Vue De Monde Finally Gives Beer The Kudos It Deserves

[Thirsty Boy]

nice to see, but I agree - easy choices on teh beer selection rather than great choices.

I think Vue has been a one trick pony on the drinks front... it wine wine or wine - we are serious about this stuff and wine is teh only drink to be taken seriously after all.

At places like the Press Club... well, George wants to do a Grappa list, so the sommelier has to be a little more open minded - might as well have some decent beers, and they have great stand alone bar attached and I think that helps too.

I think its great to see Vue perhaps taking the idea of Beer a bit more seriously - but worry a little that with the beers chosen, the question "Can Beer match food as well as wine?" might simply be answered with a NO. Not that the majority of the beers are bad beers... just very unadventurous.

 

[floppinab]

From what I've observed, french restaurants tend to have more french stuff than normal restaurants do :icon_cheers:

It is a modern French restaurant.

Last time I checked, Duvel, Leffe were not French. And if that was a pre-requisite why are they serving wines from WA and NZ ffs.

The point I was trying to make was that there are plenty of local micro offerings that could've been chosen had they bothered to look, even a local Belgian style or two rather than go wholey and soley belgo/franco.

Wicked Elf do a wit and a dubbel either of which would've gone down nicely.

 

[kevin_smevin]

Yep agreed, looks a little too Belgio/Franco orientated when there are plenty of Ozzie offerings they could've put on there as well.

They are a french restaurant.... I guess they're trying to keep the theme going

 

[Fourstar]

Live in Perth for a while and you'll see it differently. Standard procedure over here when entering restaurants is to greet the Maitre D', drop your trousers and grip your ankles.
$80 looks like a bargain from the other side of the continent. Pity I'll be over there a month too late.

I didn't really word it well.. what i meant was 80 bucks is a fair wad of cash to most people even if it is good value.

If they consider food to be nothing more than sustinence when they could goto the local Shanghai dumpling house and get 150 dumplings for the same price they kinda see it as pissing money down the sink and not 'entertainment'.

I dont know what the value:return is like in Perth for fine dining or even regular dining but i must say with the selection we have in Melbourne, the competition is healthy enough to have these offerings regulary. The way i see it is $80 bucks is underselling this dinner especially with beer+wine. They could probably squeeze $120-140 a head out of people for this and still fill the seats twice over.

On a side note, i'm going to Adrian Richardson's La Luna for their Suckling Pig dinner in March. :icon_drool2: I went last year and it was supurb and its merely $95 a head!

http://www.melbournefoodandwine.com.au/event?id=249

Press club has a great beer menu.

Helenic Republic has a pretty good list too!

 

[zebba]

For those who are interested, "Ten Minutes By Tractor" on the Mornington Peninsula had a VERY well thought out beer list. It wasn't massive, but real thought had gone into it. It was a collection of microbreweries (both Oz and overseas), with a writeup on the beer and suggestions on matching. And they weren't just pales and pilseners. There was a flanders red, a lambic (cantillon), a few dubbels, a unibroue (can't remember which - not one I have had), IPA's, the whole lot.

Thing is though, real knowledge and thought had gone into both selecting the list, with good attention given to local product and (importantly for this thread) the suggestions for pairings. I was super impressed, and also super pissed off that I was driving... The beer list wasn't tacked on. Someone who cared looked like they had made it.

The food wasn't half bad either. It's a winery-restaurant, so I imagine that they understand how hard it is for little players, hense their support of ozzy micros.

 

[manticle]

Last time I checked, Duvel, Leffe were not French. And if that was a pre-requisite why are they serving wines from WA and NZ ffs.

The point I was trying to make was that there are plenty of local micro offerings that could've been chosen had they bothered to look, even a local Belgian style or two rather than go wholey and soley belgo/franco.

Settle down there sweatpea. No, Duvel and Leffe are not French although there's a bigger link between the culture of Belgium and France than there is Au and France.

I'm sure there's a million different things they could have chosen and someone, somewhere would have a cry that it wasn't being done perfectly.

 

[floppinab]

Settle down there sweatpea.

I'm well settled thankyou princess.

No, Duvel and Leffe are not French although there's a bigger link between the culture of Belgium and France than there is Au and France.

No doubt, but as I said the lack of comparable cultural links between Au and France doesn't seem to stop them from stocking locally made made wine.

I'm sure there's a million different things they could have chosen and someone, somewhere would have a cry that it wasn't being done perfectly.

True, so I guess you could say it's a start but given those talking up this joint on this thread and the time they no doubt spend on sourcing and preparing their food and wine you would like to think they could've had a little better look at some local offerings, see Zebba's post, hell if they really wanted to go French getting hold of some 3 Monts or Gavroch or maybe even a Kasteel shouldn't have been that hard. Just seems a bit lazy.

