Christmas Cocktail Night @ Cafe Vue at 401

Usually the Café Vue cocktail nights are held in the city but for this special Christmas edition it's being held at Cafe Vue at 401.

We begin with


Juniper berry marinated trout gravlax with blinis and sour cream
Drink: Edilble gin and tonic

The edible gin and tonic is the item at the front of the plate sitting on a slice of confit lemon. It's what I'd call a jellied version of gin and tonic.

The blini were quite different to the norm - fairly thick but light, fluffy and slightly sweet, a lovely companion to the trout.

For the second round:



Paloma - tequila and grapefruit

I don't think any of our party were particularly found of tequila but this drink was a revelation. You'd think it would be quite sour and acidic but it wasn't - it had a pleasant sweet note which seemed to be enhanced by the salt rim. I can see this becoming the drink of summer.



Crab and Tomato Cannelloni

A very Vue de Monde type dish - the cannelloni made from a sheet of tomato jelly, stuffed with fresh crab. The only negative is that we only got one per serve!

For the third round:



Punch - tropical fruit, bitters and red wine
A judicious use of bitters keeps this from being overly sweet and when enjoyed with the duck, it's a bit like a chilled pinot



Duck Ballotine
Another dish where we could have easily had seconds.

For the fourth round:



Jerez - quince, sherry and sparkling wine



Baked Apple with pork crackling and goats cheese

The pork crackling looked like pieces of honeycomb - the dish was very well matched with the quince and sherry flavours of the cocktail.

For the fifth round:



Mini Bombe Alaska
Drink: Eggnog Assiette - custard, chocolate and pistachio

Once again the drink takes solid form and is served in eggshells. At the far left, custard - eggnog flavoured liquid topping a custard base, in the center, chocolate, at the right, pistachio, underneath the custard top lay a soft pistachio base.

The details:

Café Vue at 401
401 St Kilda Road
Melbourne

9866 8055
reservations for A la Carte Menu (including Menu du Jour) only

Open:
Monday-Friday: 7am to 11pm
Saturday-Sunday: 8am to 11pm

www.vuedemonde.com.au/cafe-vue.aspx