Cafe Vue at Heide, Bulleen by Bureaucrat

For lunch one weekend, we went to Cafe Vue at Heide. I had been to Heide years ago for an exhibition. However this was the first time I went there to try the cafe. Cafe Vue at Heide is located this open cube space. Think minimalist and lots of glass and black. It has a bit of buzz to it - lots of young families and young and old couples with lots of discretionary income.

There are two menus. One is a set 2 or 3 course meal. The other is a typical cafe menu. We opted for the latter, as there were more options.


Mother Hen went for the club sandwich. This came as a deconstructed club sandwich. Visually, it was a bit of a let down. When I think of club sandwich I expect to see a towering stack of toasted bread, crammed full of tasty fillings. What was presented was three slices of untoasted bread (but quality bread) with poached chicken w cress; some sort of ham w seeded mustard; and BLT. All three fillings tasted okay but not very memorable.


Mr Strong went for the pulled pork steamed bun w chips. This was also a bit of a let down. A smallish bun, with a moderate amount of pork, mayo and gherkins. As with the club, the filling were good, but really, I'm suffering from amnesia re the flavours. The chips were twice cooked with skins on. I remember these as they were pretty tasty - lots of crunch and potatoey flavour. The tomato sauce was more like a salsa - deep roasted tomato flavour with a chunkyish texture.


I went for the waygu beef burger. To be honest, I haven't had a proper waygu steak before so I don't know what it's meant to taste like. The beef patty tasted like any other beef patty. The bacon was alright - it wasn't too salty or fatty, but it was a tad chewy (it wasn't as crispy as I would have wanted). It came with the same chips as above.


A squishy table for three



Overall
I know this review isn't terribly informative, but really, there was nothing about the food at Cafe Vue at Heide that made you think 'wow'. It's a very bread-based menu, which was a bit disappointing. I would have thought that with Shannon Bennett would have had a more enlightened view regarding the menu.

For the price, the food size was slightly on the small size. Despite the smaller size, we were quite full by the end of it - but that was mainly because there was alot of bread.

I think Cafe Vue at Heide is a middle-of-the-road cafe. I wouldn't go back there again just for the food. However, having said that, Cafe Vue at Heide is located with the Heide gallery, so it makes for a nice day out if you then strolled around the gallery and the lush grounds afterwards. There were quite a few families that brought their own picnic basket. I think that would be more a memorable experience (btw, you can purchase picnic baskets from Cafe Vue at Heide or BYO).

Another unimpressive thing about Cafe Vue at Heide was the tea. On the menu, it says 'fresh mint tea'. The fresh mint tea was listed separately from the rest of teas (eg English breakfast etc). I ordered that thinking that it would be made with actual, live, fresh mint. What I got was a teabag. I mean, c'mon. That is poor form.

Aside from the chips, the one thing that I did make an impression was the service. Up until the time when we asked for the bill, the service was alright - fairly responsive and friendly. However, when we asked for the bill, we had to flag down four waiters - each of them saying that they will get it for us. We saw a few tables that got their bills quicker than us. Twenty minutes later, we went up to the counter and asked to settle the bill. I told the waitress in no uncertain terms that we were not happy with such inattentive service. She apologised but coupled with the average food and the sloppy service we have now a rather dim view of Cafe Vue at Heide.

Verdict
Food – 7
Service – 6
Ambience – 7
Price – 6.5

Address
Cafe Vue at Heide
7 Templestowe Road
Heide Museum Of Modern Art
Bulleen 3105
Telephone: 03 9852 2346