Vue de Monde impresses not just with the views that come with its lofty 55th-floor perch, but for holding its position in Melbourne's premier restaurant league for so long.
Consider lunch at Vue de Monde. Sure, it’s hard to beat the night view from 55 storeys high with the city sketched out in lights, but there’s also something to be said for watching clouds roll towards you at eye level while sipping vintage Dom Pérignon and diving into exquisitely fresh sea urchin with caviar and bunya nut cream or delicate slivers of kingfish and avocado sandwiching wasabi leaf and topped with pale wasabi “snow”. New executive chef Hugh Allen brings a youthful (he’s 24) enthusiasm to one of Melbourne’s great fine-diners, one still embracing the hits – the crab snags on a table-top barbecue, the liquid-nitrogen frozen herb and petal palate cleanser – while taking a deeper dive into Australian flavours. Excellent oysters, shucked in front of you at the kitchen bar, are teamed with condiments flavoured with lemon myrtle, native pepper and finger lime; lamb gets the saltbush treatment; and there are petits fours riffing on classic Australian biscuits, including a Davidson’s plum-flavoured Iced Vovo. Service is superb, as is the pricey wine list that’s always a welcome sight, day or night.
Gourmet Traveller’s restaurant guide gives a yearly snapshot at the best restaurants to eat at right now. The best-rated restaurants, as judged by the reviewers’ first-hand experience, form our national Top 50. The wine star-ratings, which range from zero to three stars are made by wine editor Max Allen on the strength of the quality of the restaurant’s wine list. View our rating key here.
Harvard Wang
