Deliciousness at Bistro Vue!

A friend of Pooey's was coming to visit Melbourne so I crashed their dinner at Bistro Vue :D. And when I say crashed, I really do mean crashed because, as a sociologist, he was going to meet Pooey and charge it to work as a "research dinner" - well, as a newly minted PhD, I am also now able to talk about all sorts of topics in a research capacity! Kekekeke.

Because I'm kinda crazy, I decided to walk from uni all the way down to the restaurant. I had 40 minutes and was wearing a pair of kitten heels. The Pom thought I wouldn't be able to do it in time. Well, not only did I make it with 5mins to spare, I beat Pooey and Dr.R to the restaurant! Now, there was a bit of a kerfuffle because I didn't know whose name it was under - not having met Dr. Reez (yet), and the restaurant refusing to give me the names of the other parties of three for that night. Maybe they thought I would steal it, maybe I would...

Anyway, the issue was solved and I opted to sit at the bar rather than sit all alone at the table, waiting for them to drag their drunk asses to the place. I was asked if I'd like a drink while I waited - Gin & tonic? Champagne? I was all "Champagne would be lovely!" until I heard the maitre d'hotel lean over and say, "The Veuve." The barman promptly showed me a bottle of Veuve Cliquot, pulled off the foil, uncorked, and poured me a glass.

Meanwhile, I was slightly freaking out at what that was going to cost
And I sat there at the bar, nervously drinking my (admittedly, lovely) champagne, slightly freaking out and all alone.

Pooey and Dr.R eventually arrived and we were shown to our table where Pooey introduced me as someone who liked soccer - and the conversation went from there! In fact, we had to tell the waitress to give us more time because we didn't look at the menu! When we did eventually look at our menus, we ordered

Escargots in garlic sauce for entree! Miam miam
(Dr. R refused to eat these)

Pooey's main - the confit duck!

My main! - Cassoulet with porkbelly, confit duck, and toulouse sausage!
Also came with a shiraz on the side. Deliciousness and highly recommended!

Dr. R's main - umm....steak?

Side of fennel salad

GOOSE FAT POMME FRITES!!!
*food gargle*

Mini baguettes - these were still warm when we got them!

Doesn't matter what kind of Dr. or Asian you are, we photograph our food!

At this point, I was feeling pretty full. So full that I was contemplating not getting dessert.

WHUT?!

Luckily, I re-entered a state of sanity and got the...

Madeleines
Oh hello! Look at you cute little cakes with your crispy outers and soft tender buttery cakey inners with the sides of apple puree and honey icecream....*food gargle*

Bubbai Madeleine, you're going to good home!

Dr. R's chocolate souffle - when the waitress poured chocolate sauce into it, it rose even more!

Pooey lovingly looks at her rhubarb trifle.

Now at this point, I must mention the party that was sitting next to us. We'd been sitting for a while when a large party of young-twentyish asians sat down. It was an odd party because most of them were dressed smart/casually in jeans and tshirts and yet one of them had a fascinator on her head. I'm not sure how to express how annoying it was seeing that GIANT BOW on her head. Inappropriate headwear! Turns out one of the party was having a birthday. We know this because they sang *Happy birthday* and we joined in, especially on the *hoorays!*

I think we ended up being the second last party to leave at the end of the night. Good food, good convo, good sociological research, and only one stupid hat.