delicious.100: Where to go for the best French food in Melbourne
REFINED, elegant and absolutely delicious, French food needn’t be fussy and formal to be finessed. From the best steak frites this side of the Seine to salted caramel madeleines hot out of the oven, these are the best French restaurants in Melbourne.
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REFINED, elegant and absolutely delicious, French food needn’t be fussy and formal to be finessed.
From coq au vin to the best steak frites this side of the Seine, Melbourne’s French restaurants combine fine dining with cosy decadence and Parisian flair.
Showcasing the very best in Gallic cuisine, these eateries were hand-picked for the delicious.100, the only food guide to rank Victoria’s top 100 restaurants. After all, don’t we just love classic French fare? Mais oui.
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PHILIPPE
115 Collins St, Melbourne
03 8394 6625
The man with his name on the door is nearly always there, scrutinising every dish that leaves the kitchen. It is Philippe Mouchel’s way. And this unerring attention to detail from Melbourne’s most respected French chef explains why Philippe, his eponymous basement dining room in a city laneway, shines so brightly in a precinct overflowing with eateries.
“My mission is to serve food that people understand,’’ he says.
This clarity of purpose is obvious from the moment you sidle up to Philippe’s marble bar for oysters and bubbles, then slide into caramel banquettes where light-as-air brioche attends a quail and foie gras parfait, a chestnut velouté glistens like silk, and beetroot-cured salmon flounces across a sublime salad.
Mouchel’s pride and joy is his rotisserie, so you know the Bannockburn chicken is going to be a benchmark bird. But what about the Borrowdale pork rack, dense with charcoal flavour? It’s just as good with smoked mash and a sauce that only a Frenchman could make.
Dessert has got to be textbook perfect oeuf a la neige (snow eggs) or caramelised confit apple, which can be paired with any number of competitively priced Old and New World wines.
This is classic French fare served with assurance in a room you want to linger in.
Mais oui, what are you waiting for?
Must eat dish: Bannockburn chicken rotissoire, mushrooms, potatoes, natural jus
Cuisine: French
Chef: Philippe Mouchel
Price: $$ /Bookings yes
Open: Lunch Mon-Fri, dinner Mon-Sat
Instagram: @philippe_restaurantmelb
MIDNIGHT STARLING/MA CAVE
60 Piper St, Kyneton
03 5422 3884
Forget Dolly and Kenny, or Keith and Shania, for the best country double act look no further than Kyneton.
For it’s here on Piper Street that chef/owner Steve Rogers is putting on a two-act show that makes the most of his time spent in serious kitchens in Paris (Michel Rostang, Pierre Gagnaire) and closer to home (Jacques Reymond).
Upstairs is the Amelie-charming, bistro-esque Midnight Starling, where it’s duck a l’orange and spatchcock farcie and the best steak frites this side of the Seine.
Downstairs, within the bluestone-walled wine cellar, Ma Cave is a candlelit six-course celebration of French technique that’s fine dining without formal fuss.
A meal here might start with silken duck parfait and boozy Madeira jelly that’s a velvet-gloved punch of power, segue into lamb stuffed with a mushroom and chicken mousse and served with butter-fried sweetbreads, then end with Armagnac-steeped prunes alongside delice au chocolate.
Along with a wine list that looks to Europe and central Victoria in equal measure, some seriously good cocktails served until late and service that’s city smart but country warm, Ma Cave and Midnight Starling is a bona fide hit, as far as duos go.
Must eat dish: Lamb crepinette
Cuisine: French
Chef: Steve Rogers
Price: $$ / $$$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Dinner Wed-Sat, Lunch Sun (Ma Cave Fri-Sat dinner)
Instagram: @midnightstarling
THE MAYFAIR
Sofitel forecourt, 45 Collins St, Melbourne
03 9654 8545
With its thickly draped tables, crystalware sparkling in the candlelight and a backlit bar twinkling with promise, The Mayfair is Melbourne’s newest late-night supper club, not to mention the city’s most romantic dining room.
