Sweet As Café Vue at 401 St Kilda Road Melbourne
By Emma Westwood
Having sufficiently polished off a duck pie at Café Vue at 401 St Kilda Road in Melbourne, the waiter – with great aplomb and flourish – suggests we wander up to the display table to consider a dessert. “The patisseries need to be seen to be believed,” he assured us. “They’re very special.”
Reticent as we may have been to rise up from comfortable seats, the short walk to the patisserie display lived up to the waiter’s hype. All sorts of delicate, tiny works of art were spread out with exacting precision before us. They were intricately designed – either candy colourful or bursting with the richest of chocolately goodness – and almost too breathtakingly beautiful to obliterate with teeth or fork.
Given chef /entrepreneur Shannon Bennett’s predilection for modernising French cuisine, this focus on sweets at his latest venture – Café Vue – seems highly appropriate. (It’s difficult to miss the oh-so-Parisian inclusion of macaroons in a rainbow selection of tastes, among other Gallic familiarities). Bennett himself is the flavour of the moment on the Melbourne restaurant scene, having collected a swag of critical awards and a consistent flow of patronage for his CBD establishment, Vue de Monde.
After some wrangling with a liquor licence, the doors to Café Vue were thrown open in September 2009; Bennett’s first local eatery situated away from the Vue de monde hub. Embodying what could be described as ‘fine café dining’, the brilliant white interior of this venue recalls a somewhat contemporarised ‘Marie-Antoinette’ styling with embellishments in garden party green; the perfect place for urban sophisticates to sup on dainty sweets and sip on champagne. (In fact, a glass of champagne appears to be the preferred suggestion by waiting staff as the drink to enjoy on arrival).
An interesting ‘bird-cage’ communal table has been inspired by the Louis XVI-era royal corsetry, while the bathroom is coloured in ‘off with her head’ red. There’s even life-sized topiary signage on the street. What was that hedonistic French queen purported as saying? Yes – “Let them eat cake.”
“The intention is to create an environment where guests can enjoy the benefits of a fast-paced café, but also dine more formally if they wish,” explains the Group Pastry Chef, Anthony Hart, referring to a menu that accommodates informal lunches and even takeaway, before switching to a ‘Menu du Jour’ in the evenings. While Café Vue is reminiscent of an authentic French rotisserie, there are less expected flavours incorporated in the mix, the likes of tonka bean, cardamom, Szechuan pepper, beetroot and lemon balm.
The fact that Hart’s job position even exists suggests the importance of chocolates and patisseries to Café Vue (not to mention the obvious pride in the Illy coffee brewed to absolute perfection, which is the ultimate accompaniment to these sweet treats). Everything at Vue is created on-site. While the service kitchen sits on the same floor as the dining areas, head down into the basement and there is a bakery, temperature-controlled chocolate room and preparation area for their now famous takeaway lunch boxes.
Hart confirms all pastries, bread and chocolate are made by hand with loving consistency in this basement pastry kitchen, using the very best of ingredients, such as Amedei chocolate imported from Tuscany.
“A good pastry or chocolate involves a balance of flavours and textures,” elucidates Hart on his secrets to sweet success. “We’ve been inspired by the creations of great chefs such as Carème and Escoffier. We’ve researched these traditional recipes from professional pastry cookbooks, but we also like to work with our suppliers to find intriguing new ingredients to incorporate. Our gateaux are crafted by using specialist flexipans from Europe,” he says, using the French word rather than the more pedestrian English translation of ‘cake’.
Hart continues, “Eating a gâteau, which has four or five different elements in each mouthful is more exciting than a one-dimensional cake. An unexpected twist on an old favourite recipe provides a touch of wit or whimsy, which is important in our menu design given Vue de monde as a whole has been operating since 2000. Chocolate-making requires a lot of skill and experience – you can’t rely on thermometers when tempering chocolate, you need to feel the product you are working with. And presenting patisserie perfectly each time requires extreme attention to detail.”
Given such an extensive list of sweet things to produce on an ongoing basis, Hart pinpoints some all-time favourites that, if removed from the menu, could possibly incite a revolution similar to that of Louis XVI’s reign. Caramel slice topped with gold leaf, pistachio cupcakes and fresh fruit tarts are among this roll-call of mainstays. “But the lamingtons have been a surprise favourite here,” he admits. They change the way people think of the old Australian standard.”
Proving Café Vue is anything but shackled by tradition, Hart confesses to considering something that would have French connoisseurs wrinkling their noses in distaste: vegemite macaroons. While this ‘delicacy’ is yet to crop up on the menu, it’s a taste sensation that, no doubt, would come down to the individual palate. Personally, Hart can’t go past a good custard Danish in the morning. He concludes with a broad grin of satisfaction, “It never fails to start my day in the correct way.”
Café Vue at 401 St Kilda Road
Melbourne, Victoria
Australia
T +61 3 866 8055
www.vuedemonde.com.au
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