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It’s a no brainer really. You want fresh, not frozen, fish, especially when eating shellfish.
Possibly the ultimate is a boating holiday on west coast of Scotland where you dive with scuba tanks for scallops. I’m sure there are similar experiences to be had in the cold waters off the US.
Cold water adds an edge to scallops, which is perhaps why the best ones in Australia come from Tasmania. Ditto oysters.
But for some chefs that’s not enough. They want their scallops bigger and fatter and, err, frozen.
This surprises me as top chefs do blather on about how “it’s all about the ingredients”. That is why I was surprised to see yesterday in our local mass market newspaper the Herald Sun that star chef Shannon Bennett is cooking with frozen Canadian scallops.
Critic Stephen Downes asked a waiter who confirmed the origin of “huge scallop abductor muscle”. “Though of fine bouncy texture, it had a fairly faint flavour,” said Downes who felt it was inappropriate in a restaurant charging the amount of money that Vue de (sic) Monde does.
For those of you from abroad, or who have been stuck down a mine in Tasmania, Vue dude Monde, last year moved to hot new premises in the CBD. It snuck into the local restaurant guide at press time with a score of 18/20. The reviewer I spoke to about this last year didn’t want to talk.
Downes this week gave the restaurant 13/20.
Gourmet Traveller magazine, which caters to the food elite, voted Vue as its restaurant of the year.
I suppose it is up to us, the punters, to decide if Vue is really worth it. That is, if we fancy a giant once-frozen scallop adductor muscle.
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I have done “Vue” twice now, and have found both the service and the food to be exceptional. On both occassions though, they did not have the wine we requested in stock. And on my last visit, there was a hair on the Morbier cheese course. But they were quick to recompense with double serving
Oh, the service is exceptional and it’s great to hear you’ve had great meals. I had a lunch there and despite the wagyu and the large slice of truffle wasn’t over-awed. But come on, frozen scallops?
Shagger’s use of frozen foreign scallops does seem odd considering that, unless I’m mistaken, it’s the middle of scallop season in our neck of the woods.
I think the set lunch is excellent value. Not conducive to an afternoon’s toil though.
Hi Tim,
I thought it odd too unless, perhaps, you want something near the size of an ice hockey puck. I hear the lunch is good value. My mate’s boss has his own tabel there (as a special customer). I find as good lunch and a couple of glasses of the magic editing juice relaxing and quite conducive to an afternoons brainstorm or at least the welcome distraction of surfing the web.