Channelling NYC 1930s glam to a soundtrack of jazz, clinking classes and cocktail shakers, and all the good cheer they bring forth, The Mayfair delivers a dining experience that’s one part elegant, two parts louche.
And with dapper co-owner Joe Jones making serious — and seriously good — liquid classics it might be easy to be led astray in the dark and moody bar. But eating’s no afterthought, thanks to an equally classic bistro menu executed with aplomb.
A made-to-order crumpet, at once airy and crunchy, comes topped with chunky spanner crab that’s outrageously good, while the red gum-fuelled grill is put to excellent use on a range of artfully charred steaks.
Cloaked in butter and capers and served whole on the bone, the dory is an affirmation of simple is best that’s backed up by a textbook brulee that’s all tooth-sticking toffee and voluptuous custard class.
A separate late night menu — think scrambled eggs, steak frites and sausage rolls — is the type of fare that goes down at any hour, especially after a ‘Mayfair Swizzle’ (cachaca, Manzanilla sherry, lime and honey) or three.
With an eye on the future by channelling the past, The Mayfair’s cosy decadence means you had better plan a late night.
Must eat dish: Crab crumpet
Cuisine: French
Chef: Ron O’Bryan
Price $$
Bookings: Yes
Open Mon-Sat 5pm-1am; Fri noon-late
Instagram: @themayfairrestaurant
CAMUS
61 High St, Northcote
03 9486 3063
Camus, nestled at the Westgarth base of Northcote’s High St, marks French-Algerian chef Pierre Khodja’s long-awaited return to the kitchen, here, for the first time as owner-operator master of his domain.
In one of the year’s best new-restaurant fit-outs — downstairs, a gleaming, black-tiled open kitchen anchors the dining room; while upstairs, you’ll find blindingly stark white surrounds where Khodja’s refined, yet fuss-free cooking is on show.
Khojda’s North African spicing dances in deft layers across a menu where technique is tempered with a generous heart, and share-feasting is encouraged. Slow-cooked goat comes in a caramelised onion braise, with plump apricots adding sweetness to the meat that has had its richness kept in check. An indulgent b’stilla — a Moroccan spiced pie — has its flaky filo crust packed to bursting with fragrant shredded duck and comes with a terrific fig-and-raisin chutney. Calamari stuffed with prawns and swimming in seafood bisque is every good reason to return.
But so, too, is the Turkish delight souffle that’s a Khodja signature and remains as delightful as ever, the pink-tinged fluffy cloud giving up a few sticky jubes underneath, the halva ice cream alongside refined and elegant.
This soufflé is Camus on a plate: refined, elegant and totally delicious.
Must eat dish: Turkish delight souffle
Cuisine: French
Chef: Pierre Khodja
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Fri-Sun; dinner Wed-Sun
Instagram: @camusrestaurant
OTER
Basement, 137 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
03 9639 7073
Oter means “to remove, or take off”, though it equally could mean “a vision of modern French bistronomy seen through the prism of a Melbourne cobblestoned laneway restaurant”.
Tom Hunter and Mykal and Kate Bartholomew (of Coda and Tonka) have created a subterranean world of non-interventionist wines and slate-sleek surfaces which, 18 months in, has settled into an accommodatingly comfortable groove.
Crunchy crusted baguette to spread with churned butter swimming in buttermilk shows the core principles of hospitality remain strong. A single mussel served in its cooking broth with soft poached leek shows restrained elegance and the flavour-first philosophy of the kitchen helmed by French-Canadian Jordan Clay.
A new-found focus on vegetables — charred broccoli stalks with macadamia cream, golden beets with smoked egg — doesn’t detract from the carnivorous pleasures this sexy space still provides. An exceptional tartare of lamb comes with a one-two punch of nettle and horseradish, while a puckering raspberry ‘ketchup’ proves the perfect foil for two ruby-coloured, coffee-rubbed pieces of kangaroo loin.
