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Most Popular French food in Woollahra, Sydney, New South Wales
Find out what French restaurants to try in Woollahra including Claires kitchen at le Salon, Bistro Papillon, Little Snail, Gavroche Chippendale, Macleay Street Bistro
Things to do in Woollahra
1. Claires kitchen at le Salon
Overall Ratings
4 based on 373 reviews
French born Marc Kuzma AKA Claire de Lune, has created a traditional French Brasserie menu with a few modern twists. Claire has decorated the venue with fabulous imported wall papers, antiques and chic furniture. Business partner, Valentin has hand picked
Reviewed By Jackie M
Thereâs a collective intake of breath in the intimate dining room when everyone opens their menus. Fanning out like piano accordions, each menuâs glowing white light captures guestsâ faces in a state of childlike wonder as they scratch their heads and wonder what it is theyâre meant to eat. Eat the pages of the menu? Itâs rather absurd, but then so is the nonsensical and satirical movement Le Salon DadA is based upon. Being familiar with Marc Kuzmaâs work at El'Circo at Slide, I entered Claireâs Kitchen at Le Salon with a fair idea of what to expect. In this setting Kuzma (who is also known as Claire de Lune) has kicked things up to the next level using a City of Sydney night-time diversification grant. These monies are all about local council trying to restore some of Sydneyâs faded night-time glory, decimated by Gladys Berejiklianâs lockout laws. It's a perverse situation of local government giving what the state government has taken away.But I digress⦠Kuzmaâs resulting night, (which will set you back $140/head) is based upon Cabaret Voltaire, a Swiss enclave of artists escaping the First World War. DadA was anti-establishment, anti-reason and anti-logic. DadA was the antidote to the bourgeois capitalist interests that the artists believed had led people into war in the first place. Following this line, our first course takes curative form as a wartime first aid kid with tongue depressor, bandages and a petri dish containing a smooth French mushroom parfait topped with sauternes jelly. Scraped onto crackers, itâll sustain you through your cocktail construction â the recipe and ingredients are in your bucket.With shiso leaf-infused vodka, nettle liqueur and pomegranate cordial, itâs a tangy, slightly more sophisticated Cosmopolitan with little blasts of sweetness when the pearls of passionfruit and lime pop on your tongue. The rest of your boozing is done in the usual fashion, with many wines - including the 2017 Cave de Turckheim Pinot Blanc ($70/bottle) we selected - available by glass, carafe and full bottle. The fresh, dry white wine proves easy to enjoy through some on-stage art that sees a semi-nude model enhanced with the f-holes from a cello, and some at-the-table card tricks. Itâs a multimedia affair, with German expressionist film, The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari (1920), playing on screens placed throughout the dining room. Seen through the eyes of an asylum patient, the film may leave you wondering whatâs real and whatâs not.Contortionist Jade Twist continues our surrealist descent by wearing a black zentai suit with eyes and lips in all the wrong places. Tying herself in knots until she looks like a human pretzel, Twist makes it hard to know which way is up, and which direction way is forward. It's a perfect segue to a course based upon The Persistence of Memory (1931), arguably Salvador Daliâs most famous surrealist work. From the edge of a martini glass, his melting pocket watch drips in cracker form to accompany a well-spiced cold capsicum and tomato soup. Your soup is poured from a vessel that is itself a nod to Daliâs 1972 piece, Marilyn Monroe, shown up on the screens.Itâs this attention to detail that makes Kuzmaâs night so intellectually rich for art-lovers, with clever details like Marcel Duchampâs Bicycle Wheel (1913) in the stairwell on the way up to the dining room. Even the table setting is done in the style of DadA, down to a DadA print cloth serviette. Without wanting to give it all away, the next course â the only hot course - a rainbow trout roulade, is a nod to Joan Miró. Everything on the splattered abstract plate is edible, down to the crisp fish bones.On the stage, the inimitable Shauna Jensen is clad in a thematic âsinging fishâ (one of Miroâs recurring motifs) kaftan, as she belts out Ella Jenkins' Wade in the Water. Jensen returns later in the evening with This Is Me from The Greatest Showman. It's guaranteed to leave you uplifted â from her talented lips the power balladâs lyrics sound inspirational rather than twee. Kuzma has been booking cabaret acts for decades and has a real eye for talent, as youâll no doubt discover across the night.Le Salon DadA is a rich and punny, multimedia experience that will appeal to all of your senses. âJust like the painting, there is no confusion, it is designed to put in your mouth,â Kuzma finishes.Le Salon DadA takes place on Sunday evenings at Claire's Kitchen at le Salon. Bookings are essential.
