Chauffeurs and Cafe Vue

A little under two weeks ago, I was gearing up for my last day of work before the big Paris trip. How quickly the past two weeks have gone! But on that last day in Melbourne, there were certain things a traveller should do to properly to prepare for the country they are visiting.

For me, this meant leaving the country in style.

In the manner of Gossip Girls the world over, taking a cab to the airport is simply not acceptable. Sure, your dad could drop you off in his trackies off but the allure of being picked up by a driver, wearing a suit, in a black town car with leather seats and tinted windows screams sophistication doesn’t it?

If your destination is Paris, you don’t want to leave like you are heading to Perth now do you? Blair Waldorf wouldn’t have it.

And so it was that at 7pm on Friday 15 April, a town car pulled up outside my house, a gentleman greeted me and helped carry my (five) bags to the car (without complaint). I was offered a drink and a selection of magazines. I sat comfortably, in a pleasant smelling vehicle with effective climate control and relaxed all the way to the airport.

A perfect start to the Paris dream.

After wishing us well, our chauffeur headed off with our flight details for our return (we couldn’t possibly get a cab on the way home, with all the additional baggage we were planning!) and we checked our bags, stamped our passports and went off in search of fabulous food to whet our appetite for France.

I hear you scoffing. The thought of fabulous food at the airport? Mon dieu! But I assure you, it does exist.

Café Vue recently opened in terminal two at Melbourne Airport International and the famous French establishment would be the perfect entrée to our Parisian food experience. I was looking forward to dinner almost as much as Paris itself.

The simple décor is enough to make you forget you are at the airport and get through the waiting game in style. And if the décor is to your liking, the food will impress you no end. Incredible. I started with champagne – perhaps to celebrate Paris, perhaps to calm the nerves for the long flight – and it was magic.

My steak was perhaps the best I’ve ever had and the fries couldn’t even compete with France. Amazing. We ordered a second bowl. Even the ketchup was sublime.

If all the fabulous food you enjoy at Café Vue is enough to make you cancel your flight for fear of ‘plane food’, the team have that sorted too. Purchase a breakfast, lunch or dinner box to take away with you and enjoy the delights of home (or France) in the air.

We were spoilt for choice with a selection of macaroons, a lifesaver on a longhaul flight and enjoyed the delicate delights all the way to the mecca of the macaroon – France itself.