Smoky pork sausage stuffed with comte and served simply with a charred quarter of red cabbage is a minimalist brilliance, while sweet swimmer crab teamed with toasted hazelnuts is a refreshingly bright delight.
Wines focus on small French, natural producers and though they tend to the high end, you can be sure you’ll be poured something that’s not euphemistically “interesting” but instead delicious and a perfect match for those so Frenchie, so chic plates.
Must eat dish: Swimmer crab with hazelnuts
Cuisine: French
Chef: Jordan Clay
Price $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch Mon-Fri, Dinner Mon-Sat
Instagram: @otermelbourne
FRENCH SALOON
Level 1, 46 Hardware Lane, Melbourne
03 9600 2142
France is not so far away when you ascend some narrow stairs above Kirk’s and Kirk’s wine bar in Hardware Lane and step into the French Saloon. Here, under a pinot red ceiling, you can fully indulge your Francophile instincts: starting with ‘Saloon Caviar’ and a Lillet Blanc, or a plate of smoked tongue pimped with soured cream and onion that might better suit a Loire valley vouvray.
The wine list is predominantly French, the menu as Gallic as it comes. You could almost be in Paris as you tread the French Saloon’s unvarnished boards, settle into a bentwood chair and tear into warm baguette bread.
The illusion is enhanced by something as simple, and precisely plated, as steak frites with Roquefort butter. But you wouldn’t want to miss the half-roasted chicken here, a marvellous bird bursting with sweet, funky juice; or the darkly handsome roasted duck breast. French Saloon’s kitchen sends it out with a luxuriously rich cassoulet where the beans are allowed to shine.
Hand-cut chips have plenty of salty snap, while a gem lettuce salad is dressed down with buttermilk.
To finish? A brittle fruit tart, perhaps. Or salted caramel madeleines hot out of the oven. “Please allow 12 minutes”, our waiter advises. We’d wait an hour, they’re that good.
Must eat dish: Roasted duck confit with cassoulet
Cuisine: French Chefs Ian Curley, Todd Moses
Price: $$ Bookings yes Open Mon-Fri noon-late
Instagram: @frenchsaloon
DU FERMIER
42 High St, Trentham
03 5424 1634
5424 1634
In a world where the tyranny of choice reigns supreme, there’s something completely delightful about handing over control. And when the reins are in the hands of Annie Smithers, and you are warmly ensconced in her Trentham dining room, it’s deliciously liberating to simply sit back and enjoy the ride.
The longtime champion of central Victoria, who now has a 23-acre property on which she grows produce, simply cooks what’s best from her garden on any given day, that’s when she is not travelling France for inspiration.
Some days, that will mean a platter piled high with roasted pork and lots of crisp crackle, red cabbage spiked with apple vinegar for bite, the accompanying jus mop-every-bit dry delicious. Luckily, there’s always abundant excellent house-baked bread on hand to do just that.
Earlier, you might be served sublime duck livers pan-seared with bacon and onion and served on toast, or a bowl of ham hock in a broth dancing with depth.
Afterwards, expertly treated cheese — perhaps something to go with a splash of local pinot from a wine lover’s list — might precede dessert, where the baked apple clafoutis never fails to prove a perfect full stop.
Properly generous farmhouse cooking from professionals who get hospitality served in quietly classy surrounds, Du Fermier provides treasures aplenty ‘from the farmhouse’.
Must eat dish: Roasted pork with apple vinegar red cabbage
Cuisine: French
Chef: Annie Smithers
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Fri-Mon lunch
Instagram: @kittensmithers
BISTRO GUILLAUME
Crown Melbourne, Southbank
03 9292 4751
bistroguillaumemelbourne.com.au
When you can’t possibly face another kale salad, dude-food burger or edible flower, Bistro Guillaume provides the perfect antidote to trend-focused menus.
There’s a reason French cuisine reigns eternal and supreme, and if Brahimi’s menu is anything to go by, it may be down to the timeless deliciousness of French onion soup.
