France-Soir

Ph: (03) 9866 8569; 11 Toorak Rd, SOUTH YARRA 3141 www.france-soir.com.au

French, $$ +, ** for Ambience, Good Wine List
Open Lunch and Dinner 7 days, Closed Boxing Day and New Years Day; Licensed, BYO sun-fri except public hols, Corkage $12 bottle; AE DC MC V EFT
Chef Geraud Fabre (7-11-07) Owner Jean-Paul Prunetti (7-11-07)

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

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