Melbourne: Café Vue at 401

Owner of the Vue de monde group is one of Melbourne’s greatest chefs- Shannon Bennet. His café on 401 St. Kilda Road is a more casual and relaxed version of the Vue de monde restaurant. Their food was simple but exceptional.

Soft shell crab with tomato and cumin sauce($19)

Duck ravioli with sage butter ($19)

Terrine du jour

This 12 hour cooked beef cheek was incredibly soft and tender.

Braised beef cheek with baby vegetables ($30)

Miso marinated barramundi with clams meuniere ($30)

 Ocean trout with sorrel sauce ($30)

This dish is the epitome of 'simple but exceptional food' mentioned above... The roast chicken was perfectly cooked- not only was the meat very tender, but it was also still firm and did not lose its texture. The chips were also very addictive as they were more solid and firm compared to ordinary ones. Possibly the best roast chicken and chips out there! :D

Roast chicken with mash potatoes or fries

And for dessert...

Madeleines with honey ice cream ($16)

Pistachio crème brulee ($16)

Pear tart tatin ($16)

Pistachio, chocolate, coconut, orange, strawberry and passion fruit macaroons 

The bitter sweet warm chocolate mousse went very well with the sour poached plums. The chocolate biscuit or cake crumbs added more texture to this delight :)

Poached plum with warm chocolate mousse ($16)

Café Vue at 401 had a very stylish and modern interior. The vibrant colours definitely creates an upbeat atmosphere and makes an impression in the minds of many- especially their washrooms, possibly the red-est one out there haha

Nibble on Nibblies! xx

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Café Vue at 401

401 St Kilda Rd
Melbourne, 3141


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Bite Me Burger Co.

J&L are still looking for that perfect burger. Buns warm and crisp yet soft in the centre, meat patties cooked but still with the succulent juices and all the glorious fillings to make that burger more than just 2 slices of bread and meat...

So we set off to try Bite Me Burger. Offering a wide range of gourmet burgers as well as Pat and Stick’s Ice Cream and creative cocktails it looked like a very promising contender. Besides, how could we not go to a place that offered burgers called “Wagyu Me” or “Steak Me” or even “Pluck Me”? hehehe 

We entered the store and were greeted by mannequins wearing Bite Me’s very own merchandise T-shirts next to signs that says “Make the World a Burger Place!”- it is then when we knew this was the right place, even if the food don’t turn out to be a 10/10, their attitude is definitely a winner :D

J& L had planned this out strategically so we could try as many burgers as we can! Being a group of 6 (J,L, Y, P ,K and F), we would each have one of  the 6 Mini Burgers and then share the Mega!  On top of that, Y also had a caramel shake while P chose an Iced chocolate :) perfect drinks to go with burgers! We also ordered some hot chips to share, after all, what are burgers without hot chips! hehe

Caramel Shake ($5)

Iced chocolate with vanilla ice cream, topped with cream ($5)

Small Chip Me ($3)

Mini burgers: Mini Beef Burger, Mini Lambtastic, Mini Pluck Me, Mini Bloody Mary, Mini Jack Daniels, Mini Vegetari Anne ($26 for 6)

The Pluck Me was probably the best- Grilled corn-fed chicken breast topped with melted King Island brie, iceberg lettuce & seeded honey mustard. The chicken was juicy and tender, the flavours of the cheese and mustard were not overpowering, making it a very light yet tasty chicken burger!

Mini Pluck Me

The Bloody Mary sounded like an interesting one- Grain-fed beef, smothered in our Bloody Mary sauce including vodka, Worcestershire, Tabasco & tomato sauce served with cos lettuce. Though it turned out not as expected, the flavours were not strong and tasted more or less like the ordinary beef burger just with a subtle hint of Tabasco.

The Vegetari Anne somewhat resembled the flavours in a falafel kebab - Delicious lentil burger, grilled capsicum, haloumi cheese, rocket & chermoulah yoghurt.

Mini Vegetari Anne

All the burgers were quite tasty and filling even tho they were the mini size. We finished all burgers before realising we still had the Mega to come. The mega was “A pound (450g)

of delicious grain-fed beef topped with tasty cheese, bacon,tomato, iceberg lettuce, sautéed onion, pickles & your choice of tomato sauce or BBQ sauce. Served on a giant bun”

The burger was indeed “mega” and we had to split it into 6 slices – just like a cake! Haha :P

Each “slice” was quite thick and we were all pretty full by the time we were done.

