Stu and I had knocked off, we had our routine couple of shots of Jacks in the bar, then headed back to the staff house after another night grinding at Grey Gums.
“’I’m off for a few games of Command and Conquer Stu, see ya soon.”
About 20 minutes later I heard a knock at the door. When I opened it up Stu had scratches and blood all over his shoulders and face.“The f#$k happened to you man?” I chirped, semi-concerned and semi-trying not to laugh my face off.
“I managed to get Skitzo into the staff room, I was feeding him basically on my shoulder and he lost his shit.”
“Damn chef, what did you do that for? he’s a possum” I responded. I was giggling like the apprentice bitch I was at the time.
“Shut up Jimmy, want to help me get him in Chris’s room?” Stu retorted.
“Yes chef, but how we gonna do that’ I lipped off.
“With food Jimmy, let’s get on it before he gets back!”
We had plenty of possums that used to hang out outside the staff house at Cradle Mountain, yet two main characters’ we adorned Skitzo and Fatso. Fatso was an epically big unit, with big chunks of fur missing, presumably through brawling and had half a bald tail. We assumed he was the king of this possum domain, yet then there was Skitzo, the contender! Skitzo had this shiny coat of fur that glistened beautifully in the light! He was small in stature, yet savage on a level that would send all the possums scattering when he rocked up screeching and going ape shit while we were smashing darts on the balcony and felt like giving the locals a feed, except Fatso! Skitzo had game and plenty of aggression, yet Fatso had size! I never saw any direct beef between the two. Maybe Skitzo was just Fatso’s apprentice! But whatever was social possum protocol, these guys had some sort of mutuality going on!
…
Stu, I and most of the other lads and lasses got up to plenty of moderate mischief up on Cradle Mountain, but without a doubt, he was an astute professional when it came to cooking. Research, hard work and very good food was the Stu mantra I inherited, as well as making sure you enjoy yourself after a hard day in the grinder! I have rambled on about all sorts of motivational times, places, people and all that kind of jazz, but Stu was the first chef that really took me under his wing. I was starting to catch on with what it took to be a chef beforehand, yet Stu really drove things home for me!
A temp chef named Mark, who had just previously took me under his wing for a short while, I believe encouraged Stu to take care of me and he gave me the relentless leadership required to be an elite chef! I felt I knew what was needed at the time, but I also needed the right kind of blow torch put over me!
I remember rolling in one day and having my rolled eye fillets ripped apart, repeatedly, as they were too loose for what felt like 2 to 3 hours non-stop! “Stop playing around you cocky little shit and do it properly.” He would command,
“I am Stu, I swear!”
“Bullshit Jimmy, do it again’” and again, and again and again. I’m sure you get my point — I would consistently role on in and have inconsistent days. Some days were good, some average. We’re all allowed off days, but inconsistency is the devil’s seasoning when you’re a chef. Fair to say my eye fillets have been tight ever since!
Enough of that dribble anyway, time to get to the point. I’m having lunch at Vue de Monde, one of Melbourne’s finest restaurants, run by one of Australia’s finest chefs, Shannon Bennett. Back in the day on Cradle Mountain I had Mr. Bennett’s Bistro Vue book and Stu had his Vue de Monde book. Stu would regularly be going through the books and I remember him stirring me up about getting over and trying some of his food one day, yey mainly the importance of doing your homework in this line of work. This was 12 or so years ago. If you wanted to be a good chef, you have to be like the good chefs! Whether it was just looking at the pictures or running a real deal pepper sauce on a special! The motivation and reference from his books, as well as other chefs books, played a big role in my cooking then, now and right through my career! I am fairly certain these guys in at Vue de Monde all have copies of ‘White heat’ or ‘Larousse gastronomique’ or something similar!
My ex-wife and I got into Bistro Vue a year or so later just after I qualified and left the mountain, but this will be the first time I’ll get a look at some top end fine dining!
