Opinion: French restaurants leading the coronavirus comeback

While many are closing, a battalion of restaurants serving a particular fare are leading the culinary fightback, writes Des Houghton.

There was a rousing finale to the farewell dinner at Lutece Bistro, at Bardon, when Leo La Spina jumped to his feet and began playing the La Marseillaise on his saxophone for departing French chef Romain Bapst.

As Bapst emerged from the kitchen, a woman at a table to my left jumped to her feet and, with her hand on her heart, broke into a stirring rendition of the French national anthem.

Wagyu beef ‘flavour wheel’ developed to describe experience

What the new $950 Grange tastes like

From elsewhere in the room, another woman rose to join in the song, and then another. The songbirds reacted spontaneously to the music. Bapst was shaken, and so were the rest of us. He got a standing ovation.

But I’m happy to report a new French bistro, La Belle Vie, has emerged in its place. Young French entrepreneur Simon Lambert and wife Rosi have bought the business from Bapst and opened this week with a menu that reads like the pages of the French cookery bible, Larousse Gastronomique.

Honey and spice duck breast with fondant pot and sauteed red cabbage at La Belle Vie. Picture: Des Houghton

It starts with onion soup with black truffles, followed by moules, foie gras, souffle and escargots. Bapst’s sand crab lasagne stays. Other mains include slow-cooked lamb, beef, sous-vide chicken stuffed with prawns, and duck.

“This is my dream place,” said Lambert.

“I really want to keep the French vibe and do what Romain did.”

Lambert has appointed fellow countryman Samuel Perrin as his head chef. He cooked in Switzerland for Alain Ducasse. We shared a juicy duck breast with honey and spice and served with sauteed spinach and fondant potatoes.

Bapst would have approved.

French chef Samuel Perrin in the kitchen of Brisbane’s newest restaurant, La Belle Vie. Picture: Des Houghton

While many restaurants are closing, a battalion of French eateries are leading the culinary fightback.

With strict social distancing in place, Montrachet is up and running and back at its peak.

At a family birthday last week, I devoured a hunk of Stockyards award-winning Kiwami wagyu. It was stunning. So was everything else we ate.

At Woolloongabba, broker Steve Wilson has taken C’est Bon Restaurant and bar out of mothballs.