don't have Eggs Florentine on the menu, they serve their spinach raw instead of sauteed and the only vegetable in the vegetarian breakfast is mushrooms -- I nearly hate mushrooms. I do give them extra points for the creative vegetarian option though.

Caffé Cortilé
30 Block Place
Melbourne (CBD), Victoria

The European: No Trash in Sight

I could have easily been cosily seated in any tapas bar or restaurant in Madrid on a winter night, but I wasn't. In fact, I didn't even have to leave Melbourne to experience a bit of Europe. I'm not talking Gross Florentino or Vue du Monde -- I'm talking about the European.

Tucked away on Spring street just around the corner from Bourke street you'll find a neat little euro-style bistro called the European. The interior is designed like most domestic kitchens you'll find in most apartments across Spain: long and narrow. As soon as we were all seated and chose a glass of wine -- I decided on a red blend from France -- our crisp linen serviettes were snapped open and laid on our laps in the most fashionably un-intrusive manner one could imagine. Being a European bistro and all I wasn't expecting much to be vegetarian, which there wasn't, but I decided upon the only thing I could short of a salad. I happily ordered the "rotolo of beetroot, pine nuts and goat's cheese". At last, a main without mushrooms! While we waited for our order, four serves of fresh sourdough bread and aioli were delivered to our table to share while we chatted. We ordered a serve of pomme frittes to share, which were perfectly tiny julienne strips of potato. They weren't french fries or chips, they were proper pomme frittes.

When my rotolo came, it was immediate eye candy, even in the dimly lit dinning room. It was a roulade of sorts with a thin, almost strudel-like pastry crust wrapped around rolled layers of goats' cheese, toasted pine nuts, beetroot puree, its leaves blanched to perfection and --guess what-- tiny morsels of an unidentifiable type of mushroom. It was garnished with a lovely herb butter sauce and delicate sprouts. I enjoyed every bit of it and ate the the mushrooms because a)they didn't taste half bad drenched in butter and b)I wasn't paying for my meal with my pocket money.

We finished off the meal with two desserts to share, which were a proper Tiramasu with coffee scented macaroons and a chocolate tart with a serve of curiously orange-flavoured ice cream. A piece of heaven in every bit, really.

One fourth of an entree of pommes frittes to share, a vegetarian main, a glass of wine and half of a dessert came to a total of $40. Not bad considering the service was impeccable, the vegetarian main showed some imagination on the chef's part and the wine list was impressively long and full of wines from every corner of Europe. Not bad, at all on a student budget. I'll be anxiously awaiting my next chance to eat beetroot.

161 Spring St
Melbourne 3000 VIC

Phone: (03) 9654 0811

Tofu International: In the Mood for Tofu

Will and I finally made it out to Macro Wholefoods in Richmond. It was nice, but definitely not like the Wholefoods I came to love in America. It's the only type of supermarket I actually like being the size of small town. I found most products to be unaffordably expensive; I think I'll just stick to the Vic Market -- it's closer. While we were in Richmond, we stopped by Tofu International, which was a place I considered seeking employment during my stint of unemployment back in January. I'd never actually been to Bridge Road in Richmond, so seeing this little shop was actually quite comforting.

This food establishment is a bit on the cozy side and offers food options that are all vegetarian. The range of food wasn't extensive nor was it particularly mind-blowing. It was exactly what I expected from a food shop named Tofu International. It's a neat little place to get some healthy vegetarian fare while shopping in the area and people watch whilst doing so. There are 3 options: small, regular and large plates. The small portion is a typical tapa-sized bowl and the medium is perfect for a hungry stomach or to satisfy two "I'm not really hungry, but I could eat" stomachs. The medium plate was $13.00 and with each size plate one can choose any of the dishes available behind the counter. We settled on a Chinese tofu dish, an apricot-flavoured cous cous salad, saffron roasted potatoes and a broccoli and mushroom option. The tofu dish was by far the best served with a light ginger-soy consomme, although, one can never really go wrong with roasted potatoes, especially if they are to be enjoyed with lashings of a mysteriously flavoured tofu dip. There are also various souvlaki options available.

At $13.00 a plate I probably wouldn't make this place a "favourite", but it's definitely worth giving this little relaxed environment a shot when you're ravenously hungry after outlet shopping.

Tofu International
78 Bridge Rd
Richmond 3121 VIC

2 Reviews in 1: Soul Food & Shakahari

In the past week or so Will and I have visited two vegetarian establishments to explore their culinary offerings. Unfortunately no photos were taken.

Soul Food Cafe

273 Smith St
Fitzroy 3065 VIC

Phone: (03) 9419 2949

This little hipster cafe is located in a rather grungy area of Fitzroy as we passed many suspicious characters hanging outside the local Tab on the way their. It somehow transported me back to my days in Madrid. The inside of the cafe had a homey, comfortable feel to it and once inside we weren't sure whether to seat ourselves or wait to be seated. Once we sat down, we also weren't sure whether we'd be waited on or if we ordered at the register; it was the latter because there weren't any menus for us to browse. We quickly scanned the cold display of foods available, which was a bit scarce due to it being the end of the night for them (around 8:30 pm), and decided upon a roasted eggplant pizza and a curious little dish called Haystack, both averaging about $12 a serve. The pizza was self explanatory, lacking in the vegetable department, heavy on the cheese, but graced with a lovely thin wholemeal crust that much a 'crunch' with each bite. The Haystack was an interesting little serve of a tasty, yet dry legume-nut filling wrapped with puff pastry topped with a sweet sultana sauce with cumin undertones. Without the sauce it would have been difficult to swallow. The food was satisfying overall, but not a place I'd go to for dinner before a night out on the town. The ambiance was so mellow I became sleepy, but the chai for two we ordered picked me right up.

Shakahari Vegetarian Restaurant
201 Faraday St
Carlton 3053 VIC

We'd walked by this little wonder heaps of times and only just now took the time to visit the establishment. I was familiar with the interior as I'd gone in on a previous occasion to drop off my CV. The inside of the restaurant is reminiscent of a Thai teak wood house with its dark wooden furniture and green foliage. The menu was small but obviously showed their dedication to using seasonal produce. The beverage menu was a decent size and included a selection of Rieslings, so I was sold on that alone. We settled on the Satay sticks of tempeh and tofu and the Croquettes, both mains priced at $17 each. When the dishes arrived at the table we were rather pleased with the presentation: stark white plates, eye-popping colours and neatly arranged edibles. Presentation is something that vegetarian restaurants are usually not noted for, but Shakahari earned extra points in that regard. The clientele here is not as young and hip as Vegie Bar, but more aligned with Soul Mama in St. Kilda. Overall, it was a great experience; it's as close as one can get in Melbourne to vegetarian fine dinning.