Alice in Wonderland featuring Little Creatures: Cafe Vue

430 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
Phone 03 9691 3899

To start at the end (…well, I always look at the dessert menu before choosing the mains), check out the packaging of the  dessert at the Alice in Wonderland Cocktail night at Cafe Vue.  Quirky, huh?  Such was the whimsy of the July theme, which featured alcholic cocktails care of Little Creatures. 

We started with Mad-Hatters tea, a unique take on the ol’ lemon, lime and bitters.  This version included Pipsqueak Cider (along with the lime and bitters), which was a rockin’ match.  I could imagine drinking this on happy Summer days.

Alongside came the Magical Mushroom Croque Monsieur – and yes, that is black truffle you see shaved on top.  Inside the toasted bread was a truffle infused mushroom pate with a gruyere rarebit. A good way to start the night.

Next came a VERY unusual dish – Angasi oysters with Chinese wine and brown bread.  Oysters, brown bread and ale are traditionally served together, but of course there was the Vue twist; the shells were in fact, brown bread!  They were almost like a brown shortbread, and were so rich in butter, that to be honest, it was somewhat hard to ingest.  The first I chomped down in one mouthful, and the union of raw oyster, buttery shortbread and Chinese Wine was just too rich.  The second I ate by consuming the oyster first on its own, and followed that with the “shell”.  Much more palatable.  But still, a full on dish – three was too much.

It partnered surprisingly well with a dark ale from White Rabbit, a Little Creatures spin off from Healesville.  The ale was malty and had a fabulous hoppiness and fruitness that went a treat with the oysters.  Another good match.

‘Cabbages and King…Fish’ was a taste sensation, but leaving me wanting more.  The “fish” were chips, made from besan (chickpea) flour. The “chips” were in fact the fish – goujons of white fish wrapped in bread and deep fried. Uh huh…fantastique.  It came with a shredded cabbage salad dressed with lemon and olive oil, and was paired with a Little Creatures Pilsner.

The drink for the next course was titled “Pale in Thyme”, which was the Little Creatures Pale Ale mixed with a lime and thyme infused sugar syrup.  It was very drinkable.

“March Hare’s carrot and goat’s cheese gnocchi with beetroot dressing” - hmm…I guess I should have remembered the inventiveness shown in previous dishes, but my heart sank just a wee bit when this particular dish was served.  As a person with Italian heritage, my idea of gnocchi are pillows of mouth-watering potato served with a good ragu.  On reading the description, I was anticipating a warm goats cheese infused carrot and potato gnocchi, dressed in a beetroot sauce.  Well…expectations often lead to dissapointment.  The “gnocchi” were essentially extruded and set goats cheese, light as a cloud, but cool, and the carrots had been cooked in a thermoregulator at 62 degrees, which made for al dente carrot batons.  Yes, I was very impressed with the technique and the taste of this dish, but I was dissapointed by my own expectation.  I wanted something warm and comfort-foody, especially on these cold winter nights.

But then the magnificently presented dessert arrived, and those poulet/pullet eggs. Inside the each shell was an unsweet vanilla custard topped with a pear gel and tea jelly.  They were quite firm set, and really, not to be enjoyed on their own due to the unsweetness.  But partnered with the warm sweet lemon-scented madelines, it was absolutely lovely.  I must confess though – I don’t know where the lemon curd ended up (unless it was in the madeline batter?).  I was once again expecting those oozy lemon curd Madelines kind of like the ones at Cumulus Inc.

They served this dessert with the drink “Such a Bright Blosson”, which included the Little Creatures Bright Ale, mixed with honey bourbon, sugar syrup and orange blossom water.  Once again, a very drinkable drink.