Tea Cupping Classes & Lunch at Bistro Vue

This post is about my experiences at the first ever Tea Cupping class hosted at Bistro Vue

This session was focused on Green Tea and they're held by Charles Serveau, the Tea Sommelier who replaced Sarah at Vue de Monde. He was such a delightful teacher and his passion and enthusiasm for tea was inspiring. 

A truly educational and eye opening experience that was held in the beyond gorgeous function room of Bistro Vue, my friend couldn't help but admire the architecture. 

We tried so many different kinds of Green Tea, I felt like I was in heaven. So much precision and care needs to be taken but it's worth it to brew a perfect cup of tea.

The day couldn't have possibly gotten any better....but it did. Our class was followed by a wonderful 3 course lunch paired with matching teas whipped up by the head chef of Bistro Vue, Chris Bonello. Chris was really friendly, such an easy going guy.

Photo courtesy of Charles.

Our first course was Cured Kingfish with salt bush, wood sorrel, lemon oil, seaweed salt.

Second course was Confit Duck Leg with Jerusalem artichoke puree, roasted carrots and beer pickled onions. It was incredible how well the teas matched with this dish.

Finally for dessert a Rum and Vanilla parfait with 8 spice, honey and a White chocolate mousse. It was an extremely valuable experience...well worth the early morning wake up and a bargain at $70, in my opinion. I wish I could have afforded to attend all the sessions.

Bistro Vue - CBD (Birthday Dinner)

It was my boyfriend's birthday on the 18th and so to celebrate I decided to take him to Bistro Vue. I'd recently been there for a tea class and we both love french food so I thought it'd be great for him to try their food. Chef Chris was apparently very excited that we came back! 

We started off with half a dozen Garlic snails with a parsley crust and some oysters. The waitress remembered me from my tea class and she was SO helpful and clever. We were trying to decide which oysters to order, when she suggested to just have one of each!

So the oysters are Label Rouge, Clair de lune & Rusty Wire. I liked the Clair de lune.

Next was Foie Gras baked in Brioche and a Steak Tartare. The Foie Gras was of course, incredibly rich but delicious and the tartare was perfect. It was so tasty, you don't even notice that you're eating raw beef.

Whilst we were waiting for our mains, we were surprised by a complimentary mushroom risotto from Chef Chris, he's such a nice guy! Risotto's never look very appetizing in photos but if you could taste and smell it, you'd wish you had a gigantic bowl of it all to yourself! The flavour was so incredible! 

My boyfriend had the Rotisserie Pork for his main, whilst I had the Lamb rump, pipérade and pommes fondant.

After the mains we were getting pretty full but there's ALWAYS room for dessert. Especially when it's a Souffle au Chocolat with a gorgeous cup of green tea (of course). 

Just when we'd thought the surprises were over, the waitress brought us out this lovely plate! It was so nice and considerate of them to do such a thing for my boyfriend, I really appreciated the extra effort. 

We were one of the last ones to leave the restaurant so after the dinner service was over, Chef Chris came out to say Hi and chat for a bit. He introduced himself to my boyfriend and wished him a happy birthday. I couldn't thank him enough for his generosity that night! Absolutely wonderful, I must go back soon!

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Bistro Vue is a gorgeously decorated restaurant, it feels as if you've been transported to Paris after walking through their doors. The accordion music played by a lovely gentlemen in the background really adds to the Parisian atmosphere, you just can't help but feel like you're in a romantic french film.