MegaBite ($29)

MegaBite VS Mini Burgers

But of course, what’s a meal without dessert? 

So we end up sharing Pat and Stick’s Ice Cream Sandwiches. J and F’s Caramel Pecan had a very yummy dough which tasted a bit like digestive biscuits with little pieces of pecan in it, L’s favourite. Y and K went with Mochaccino, whose ice cream was rather bitter compared to the common coffee flavoured ice creams –J’s favourite. L and P had the Vanilla Choc, it was a simple combination but with good quality ingredients, it makes all the difference hehe- Y’s favourite. Haha, turns out we might have all ordered the wrong thing :P but next time we know which one to get!

Caramel Pecan

Machaccino

Vanilla Choc

Pat and Stick’s Ice Cream Sandwiches ($5 each)

It was overall a very filling and satisfying meal. Even though the service was really slow, and each time we tried to make an order, the waitresses would say “one moment please”… The décor was very vibrant and striking and the innovative burgers were definitely more than your typical bun and meat patty combination and dessert proved to be the perfect way to finish up. Looks like we’re not doing too bad to find that perfect burger ;) !

Nibble on Nibbles! xx 

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Bite Me Burger Co.

Harbourwalk, Star City Casino (next to Duffys)
80 Pyrmont St, Pyrmont NSW 2009 

Munching down Memory Lane ..

So when J&L decided to re-visit their old high school for some reminiscing, they listed out just what they wanted to do… see the new school uniform, have a quick chat with their old teachers and of course to get that tuckshop food they had  lunched on throughout their high school years .. in particular that $3  Hot Ham and Cheese Roll  ( oh how we miss buying lunch for under $5 :)   =( haha ) 

So off we went and it was a pretty interesting experience. Walking up those familiar stairs and passing the classrooms seemed as if we had never left yet, we could see all the new changes taking place. Chatting with the many teachers, we nearly lost track of time until the school bell rang … yep ! it was LUNCH TIME =) teeheehee. The line wasn’t as bad as we thought at the tuckshop but to our disappointment there were no more hot rolls left that day =( *tear*. We looked at the menu to see if there were any new things, but it was pretty much the same…  So we decided to lunch out at the nearby Charcoal Chicken where the boarders used to go to after school and sometimes we would also go along with them.  

Charcoal Chicken

We got the famous Satay Chips, which was not suprisingly... hot satay sauce drizzled over warm, crunchy potato chips. They were so popular that they kept increasing the price during the years that we were at school. It was just the same as it tasted years ago.. the satay sauce here is definately the best! It is more creamy than usual ones probably from adding peanut butter? wished there was more satay sauce though! 

Medium Satay Chips ($4.50)

L also had a tasty chicken salad  with a creamy pesto dressing and plenty of vegetables.. it was VERY filling! 

Medium Chicken Pesto Salad ($6.80) 

And we tried both the frittatas- Crab & Zucchini and Corn. Both had a quite thick batter and were quite different to what we had expected. The crab and zucchini was quite tasty having a light balance of both meat and vegetables, whilst the corn had capsicum (which we didn’t realize until we had taken a bite) that gave it a fresher and lighter flavour!

Corn Fritters ($3.00) 

Crab & Zucchini Fritters ($3.00) sorry we forgot to take a photo of the inside :P and it actually wasn't that burnt, it's just the picture hehe

J also had a stick of satay chicken which was dipped generously in the same delicious satay sauce as the ones in the chips. The chicken was juicy and tender, went perfectly with the peanutty sauce =D !

Chicken Satay ($3.00)

The last thing to complete to our nostalgic lunch was milkshakes from Perfection.  These freshly made milkshakes was a definite high school favourite - creamy and smooth.  

 

 

Perfection Chocolates 

J chose Chocolate whilst L tried Strawberry.Both were very thick and smooth and ended the lunch on a sweet note hehe. The milkshakes were made with a generous scoop of icecream making them extra creamy :P. The chocolate wasn’t like the ones made from chocolate sauce because they probably used their own chocolate too since it was a confectionary store.  The strawberry surprisingly tasted like the actual fruit, and not an artificial flavor. 

 Chocolate Milkshake & Strawberry Milkshake ($4.95 each)

Lunch was tasty and very very filling! We had completed our trip down memory lane, satisfying our memories AND our stomachs ;) 

Nibble on Nibblies ! xx 

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 Charcoal Chicken

 732 New South Head Rd, 

Rose Bay, NSW 2029

Perfection Chocolates

700 New South Head

Rose Bay NSW 2029