Mietta's Review
A stupendous wine list and terrific bistro atmosphere. France Soir does not pretend to be anything more than it is and there is such a sense of ease and comfort in that. The menu doesn't change, the formula works and staff and customers can rely on it. And the energy level remains there because the bar is kept occupied - greeting customers, serving drinks, opening oysters, slicing salmon, tossing salads, cutting up bread. The long narrow room bustles with their black and white flurry. The food - well, as it always has been. Neither more nor less, try the 250gm filet de beouf bearnaise.

Other published opinions

Age Good Food Guide 2010 Score: 14.5/20 "What really makes this place irresistible isn't so much food as attitude. Long-serving, waistcoated waiters dash about the long mirrored room with a studied insouciance - and the wellto-do ladies swoon"

Gourmet Traveller 2010 Australian Restaurant Guide "With 23 years under its belt, an impressive crowd of regulars and an unchanging menu of bistro favourites. France-Soir could easily settle into complacency. But while some experiences are better than others here, you'll never get a bad one - the theatrical bustle of the closely packed space and the team of charming, accented waiters prevents that - and you will often be surprised by just how good this South Yarra institution can be"

Herald Sun 11-07-09 "Steak and pommes frites (right) is often the dish of choice at this institution but ignore the oeuf meurette (eggs poached in red wine) at your peril and give serious thought to the bunny du jour and the duck confit"

Herald Sun 27-06-09 "Steak-frites with bearnaise is often the dish of choice at this institution but ignore the oeuf meurette (eggs poached in red wine) at your peril and give serious thought to the bunny du jour and the duck confit"

Age Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 14.5/20 "It's fun, it's flirty and it's touted as one of the city's top French bistros. Over its 20-yearplus history France-Soir has won accolades for its overt display of Gallic bravado that in one broad sweep encompasses the classic Parisian bistro fitout, the capable French-accented waiters, the vinophile's wine list compiled with a collector's obsession by owner Jean-Paul Prunetti and the menu of classics such as onion soup, terrine, steak tartare and beef bourguignon"

Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide "France-Soir has long made the case for culinary conservatism with style. The menu has barely changed over the course of its two decades, but for France-Soir's many dedicated regulars, that is a matter of little import: the joys of simple French fare, professionally executed, accompanied perhaps by a bottle of Cotes du Rhone (or another drop from FranceSoir's justly famed wine list), are timeless"

Herald Sun Extra Food, Bob Hart, 19-08-08 Score: * "This place is an institution"

Herald Sun Extra Food, Bob Hart, 29-07-08 Score: **** "This place is an institution"

Herald Sun 10-06-08 Score: **** "This place is an institution"

Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 15/20, One Hat "With its tri-colour neon signage, charming French-accented waiters and menu bursting at the seams with bistro favourites, France-Soir could never be accused of obscuring its ethnic origins"

Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide "Terrine, tripe, onion soup, steak tartare, rillettes and tarte Tatin... Before the bistro revolution that has amused Australia of late, there was France-Soir"

Herald Sun Eat, Bob Hart, 22-7-06 "MENTION the war, if you like, when next you dine at this shrine to all that's good and noble about simple, honest French food.But, whatever you do, don't mention the World Cup. Not even in jest.For it was here, in the unreasonably early hours of that darkest of days in French football history that local Francophiles, as well as some actual Frenchies, gathered to eat, drink and ultimately - be miserable."

The Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 15/20 1 Hat "For 20 years, this has been a place to see and be seen, to dine on French bistro classics and sip wines drawn from a weighty list in the long mirrored dining room. The food doesn't reach giddy highs. Instead, you'll find textbook versions of the dishes you ate at that little bistro on the Left Bank"

Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide "Few restaurants warrant the title of 'institution", yet after nearly 20 years providing Melburnians with an authentic taste of la vie Parisienne - steadfastly pursuing bistro culture and the pleasure of wine - France-Soir has earned it. The sexy and sometimes insouciant male waiters; the A-list of Melbourne and visiting "names"; the wine list that brings to their knees even the most knowledgeable Francophile;"

The Age Good Food Guide 2005 score 15/20 One Hat "Its hectic atmosphere, with rushing French waiters straight from central-casting, remains unchanged. So, too, does most of the bistrostyle menu, where one man's entrecote is another man's poisson"

Gourmet Traveller 2005 Restaurant Guide "An air of Gallic insouciance, breezy French-accented waiters and a repertoire of bistro favourites have served it well."

Age Good Food Guide 2004 15/20 one chefs hat

Vogue Entertaining & Traveller, March April 2003

The Age, Sunday Life, 28/9/03, John Lethlean

The Sunday Age, Sunday Life, Eat Streets, 11/5/03, Dani Valent

Age Good Food Guide 2003. Best French. Score 16/20

The Sunday Age, 12.11.00