Our critic had many expectations for the revamped Vue de Monde. But one thing surprised her

I expected many things from the revamped Vue de Monde, but one thing I didn’t anticipate was fun. This may have to do with past meals there, the most recent of which was before Hugh Allen took over as executive chef, and was among the most austere and stressful restaurant experiences I’ve had. The room was dark and brooding, the waiters were self-serious and sombre, and the constant barrage of loud, aggressive calls of “YES CHEF” from the kitchen made me jump in my seat every 10 seconds. How was the food? I mostly remember thinking, “This is very Attica-esque, but not as delicious.”

These days, the tone is much lighter, much more friendly. Part of the relaunch includes a new policy under which you have your table for the entire service, lunch or dinner, allowing for a far more relaxed experience.

There’s a real sense of camaraderie, even playfulness, from the staff, led by Allen as well as general manager Hugo Simoes Santos and wine director Dorian Guillon, The Age Good Food Guide 2024 Sommelier of the Year.

If you listen hard enough you can still hear an occasional “yes chef” from the newly expanded open kitchen, but the tone is almost hushed, less terrified, less grating.

Cooks, including the soft-spoken and intense Allen, deliver many of the dishes, talking about them as if they were fun to make and ought to be fun to eat rather than regarding them as some kind of holy sacrament.

Guillon is an utter delight when recommending or describing wine from his incredible list – I could talk to him for years. The staff engage in casual banter, the kind that makes you feel at ease at your local pub, and yet somehow fits right in here at this (figurative and literal) lofty level. And yes, the views are amazing.

It all adds up to an evening that feels like an event, like playtime, like a romp. The cheese cart alone – which rolls up full of 100 per cent Australian cheeses – is a stunning achievement, made all the more pleasurable due to the joyous cheese conversation that takes place, often courtesy of manager Rajnor Soin. From a service perspective, I can’t think of another restaurant in Australia that’s operating quite on this level.

When it comes to the food, there are moments of deep pleasure, as with a deceptively simple bowl of macadamia puree holding a generous scoop of oscietra caviar in a sauce made from kelp – a triple threat of umami and salt that comes together beautifully. Does the subtlety of the caviar get a bit lost in the saltiness and bold flavour of the macadamia? Perhaps. I recommend you taste it alone before digging into the whole dish.

A tiny avocado tart is dotted with vibrant purple borage flowers and brightened with finger lime, and tastes like what fairies might serve at a summer solstice feast.

At a dinner late last year, I found a dish of lamb sweetbreads with asparagus beguiling for its deep lambiness. This suppleness never veered into the overpowering lanolin that can besmirch dishes that rely on the fat of sheep. More recently, at lunch, the dish got even better, served now with cabbage, macadamia and fermented koji, its richness bolstered by nuttiness and cabbage’s particular vegetal sweetness.

There’s a real sense of camaraderie, even playfulness, from the staff.

And the menu has matured, with Allen updating or replacing things that weren’t quite working a few months ago. A mud crab dish that was overwhelmed by a base of panisse (chickpea cake) is gone. Marron tail, which used to be accompanied by an XO sauce made entirely from native herbs, is now served on a savoury custard made using the whole marron, a shellfish-to-the-power-of-shellfish presentation that somehow combines oceanic funk with silky elegance – the equation equals pure pleasure.

The Blackmore wagyu that finishes the savoury portion of the meal has always been delicious – hard not to be with beef of this quality – but Allen’s newest presentation of it includes a pile of pureed and pickled pumpkin (say that three times fast) that cuts through the inherent richness of the meat and makes it a joy to eat.

Chocolate souffle, which has been a part of the menu throughout Vue de Monde’s 24-year history, is an absolute paragon of the form, and I appreciate both the nostalgia of the dessert itself and the modern (and delicious) addition of billy tea ice-cream that’s scooped into the souffle’s pillowy centre.

I also think Allen has created a new Australian masterpiece with his Matildas biscuits that come after the meal. Inspired by the magic of our women’s soccer team, the green and gold confection is made from a caramel of roasted and ground wattleseed, macadamia dark chocolate ganache, and glazed in tempered caramelised white chocolate sprinkled with native crispy saltbush. It deserves to be our national biscuit, and I say that as a passionate Tim Tam devotee.

I still have a few quibbles. The chilled radish broth that starts the evening tastes like lightly sweet water that’s had radish sitting in it, without enough contrast to make it dynamic.

Towards the end of the meal, diners are led into the kitchen to eat a hot jam doughnut based on the famous versionserved at the Queen Vic Market. You choose your jam and sugar, made from strawberry gum and Davidson plum – it’s a fun game and a nice homage to one of Melbourne’s most iconic dishes. The problem? The doughnuts aren’t nearly as good as the original version, lacking that extraordinary double-proofed yeastiness and out-of-the-fryer oiliness.

Here’s some insider gossip rarely aired in public. Well before Allen took over, people in the food world had long whispered about Vue modelling itself on other genre-defining restaurants around the world, about it having had its Mugaritz phase and El Bulli phase (both Spanish modernist stalwarts), its Noma phase, its Attica/Orana phase. I see Allen throwing off that mantle, even over these past few months: that XO that came with the marron was strikingly similar to a native herb-based XO served at Orana a few years back; the new version is wholly original.

Allen is so young, and so talented. He has a chance to break out, to define himself on the world stage. Late last year I’d have said he’s awfully close, but I’d love to see a few dishes that are as wildly creative as the ones served at those establishments to which Vue has long been compared, dishes that are original to this city, this country, this restaurant.

Today I can say that he’s closer than ever.