Cafe Vue at Heide

A great little café in the middle of an outdoor art gallery.
The menu is very limited, but what they have they do very well.
Be warned the lamb shoulder for 2 delicious but is truly huge.

The Croque Madam is likely the tastiest I’ve come across in Melbourne. Two thumbs up!

Situated within your typical Australian bushland landscape, Café Vue at Heidi is a lovely little café. Considering there weren’t many customers in our late weekday morning arrival my friends and I were promptly seated.
I was a bit disappointed when I was told that their cappuccino is served without chocolate sprinkles, but the waiter kindly slipped a piece of dark chocolate to accompany my coffee. It’s still not the same of course.
Ordering off the breakfast menu, I settled for the breakfast cassoulet served with a baguette. The tangy baked beans and the sweet and salty corn fritters made for an enjoyable meal! One of my friends did have an issue with her avocado not being ripe enough, but the waitress did bring out more edible avocado.
Overall, the service did lack in promptness, but when the servers were at the table there were attentive.
I will come back next time to try out the lunch menu as we saw quite a few delicious looking burgers floating around.

The café is severely under staffed today. Waited 30 mins to get a table and still waiting for a salad and wrap … It’s been 25 mins. The wait staff are doing their best but there is simply not enough of them. Better front of house management is definitely required.

Wow. Disappointment plus. Had the restaurant menu (2course for $ 49). The terrine was pulled pork in gelatin. Boring. Needed seasoning. Served with a couple of pickled veg and 3 crackers. Needed more or you were left with half a tub of pork. Second course was flathead. Dry and overcooked with 3 pointless tasteless little salads. My partner had duck confit– dull needed seasoning and 62 degree egg was more like 75 degree glue pot. Six of us and not one happy with our meal. All meals dry overcooked under seasoned. Best part was desert petit fours which they probably didn’t make. Worst part was paying for 2^nd rate food. Time for Heidi to change the café leaseholder.

Two stars only for the lunch box which today was a disappointment. OK you don’t expect too much for $ 18 dollars but a good baguette would have been preferable (one at my table had a creditable chicken and avo baguette)
A wooden platter arrived with a small pot of a bland green dip and some latticed potato chips to scoop it up, a small take away box of salad of tomato, cucumber and cheese, again bland which could have had a bit of basil or other herb added to give flavour. The Guinness steak pie was a small roll with the top cut off and a not well trimmed piece of beef lodged inside, dry and a bit chewy. The Irish coffee was a surprise, a macaron with a Irish coffee crème sandwiching it. No problem with that as it was a nice end to an underwhelming light lunch. We had a lovely visit to Heide for the Emily Floyd exhibition which was fabulous and the coffee on arrival was excellent.
Sorry Café Vue, less tricksy food next time please.

Café Vue was my selection for our girl’s restaurant club ‘Ladies who eat’. 12 girls, 12 months, 12 new restaurants — cute. As a self-​proclaimed foodie I needed a strong contender for my turn and I selected Café Vue take away style. A unique concept, the café packs a hamper for you (for 2 or 4 people) and out into the woods you go. Sounds beautifully whimsical, in reality, I trudged through the grounds hauling my huge wicker hamper and feeling less like a teddy bears picnic and more like a Sherpa trekking through the mountains of Nepal to our final destination (and perhaps prone to slight exaggeration).
We arrived at our selected destination (group of restaurant girls trying to decide on one perfect space — did I mention the Sherpa) and spread our goodies out. Like santa’s stocking we tore through each carefully wrapped goody, oohing and aahhhing over each one (terms biodegradable and recyclable clearly not in our vocabulary today)
The food was spectacularly abundant and deliciously, guiltily rich. Hands were used, often. Something about setting us free in the grounds had us back to nature in no time (carefully removing ‘Lord of the Flies’ from sight as we speak). I do have a confession. All this food, no idea what went with what, no menu, and I feel terribly ashamed to note, I actually didn’t know what one of the meat was! I’m a foodie, I should know this stuff. I don’t know if the terrine was duck, or pork, or rabbit. I’m a farce, a disaster. I’ll explain the food and maybe someone can help me out for next time… A huge loaf of soughdough with terrine, a thick corn spread and a thick mayonnaise. Then we each had sandwiches (took home as souvenirs for our boy partners), a duck egg quiche (thankfully that was labelled), a whole chicken, heirloom tomatoes, pasta salad, potato salad and an adventurous pepperminty tea. So how did we eat it all? Together, everything just spread everything on everything — paints a pretty picture huh?
At this stage we hadn’t even opened dessert. Thinking it a simple but delicious pastry we opened to see a sleep inducing, immediate weight gaining, chocolate mousse cake with a crunchy rice bubble base and a white chocolate egg in the middle. Oh but wait, crack that egg open and it’s passionfruit curd inside. It was the best dessert I’ve had in AGES. You know that type of curd that makes you shudder — so sour, so sweet, so frigging amazing.
At least I burned off the extra calories lugging that wicker basket…