2. Bistro Papillon
Overall Ratings
4 based on 319 reviews
Reviewed By Don M
First time visiting this restaurant and certainly won't be the last. Typical French cuisine and staff made this a warm friendly occasion. French onion soup and pate were welcome starters, as were the escargot. Yum! Beef bourguignon was sensational with the meat as tender as can be. A must for lovers of the authentic French experience.
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3. Little Snail
Overall Ratings
4 based on 864 reviews
The little snail restaurant is open 7 days a week for lunch and dinner, offering a la carte options or a set menu at $38 for lunch and $60 for dinner. Best place to park: Wilson Parking, 100 Murray Street ( We do not validate parking's ticket )
Reviewed By Adele S
Four of us dined here on a groupon deal which included three courses and a cocktail. We all enjoyed our meals, I had escargot, perfectly cooked duck and the cheese plate. It's a very established restaurant with great staff, very popular with tourists. We all agreed we had a great time and would return.
4. Gavroche Chippendale
Overall Ratings
4 based on 229 reviews
The menu of Gavroche Chippendale pays homage to Parisian Bistrots. With an array of classic dishes that capture the Parisian spirit, and a wine list with a mix of hand-selected French and Australian wines, youâve got the buzz of Paris in the heart of Sydn
Reviewed By liland10
Whole John Dory did not have a lot of bones apart from the ones in the middle, donât know how they did it! Duck leg was tasty. Chicken liver pate was so tasty, we wanted to lick the jar. Crepe Suzette was epic with the fire display and tasty too. Friendly staff. Beautiful decor and lighting. Enjoyable!
5. Macleay Street Bistro
Overall Ratings
4 based on 408 reviews
This is bistro cuisine at its finest, influenced by France with the best of modern Australia completing the mix. The menu is complemented by our weekly blackboard specials, showcasing the best in market freshness, alongside our benchmark bistro dishes. Lo
Reviewed By Jackie M
If memory serves me correctly, nostalgia never tasted quite as good as chef Damien Wrightâs Sunday Roast for Two ($76) at Macleay Street Bistro. With glistening golden skin, and dense, juicy breast meat, Wrightâs poulet rôti et legumes pour deux (roast chook and vegetables for two) is outstanding, and unbeatable at the price point. The bird is served on a simple array of vegetables - onions, carrots, pumpkin and potatoes - each handled with technical precision that belies the rustic, Sunday lunch presentation.While the accompanying savoury jus gras (fatty juice) is brimming with rich, roast poultry intensity, the beautifully reduced pot of Eschallot, Mushroom and Thyme-Infused Cream ($4) is simply good to pass up. With the 2017 Picardy Pinot Noir ($89/bottle) from Pemberton as a companion drink, you could order this and nothing more, and die happy (if you happen to get taken out on the way home). Not meaning to be morbid, but Macleay Street Bistro would be a fine place to choose for a final repast. The monochrome surrounds feel elegant without being intimidating. Moody photographic art and a ruby-red chandelier are tamed by a chalkboard wall of specials, heralding the restaurantâs thirty-sixth year. New chef, Wright, has responded to the occasion with a retro-chic collection of 1970s French cuisine, drawn from both his classic training and twenty-six years of experience behind the pans.Escargots de Bourgogne ($26) treats snails to a garlic and parsley butter sauce that has a lemony lightness that belies the 1970s penchant for cream. The gentleness of the parsley-infused sauce allows you to taste more snail, and with a wee glass of the 2014 Vincent Girardin Chardonnay ($17/glass) it really sings. The wine list, by the way is solid and dependable. Iâve drunk most of it, bar for one or two. When I ask about an unfamiliar label, Páidi Murphy deftly makes me aware Iâll find it a bit thin: âThatâs the wine we use for people who donât have a wine palate."Murphy, who greeted us like old friends with a hug that lasted just long enough for us to know the sentiment was genuine, shines almost as brightly as Wrightâs cuisine. While the restaurant does generously allow free BYO on Sundays, Iâd urge you to let Murphy strut his stuff, and match your Merimbula Rock Oysters ($24/6) with finely beaded Pol Roger âBrut Reserveâ Champagne ($24/glass). The oysters I ate had salty, creamy and savoury characters in equal balance, requiring nothing more than a squeeze of lemon and cracked pepper to shine.In Wrightâs hands, neatly folded crepes are silky like a womanâs inner thigh. His Crêpes Suzette ($17) arrive immersed in juicy, bright citrus; and can be flamed at the table with Grand Marnier ($10) if it is your heartâs desire. For a counterpoint to crepes bursting with sunshiny joy, Wrightâs Chocolate Fondant ($20) is dark and brooding. It offer up all the rich, deep pleasure thatâs supposed to come with this ever-popular molten chocolate pudding. Itâll have you asking, why isnât all cooking like this?With Wright in the kitchen, Macleay Street Bistro remains the definitive place to eat classic French cuisine in Sydney.