I’m honestly just winging this review, so here’s how I’m running it down! We have all seen copious amounts of reviewers on restaurants, especially in this day and age where any donkey can do one and feel their opinion is valid, yet I’m a story teller, not critic. Plus I know how to cook!
After arriving at the restaurant foyer, on the ground floor, some professional looking young chap sent myself and another group to go wait on some couches. A few minutes later he escorted us to the lift and we were on our way up, to level 55. Both groups were personally escorted to our tables once we got there.
I had a window seat with a great view all to myself. All guests’ were parked on some kangaroo fur seats, very much reminiscent to the ‘89 patrol diesel seats we had growing up — as well as all the other tanned hides we had kicking about back at the ranch. A very Aussie feel was being had in this fine dining restaurant, looking to encapsulate Australian culture from a fine dining perspective.
After teeing up a water, there were a few shouts of some solid “Yes, chef” from the open kitchen which snapped me out of my comfort zone for a moment! “Settle down James” I told myself, I’m not on the payroll here.
The first course was oysters, freshly shucked right in front of me and delivered in from N.S.W. I had three of these fresh bio valves, one of each different combo they had on offer. My first option, Finger lime, was the pick of the bunch. Safe to say they were all solid though.
The second round was Wasabi and buttermilk snow with lemon myrtle. This caught me of guard a little as I’m not much of a wasabi man, but it was prime time. The snow was just what you would expect when you’re out paying some solid cash for food. This lunch was about the experience and the team were delivering.
The third course was crab sausage — on my own smoking grill — with a brioche roll and pickled cucumber. I had a grilled, crab-stuffed zucchini flower with foam to accompany it. This dish, components to a dish to be more precise, was like enjoying all the foundations of the barbie at home, with all the elements pushed to their extreme! I have never heard of mud crab snags in a brioche bun, but pretty stoked I have now. 10/10 for mine with this doozy!
Round four; Marron, coconut cauliflower puree, grilled bread, aged cream butter with some kind of bisque sauce that I can’t remember the name of. This was the first time I had ever heard of Marron and it was insanely good. Due to my native Tassie pedigree and failing memory, I had by this point started to struggle to pick up on the dish explanations from the heavily accented front of house crew. In my own experience behind the grill, I have always firmly believed that customers are better off not knowing what they are eating for the most part, with allergens the exception. I was getting that comfortable I could have pulled a donna over myself while eating this dish until I passed out or had made myself sick it was that good! Beyond delicious with this number!
Time for a palate cleanser. Chef Stu would have loved this one! Watermelon granita with herbs, flowers and liquid nitrogen! Finally, I got to put my lips around the stuff that paid homage to the T1000 from Terminator 2 movie, liquid nitrogen! I was scared at first when the fine chap in a suit poured the nitrogen into my mortar of herbs and flowers. This gear was alive, I was shaking! Once I put my blouse away and pestled this combo together, the team slid in the sorbet and I waited for it to settle. I was glad I didn’t go the way of the T1000, but my sorbet wasn’t so lucky! I made a decent mess on the table and floor trying to break it up, but after five minutes or so, I could break it down. You could definitely tell James Nicol had been in the room, there was a mess on the floor for these guys to clean up once I had left the building. This course was truly a spectacle!
Round five. This was without a doubt the prettiest of dishes I had received for the duration of my degustation! Cured kangaroo, walnut and asparagus. The chap informed me once it was delivered to make sure I mixed it up. I was somewhat in another world at this point — the Vue De Monde world — taking pictures and documenting dishes were well and truly on the back burner! The rustic, smoky and well-balanced textures of the dish put it down as one of the most unexpected elements of this experience. It was truly what I would expect flavour wise whilst having a BBQ out in the scrub, whilst every bit the fine dining experience with all the trim. The boss man asked if I wanted a break, so I took it. I didn’t want the flavour to end. Simply a sensational dish that comprised everything I have ever been taught about food.
