Bistro Vue

I am often found wandering the city late-ish at night, trying to find a dessert to satiate my stomach post-dinner (and/or first dessert). One of my qualms with the CBD is the lack of dedicated dessert cafes or restaurants, or the ones which are present, being ridiculously overpriced, or not even coming near what I expect from dessert (too Asian, cakes too dry etc).So, after much urbanspoon’ing, I settled on the walk towards Bistro Vue, the smooth bar-style restaurant that remains on the old Vue de Monde site on Little Collins. The décor is lovely and warm with dark mood lighting to set the scene for romance. Dessert romance.

First up was my beloved Tarte Tatin, they brought the dish out and turned it out in front of you. A beautiful, warm crispy pastry that wasn’t as heavy as a shortcrust, but definitely as buttery. The apples were highly caramelised, so quite sweet but the crème anglaise was very good at neutralising the sickening sweetness. I would have preferred a big scoop of vanilla bean ice-cream, but I can see how crème anglaise is more fancy pantsy.

Crème Brulee is a staple dessert for most restaurants, though sometimes it can be lacking in some ways. This style brulee was very eggy and disappointingly the shell was not thick enough to be cracked when broken.

The Mango St Honore was quite a strange choice. Presented in the very-hip “deconstructed” manner, it visually was the most modern of all the desserts but the taste of the dish wasn’t very cohesive. The mango jelly was too solid, the sorbet was biting but refreshing, the chocolate was smooth and tempered well. The puff pastry slices however, tasted very similar to burnt weetbix.

TL;DR An alright dessert spot for when you’re desperate, and it’s open late!