 

[manticle]

True, so I guess you could say it's a start but given those talking up this joint on this thread and the time they no doubt spend on sourcing and preparing their food and wine you would like to think they could've had a little better look at some local offerings, see Zebba's post, hell if they really wanted to go French getting hold of some 3 Monts or Gavroch or maybe even a Kasteel shouldn't have been that hard. Just seems a bit lazy.

Agreed. Hopefully that happens in the future.

I guess it's not just the beer list itself but the profiile beer is finally being given (considering one of melbourne's finest establishments offers boags, cascade, stella and duvel as the sum total at the moment).

 

[HoppingMad]

No link between Belgian and France? Dunno about that! I can spot a few on this label!

If they had a few of these on the menu I'd be happy to attend!

Hopper.

 

[Katherine]

On a side note, i'm going to Adrian Richardson's La Luna for their Suckling Pig dinner in March. icon_drool2.gif I went last year and it was supurb and its merely $95 a head!

mmmmmmmm another one of my food hero's. Suckling Pig YUM YUM YUM!

Adrian Richardson how good is he. Never eaten any of his food but I know its good!

Best sucklilng pig I have was in Bali and only cost me $2.00! washed down with a cold bintang. Now thats food and beer matching LOL!

 

[Fourstar]

mmmmmmmm another one of my food hero's. Suckling Pig YUM YUM YUM!
Adrian Richardson how good is he. Never eaten any of his food but I know its good!
Best sucklilng pig I have was in Bali and only cost me $2.00! washed down with a cold bintang. Now thats food and beer matching LOL!

Greatest thing i have ever eaten = Sucking pig cheeks. The most tender and suculent meat i have ever eaten. About the size of those 'oyster' bits of meat your get form a chickens back.

For any meat lovers, Adrian is a GOD. I coulnd't believe how tasty head cheese was. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_cheese

 

[zebba]

For any meat lovers, Adrian is a GOD. I coulnd't believe how tasty head cheese was. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_cheese

I watched a documentary* that had a small section on head cheese. :icon_vomit:

* The documentary was called "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". It said it was based on a true story so that makes it a documentary, right? h34r:

 

[kevin_smevin]

I know you can get all those beers pretty easily. Put they're pretty damned good beers and i'd be surprised if any of you have ever had the chance to drink them with food of this caliber, and compare it against wine. It impressed the pants off me. Alas, it is all sold out. They must be doing something right.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Greatest thing i have ever eaten = Sucking pig cheeks. The most tender and suculent meat i have ever eaten. About the size of those 'oyster' bits of meat your get form a chickens back.

For any meat lovers, Adrian is a GOD. I coulnd't believe how tasty head cheese was. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_cheese

Beer matching at La Luna this year instead of wine!! The Suckling Pig dinner matched with Squires beers... same critique as the Vue dinner for me, I would have gone to this one but I'm not really interested in the beers - unless they bust out some special ones like they did at the Matilda Bay event a couple of years ago. Let us know how it turns out Fourstar.

I went to the Suckling Pig thing a couple of years ago and it was the best value food and wine thing I have ever done... I got drunk and ate so much fantastic food I nearly lost it... not quite though.

I am doing the Beer and Beast event at Hotel Max this year... and tossing up between the La Luna and the Hotel Max Offal dinners. Probably Hotel Max as I have eaten some of Adrian's Offal dishes before. You are right about headcheese... it is magnificent, as is his Cotechino (and everything else too)

Are there any other hidden beer gems on at the Melb Food & Wine Festival this year?? There are a few, but none of them look terribly exciting to me... but I have done a lot of this sort of stuff over the last few years, so I might be getting jaded.

I'm taking a few weeks of holiday for the Festival....... time to punish the liver for its past transgressions

 

[svyturys]

ALL BOOKED OUT AT VUE DE MONDE!
I rang earlier today to book a table and was informed that the response was astounding.
I asked if they were going to repeat the degustation and I was informed that it would depend upon the success of March 9.

Cheers

 

[Fourstar]

I would have gone to this one but I'm not really interested in the beers - unless they bust out some special ones like they did at the Matilda Bay event a couple of years ago. Let us know how it turns out Fourstar.

I remember that! It was an awesome night! Barking Duck with Brett/Roselare in a chardonnay barrel! :icon_drool2:

I havnt seen anything else as of yet and if i do pick it up it will probably be booked out. I'll be sure to report back how it goes this year. I just hope im not sweating pork products for a week after the dinner again!