Dining review: Chez Maurice, a classic French bistro on Sydney’s northern beaches
Chez Maurice brings French bistro food to the northern beaches without the cost of a plane ticket.
Nth Beaches
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FRENCH bistro Chez Maurice et Linda could have easily been renamed Chez Michel et Jessica when restaurateur Maurice Magneron bid au revoir. He had been the proprietor of the restaurant for 30 years, and 11 of those were in Balgowlah before retiring.
That was in 2012. Four years on, the bistro name is the same, but the place has been decorated with copies of famous artworks and styled with patriotic red, white and blue.
And the menu has been tweaked ever so slightly, so that local Francophiles are kept happy.
Chez Maurice and the retroprix fixe menu are still firmly entrenched in a ’70s time warp of old-fashioned favourites and distant memories of holidays.
That’s how Michael Hong (ex-Sydney Hilton and ex-Kable’s at the Four Seasons) wants to keep it.
You can still order Monsieur Magneron’s bouillabaisse on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays, and mix escargots, crepe aux fruits de mer, duck a l’orange or profiteroles as two or three courses.
A ramekin of chicken liver pate with dainty white toast triangles is complimentary, so two courses is doable without overindulging.
Half a seafood crepe entree stuffed with prawns, salmon and scallops and topped with bearnaise sauce and a sprig of dill is an ideal way to start dinner.
Amid the creamy sauces, there are lighter dishes for calorie-countering diners.
The chateaubriand main course is melt-in-the-mouth delicious. It comes with bitter radicchio and a side serve of little crispy potatoes, sauteed in vegetable oil, not duck fat.
Hong’s accompaniment, a bitey bearnaise, refines Magneron’s recipe by adding fresh tarragon to the dried herb.
The weekday special bouillabaisse, the classic fish stew from Marseilles, comes with salmon, mussels, prawns and half a Balmain bug, as well as garlicky rouille and thin slices of french bread to dip into the saffron-tomato soup.
The creme brulee comes out alight, so the sugar caramelises at the table. It’s a fun way to finish the night.
If you want something not too sweet, the 70 per cent cocoa content of the chocolate mousse makes it slightly bitter. And if you are watching your weight — don’t have the cream.
Chez Maurice et Linda
292 Sydney Rd, Balgowlah
Phone: 9949 4155
Open: Dinner, from Tuesday to Thursday, 6pm to 10pm; Friday and Saturday, 6-11pm
Prices: 2 courses $49.90; 3 courses $58.90
Go for: Chateaubriand with bearnaise sauce, seafood pancake, bouillabaisse, creme brulee
BYO: Corkage, $2.50 a head
Vibe: Almost French
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