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Well, this is very grand. It feels as if Parisian restaurant La Coupole has rolled into town from Montparnasse, with its huge towers of shellfish, sizzling rib-eye steaks, and bottles of muscadet.

Armorica, named for an ancient Celtic region of France, is Sydney’s newest grande brasserie, a term normally reserved for the largest and most splendid Belle Epoque dining rooms in the City of Light.

Located on the former site of the pioneering MG Garage and the first iteration of Japanese local Toko, Armorica is a natural progression for Andrew Becher and his popular Potts Point venues Franca and Parlar.

The family resemblance is unmistakable, from the statement art on the walls (by American artist David Plunkert) to the large, plush leather banquettes and booths and the lavish use of Italian marble.

Executive chef Jose Saulog’s opening menu is also richly endowed, with an abundance of oysters, lobster, caviar, wagyu and foie gras. Yep, it’s pretty grand.

There are no rules. You can go grand and blow out on seafood and steak, or stay modest with a cocktail and a bowl of pasta.

It’s tempting to think of Armorica as a steakhouse, given the five metres of Josper grills that form the heart of the open kitchen, but the menu stays true to the concept of a brasserie in that it is large, and not proscriptive. There are no rules. You can go grand and blow out on seafood and steak, or stay modest with a cocktail and a bowl of pasta. Well, not that modest.

There’s charm amid the grand gestures. A seasonal vegetable tart ($16) takes the same oval shape as its plate and is light and fresh, bedded down with zucchini ribbons, green peas, mushrooms and buttons of goat’s curd.

Three baby roulades of octopus ($22) give the current menu staple a new look. The finely sliced meat is formed into a “skin” that wraps around a fine dice of more octopus. Again, light and fresh, if bitsy.

Saulog is a classic over-achiever, always going the extra yard to define a new shape or enrich the already rich. That makes the house-made pasta an absolute must, and an al dente spaghetti with scampi and Moreton Bay bug ($45/$65) is a warm bath of luxury. The pasta lies tangled in a rich, buttery emulsion of crustacean stock and zucchini studded with lightly cooked bug meat and salty little capers, with half a scampi gilding the lily on top.

These recent, chillier evenings are crying out for steak, and there are five on offer, ranging from $39 to $140. A bone-in black Angus Riverine tenderloin ($70) nails the recommended medium-rare, scented with smoke and lightly charred. I prefer a more marbled cut, but will save that for a grander occasion.

A small bowl of salty frites is perfectly judged, and you choose between bone marrow butter or little bowls of bearnaise or mushroom sauce. My bearnaise is thick, tasting more of butter than tarragon.

A side of fioretto ($15) swimming in pistachio pistou is fun, the hybrid of broccoli and cauliflower seemingly having the best qualities of both.

Wines are mostly French, and a Chateau de Segries Cote du Rhone is lush and spicy enough to be good value at $70, one of the few reds listed under $100.

The signature dessert from the group’s executive pastry chef, Travin DeHoedt, is the Armorica chocolate bar ($26), another must. It’s beautifully engineered to look like a gold-burnished miniature treasure chest built of fine sheets of Valrhona’s Kalingo 65 per cent dark chocolate that snap crisply in the mouth. Bust it open with your spoon to get at the chocolate mousse, salted caramel and chocolate chip cookie filling.

Italian marble aside, a fair share of the reported $3 million fit-out has been spent on the undergarments – the sound-baffling ceilings, the flattering lighting, the temperature control. Floor staff – and there are swarms of them – are bedding down, but those all-important welcomes and farewells are in place. I like the big thinking here, the expansive space, the massive Josper, the refusal to be ordinary. It may not be La Coupole, but it sure is grand.