Round six. An Australian themed degustation without lamb most could argue would be un Australian. Rolled backstrap, stuffed with a pea farce (peas were still green with a perfect Medium rare protein, banging work chef!) with what was probably a week worth of re-topped up then re-concentrated Jus Lie. Basically, roast lamb and vegetables, pushed to the absolute extreme! The perfect dish! Keep it simple someone once told me!
Round seven. Banana and caramel paddle pop. This was neat AF. I have always wanted to eat an edible Paddle pop stick. There was the obvious flavour of banana cake style banana flavour, which I’m not sure I would run with myself, yet it was truly delicious non the less. I was informed this was a throw-back the Head chef’s childhood. Well played chef, well played.
Round eight. Chocolate soufflé with espresso ice cream. An absolute classic in any fine dining food world, this was also the first time I had ever eaten a sweet soufflé. Word on the street was that this number had been on the menu since the restaurant’s inception. I could taste why, absolute bliss!
Round nine. Celeriac granita with white chocolate cream. Celeriac granita as a finish course, hey! Ballsy AF I thought. Lovely dish component the celeriac if you know what your doing, but as a sweet? I would have never thought, but they absolutely nailed this, with Thor’s hammer! Up there with the best part of my experience!
I ordered a latte, smashed a dart out on the deck, then slipped back in for some homemade Aussie classic biscuits with another latte, Tim Tam included.
Overall, this was worth every penny of my $280. Astute professionalism out on the floor (I almost didn’t know how to react when they were pushing my chair in under me), complete synchrony in the kitchen, complete professionalism all around from where I was sitting!
I was over for a trip to potentially get a gig in Melbourne and fortunately they let me in, I even left a resume. These top cats are probably another level on this okka pub grubber, but I’ll be a better chef without doubt for the experience! not to mention Stu would be proud!
Getting around professionals’ and some good food is definitely what my mind and cookery soul needed at the moment and the Vue de Monde team delivered in spades! This personal view is surely not any kind of dig at my previous professional environments! Yet I don’t think there would be a single hospitality establishment in the whole of Tasmania that could deliver what these guys did on this fine, spring Melbourne day!
My first head chef on Cradle mountain had planted a seed for me when I first got on the Mountain and Stu was the first guy who I could come home with, pull out a cook book and research how the top dogs of cookery strut their delicacies! It’s the same thing in any industry, social group or even family!
“If you lay down with dogs, you’re gonna get flees’ an old mate used to say to me!” The same thing flows the other way, if you surround yourself with the people, groups and environments you aspire to be like, you’re going to get there! Luckily for me I found myself around the Strutter’s, Wisey’s, Devine’s, Calibre’s and plenty of other professional chefs. Vue De Monde gave me so much more than a full belly and the best dining experience I have ever been involved with! They gave me a standard to aspire to and lit the Jiffy fire lighter under my bogged down arse!
…
“I can’t find nothing Stu, what’s out the fridge man?”
“Do possums eat chicken Jimmy?” Stu asked.
“Not sure Stu, give him some, whose is it anyway?” I encouraged! Skitzo had to like something we had in the fridge!
“He loves it” big Stu quipped excitedly! We were on! A stingy trail of chicken leading up to Chris’s room and a half chook under the bed was enough to entice young Skitzo into Chris’s room and the door was closed.
It was about midnight and Chris still hadn’t returned home so I went to bed. While waiting and listening to all the movement coming in and out of the hallway, Chris finally came into his room. A little bit of shuffling and he was out of there, with no reaction. Damn, I thought!
At about what seemed like 3 in the morning he headed down to his room for whatever reason, popped open the door. I heard a “what the f%$k”, a bit of crashing and bashing, a door slam and big Chris running up the hallway to inform everyone Skitzo was in his room! I locked my door!
Whoever was about all rolled up the hallway, giggling, unbelievably asking “who, how, what?”
I think it was Jess who piped up and said “be quiet guys, you’ll wake Jimmy up”. I heard someone rustling my door handle, then I heard Chris yell “F%$KING JIMMY!”
Tales of a Tassie Chef 