Gourmet food store opens in Seaforth

Seaforth hasn't proved a great hunting ground in recent times for new food ventures, with Emmilou Seaforth opening and closing faster than Superman's fridge.

But the north-side suburb has snared a chef with a serious CV, Alban Silvestre, who has worked at Alain Passard's L'Arpege in Paris and in the kitchen of chef Michel Guerard.

Silvestre scoured Sydney for a suitable site, choosing the former butcher shop at 2/549 Sydney Road as the base for his Folie Douce catering business.

But it is the gourmet food retail outlet he's also running out of the site that has Short Black's north-side operatives purring.

The menu changes weekly, but the takeaway onion tart and the green lentil salad is winning Silvestre followers. "There aren't many food venues in Seaforth, we want to help funk up the place," the chef says.