Sydney is home to many excellent French restaurants, and we’ve got another one for you. Bistro Grenier, a moody French bistro by the Odd Culture Group (they’re the team behind the purple-hued late-night den Pleasure Club, Time Out favourite The Old Fitz, and live-music haven The Duke), is now open – and it’s got je ne sais quoi in spades (baguettes?). The mezzanine level above King Street's Odd Culture has been transformed into the sexy bistro, complete with flickering candles, white tablecloths, wooden panelling and monochrome artworks. Called Bistro Grenier – meaning ‘attic’ or ‘grain store’ in French – the 92-seat space is the ideal spot for an after-work vino or romantic rendezvous.
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James Macdonald, Odd Culture’s group executive chef (and former chef of Hubert), is overseeing the menu, which serves the classics with the group’s signature funky flair. You could start with a plate of crisp rainbow crudités served with a herby cheese for double-dipping as you please. And you should probably order the pissaladière, which features buttery buckwheat puff pastry crowned with sweet onion confit and salty black olives. Steak tartare alongside the usual suspects is on the menu, as is black pudding with potato and apple.
Steak, fries, and pepper sauce; market-fresh fish with fennel, olive and lemon butter; a half-roast chook with eschalot and confit garlic; and a pork cutlet with pig’s trotters, prunes and sugarloaf cabbage make up the bigger mains. Time Out tip: order the pommes de terre lorette, which are balls of smooth mashed potato fried golden and served with a buttery sauce and fresh chives. It’s indulgent as heck, but hey, that’s what the French do best. For something sweet, finish with the hot maple pudding and buttermilk ice cream.
The wine list features drops from the Loire Valley, Southern Rhône and Burgundy, with Odd Culture Group’s beverage manager Jordan Blackman raiding the team’s cellar for rare and special-occasion bottles. Though there are some easy-drinking options too.
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