Boire
92 Smith Street
Collingwood
(no phone)
Boire is a warm and welcoming bar that is a little French, a little quirky, a little modern. Catherine Chauchat, Bordeaux-trained winemaker and bar owner, imports all of the wine from small producers in her native France. The list also includes French beer and a small selection of boutique local labels.
Boire’s architecturally-designed interior promotes a casual-dining atmosphere. It is simple and minimalist, created to enhance the experience of rustic food and fine wine. A vast blackboard covering an entire wall provides an eye-catching visual and expansive descriptions of the wine and food selections (the latter changing every second day). The bar serves a small selection of ‘peasant’ food such as pork pâté to local olives from the Grampians, as well as a compact list of mouth-watering meals, all designed to perfectly accompany your wine.
Boire’s approach to food and wine benchmarks itself as a perfect venue for a warm, wine-drinking sanctuary
Shannon Bennett opens
Café Vue at
401 St Kilda Road
Internationally acclaimed chef Shannon Bennett, of Vue de Monde, has opened a new venue on St Kilda Rd.
Café Vue at 401, which opened in September 2009, offers full table service with quick casual meals and a limited la carte dining available at lunch time and in the evenings. Everything served at Café Vue - including fresh bread, filled baguettes, speciality pies, viennoisseries, gateaux and handcrafted chocolates - is made in-house. The décor is a modern interpretation of the era of Marie Antoinette with luxurious textured finishes and wonderful colours.
Located on the ground level of Pan Urban’s luxury residential redevelopment, Café Vue at 401 provides a window onto St Kilda Road serving express take away meals including the signature Café Vue lunch boxes, Illy coffee and a range of sandwiches and pastries.
Bennett’s next venture, Café Vue at Heide Museum of Modern Art, is due to open in November 2009.
For bookings call Ph: (03) 9866 8055 or view the menu and photo gallery see www.vuedemonde.com.au
No 35 restaurant at Sofitel - new elegant dining with a view
Sofitel Melbourne On Collins has a new fine dining restaurant called No35, located 35 floors above the Paris end of Collins Street.
The restaurant, which opened in June, boasts rich dark timbers and a sophisticated palette of gold, red and pink tones enhanced by a collection of contemporary artworks and spectacular views of Melbourne and surrounds.
No35 serves modern cuisine, using the freshest seasonal ingredients. Overseeing the kitchen is UK chef Stuart McVeigh whose background includes working at several Michelin star restaurants in London as well as a stint at The Botanical (South Yarra).
The sommelier is Kyriacos Christodoulou (recently at Gordon Ramsay’s Maze in London) and the restaurant manager Chris McNally hails from Sydney’s Steel Bar & Grill.
For more information: www.sofitelmelbourne.com.au