The deeply rich, earthy-sweet onion soup, that comes with three delightful thyme and gruyere croutons, has diners throwing their heads back and eliciting groans of “mmmm, delicieux”.
Also heady is the wine list filled with three and four-figure trophy heroes for the captains of industry (who have regular bookings), and for the rest of us, the offering is usefully broken down into light, medium and full-bodied bottles.
When the Nicoise salad fails to excite, an exceptional John Dory on a bed of buttery mushrooms saves the day, followed by the city’s best version of a classic lemon tart.
Service is without fault, with enough French accents bouncing around the handsome dining room to convince you that you are in fact on the leftbank of the Seine and not the Yarra.
Stylish, suave and timelessly elegant — one way to sum up Bistro Guillaume’s classic offering and that onion soup.
Must-eat dish: French onion soup
Cuisine: French
Chefs: Guillaume Brahimi & Graeme McLaughlin
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch & dinner daily
Instagram @bistro_guillaume_melbourne
BISTRO GITAN
52 Toorak Rd West, South Yarra
03 9867 5853.
French food needn’t be fussy and formal to be finessed. Exhibit A: Bistro Gitan, the
Reymond family-run restaurant where comfort is key.
From the charming wooded interior with its fireplace and leafy parkland aspect to the roll call
of Gallic specials and signatures, you’re in for a très comfortable experience.
Bentwood chairs and paper-on- linen tables set the tone, with French waiters on hand to help
with the menu’s finer points or top up wine from a well-priced list that pleases rather than
surprises.
Spiced cheese churros were savoury bombs let down by insipid yoghurt for dipping. Better to
team with the theme and order escargot — chewy bites swimming in butter and garlic, or a
pithivier encasing mushrooms cooked in a tangy broth giving good depth.
Graduate to grass-fed eye fillet — cooked perfectly and served with a sharp mustard-based
house sauce, or la pochouse, a Reymond family specialty of rockling in a fragrant broth with
mushrooms, bacon, onions and sorrel that’s rich yet refreshing. Gratin dauphinois ups the
comfort factor.
Finish on a wonderfully brittle vanilla crème brulee or the indulgent chocolate mousse
jewelled with hazelnuts and orange segments to round out an all-French affair.
Must eat dish: La pochouse
Cuisine: French
Chef: Daniel Paton
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Lunch and dinner Tue-Fri, dinner Mon and Sat
Instagram: @bistrogitan
RYNE
203 St George’s Rd, Fitzroy North
03 9482 3002
Ryne: Old English for ‘a journey’ that invokes the circle of life. And what a journey it’s been for the Yorkshire-born chef Donovan Cooke we now call one of our own.
Having steered Crown’s The Atlantic through its seafood-laden waters for the past six years, Cooke has returned to his Marco Pierre White-honed French roots with Ryne. It’s an ambitious salvo from the chef/owner across the bow of fast-casual restaurants, staking the claim for the timelessness of classic cooking and technique.
A menu of two, three or seven courses is pitched both at 30-something locals and those with longer memories who will recognise Cooke from his Est Est Est and Luxe days in the ’90s — with the latter more firmly in the sights of the worldly, pricey, wine list.
To start, chicken liver parfait comes blanketed in a supple Madeira jelly, perfect to spread across an excellent house-baked French loaf.
Showing a sense of humour, the tuna ‘pizza’ topped with jamon and black garlic ‘olives’ is as fun as it’s tasty.
A fat tile of confit Ora King salmon is as rich as a Kardashian plastic surgeon, with blood orange keeping the excesses in check, while lamb with spring peas and broad beans transforms homely flavours into a powerhouse as only a professional can.
To finish? A picture-perfect chocolate souffle with raspberries many ways is the only way to come full circle on this journey.
Must-eat dish: Tuna ‘pizza’
Cuisine: French
Chef: Donovan Cooke
Price: $$
Bookings: Yes
Open: Dinner Tues-Sat
Instagram: @rynerestaurant
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