On Wednesday night I popped over to my old suburb of Rozelle for dinner at the French restaurant Le Grande Bouffe. I'd previously been for breakfast but this was my first time for dinner. The restaurant was surprisingly busy for a mid week in January.
The restaurant isn't French in a twee way (e.g. posters of Paris on the walls and chequered table clothes), but the accents of the staff and a quick look at the menu and wine list let you know that you are somewhere gallic.
To underscore we the French cuisine of the restaurant we were presented with escargot cooked in garlic butter as a complimentary appetiser. The soft snails slipped down nicely. The butter could have been a bit more garlicy for me.
I didn't order a starter, but had a quick taste of two of my companions dishes. Keiko ordered the twice baked leak and goats cheese soufflé. My small taste was very nice. Soft and rich, it wasn't over powered by the cheese. The carmelised onion on top was a good touch.
Olivia's yellow fin tune cooked two ways looked beautiful on the plate. I'm not a massive fan of tuna and don't eat it regularly so don't have a baseline to compare it to. I certainly wasn't spitting it out through!!
In classic French style it took a while for the main courses to arrive. You can see from my photos that the evening had got progressively darker! I ordered the assiette de canard. It was a feast of duck with duck breast, sausage, confit and a duck's liver on the plate. My two favourites were the duck confit and sausage. Bad for you but glorious!
I managed to sneak a taste of the poison du jour, blue eye cod served with lentils and oxtail. I enjoyed my mouthful and thought the tender oxtail went quite well with the dish. However, the two people at our table that ate a whole plateful didn't think oxtail and cod was a match made in heaven.
It's a while since I've had French food and I enjoyed our dinner at Le Grande Bouffe. Perhaps a little expensive for a mid week treat, but definitely somewhere to come back to on the weekend and enjoy a leisurely dinner with a good bottle of red.
I do love this place! Have been twice for dinner and once for brunch. Will have to schedule a date to come back again. And it's nice and close to home =)
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