French Saloon 2023 restaurant review: Kara Monssen visits Hardware Lane bistro

One of our city’s beloved French bistros is back after taking a lockdown slumber — but is it still as good as we remember?

French Saloon is earning its keep as a Melbourne institution.

Tell me when a restaurant becomes iconic.

Is it defined by the number of runs on the board, visits one makes, cult-status food, or its worthiness of a recommendation?

Maybe it’s that spot your folks swear by, even though their last visit was 10 years ago.

French Saloon may be a Melbourne treasure for all of these reasons.

But for us new kids on the block, who are visiting for the first time in its post Covid era, does it live up to its “institution” title?

Comte Gougeres. *drools*

Talk about sensory overload.

For those playing catch-up, the lively Parisian bistro is found a narrow stair-climb above chatty wine bar Kirk’s off Hardware Lane.

It’s run by hospo power trio Con Christopoulos, Josh Brisbane and chef Ian Curley behind a raft of city haunts – namely The European, Siglo and City Wine Shop.

The three opened French Saloon in 2016, but after losing key staff in lockdown, they decided to take a hiatus from running the restaurant. At first, it was open for events only before shuttering for good in 2020.

Now, it’s back feeding a new generation of Francophiles.

Take those unpolished timber stairs to a pared-back dining room, complete with rickety black bentwoods, the odd white-clothed table, racy red ceiling and old world charm.

Warehouse-style windows drink in every last drop of midafternoon sun.

You could be in Paris. Just add a warm baguette and glass of French fizz.

Luke Fraser replaced Todd Moses as French Saloon head chef in 2021.

A smart snack, Feuille de Brick

Beef tartare.

He’s trained at The Square in London and has frequented kitchens at Fitzroy’s Hell of The North and Clifton Hill’s Spensley’s before taking residences at the wine bar.

Now he’s upstairs, testing new ground while flexing familiar classics.

Aside from the cheese and caviar selection, almost everything on the menu is new.

Nuzzle into one of those tennis-ball sized comte gougeres ($8); a crisp savoury choux oozing with goey cheese and dijon.

Get comte fluff on your snout, suck the luscious cheesy mess from each of your fingers and enjoy indulging on something so rich, airy, light and downright delicious.

Double down or do the same with the fuelle de brick ($15).

Salty Savarin is whipped and piped into brik pastry cigars, bookended by fresh chives – less decadent but just as good.

Whole John Dory

Name a more iconic French dessert.

You’ll smell the smoked eel ($28) before it hits the table with its hypnotic waft of nutty sesame oil.

It’s slicked over wafer-fine layers of eel, pickled kohlrabi, zingy green apple and more chives for a complex, refreshing dish that beats any cured fish dish trending around town.

I prefer it to the steak tartare ($30), a fine dice of raw beef, anchovies, capers and house fermented hot sauce, as the just-cooked yolk wasn’t as glossy as expected.

Our whole roasted flounder ($60) is last minute recast as John Dory, supple, fleshy and wading in a meaty lentil sauce that nicely justifies our wine choice of syrah (all tar and violets) by Frankland Estate.

If this era of French Saloon is anything like it was, then boy, how lucky are we?

Almost never missing a beat in food, wine and service, with a dining space rivalling some of the best Parisian bistros in town – it’s very iconic and oh so Melbourne.