Café Vue is a scenic treasure tucked away behind the Heide Gallery. I felt like I’d walked into another world. The surrounding artworks are so modern and tasteful, the atmosphere is alive, with tables full of the elderly having lunch, mothers and their children enjoying a milkshake and snack or people like me — just your average twenty-​something year old enjoying a bite with friends.
The service was alright. It’s clear they were very busy and a little under the pump, with so many people choosing to dine at the French inspired café. My friend told the waitress we were in a little bit of a hurry and she replied with quite a bit of attitude and in a slightly condescending tone «then you’re at the wrong place sweetie».
The food is nice, nothing that will blow you away, although a lot of what they serve is homegrown and organic. I definitely think the hype about this place is a bit overboard. The choices are quite limited, although I have heard the lunch boxes can be quite nice depending on the month.
Yes, it is a nice atmosphere and the setup is great, but I probably won’t choose to go here again when there are so many other places with better food and service for the price.

Ultimate lunch
Freshness is key here, as well as simplicity and amazing taste.
As mentioned by prev Unilocaler (Celia M). The 2 – 3 course lunch menu is an amazing deal.
They also have great cakes and pastries for afternoon tea.
Earthy and full flavored soup, chips (i don’t go into the habit of being picky over my chips I promise) but geez, they make GREAT chips.
Last time we visited, we had the crab salad which is amazing! Grab a booking if you can as this place can fill up by young art enthusiast, older artsy type, and mums with their strollers… wish I can fill my days having relaxing lunches at Vue too!

Talk about taste!
This café is not only chic and stylish, but it’s tasty too!
Located next to the Heidi art gallery and park, this place has a beautifully relaxed atmosphere.
I came here for Sunday morning breaky with the family. I found the area and pace of the park very peaceful, there were many families arriving on bike after having a morning ride through the Heide Park.
I got the baked eggs and chorizo, which was nice, but my partner’s poached eggs were the real winner.
Their poached eggs… I don’t know how they do it, but it’s the first time I’ve seen a poached egg like that. The whites are still soft and the yolk is fudgy, meaning your plate stays clean and your yolk goes where you want it to (your mouth).
I would definitely recommend having slow/​relaxing Sunday morning here, followed by a walk through their art gallery.

Part of Shannon Bennett’s Vue Empire, the café at Heide fits perfectly into the landscape around the gallery.
Modern, spacious and light, it serves up quality French cuisine and is a welcome retreat for locals and visitors of the gallery alike.
Using ingredients from Sunday Reed’s kitchen gardens, the food is simple and honest with traditional French bistro flavours.
The menu du jour offers some great dishes at very reasonable prices (2 courses for $ 45, 3 courses for $ 55). The last time I had the dinner menu, the standouts was the terrine of pork, kipfler potato and leek, and the orange soufflé with warm chocolate mousse.
Having eaten at all of Shannon Bennett’s Melbourne destinations now I have to admit that Café Vue at Heide doesn’t measure up to his other venues. The service still needs a bit of polishing (although they are very hospitable and friendly) and the menu is limited.
However, the café is charming and the a la carte menu for breakfast and lunch does look as though it has a much larger variety of dishes.
Café Vue at Heide is in a great location and setting, it is pleasant and friendly, with authentic flavours made with produce grown just around the corner.
I plan to go back for breakfast and try out the duck egg, bacon and hollandaise jaffle.