The Sydney Morning Herald logo
Advertisement

Le Jolie Cafe

Matt Holden

Warm decor: Le Jolie Cafe in Pascoe Vale.
Warm decor: Le Jolie Cafe in Pascoe Vale.Ken Irwin

French

This little cafe has charcoal-toned walls and a worn, dark-timber floor. A golden-hued chaise longue sits by the door, a glass-baubled chandelier dangles over a sofa in front of a fireplace, and a brown-paper menu offers quiche, casserole, croque-monsieur and more.

Outside, a huge old eucalyptus shades a breeze-block suburban train station in a sleepy hollow, where the spare, brick-veneer uplands of Pascoe Vale plunge into the lee of the Tullamarine Freeway and what was once the valley of Moonee Ponds Creek.

We have French-looking decor, a French-seeming menu and a French-accented man with a shaved head and soulful dark eyes in a typical Australian suburb, and we cannot resist that typical Australian question: Where are you from, and how did you end up here?

Advertisement
Belgian-style waffle with vanilla ice-cream, strawberries and chocolate sauce.
Belgian-style waffle with vanilla ice-cream, strawberries and chocolate sauce.Ken Irwin

Guy Trinquet's answer is not quite what we expect. Yes, Paris, and the south-west of France, and yes, brushes with an ecole culinaire and French restaurant kitchens, including the Cafe de Flore, but also a period sailing yachts back and forth across the Atlantic, and a previous sojourn in Australia.

That's who and where. The what is the menu and its list of French cafe bites, almost all prepared in-house by Trinquet, from the croissants and waffles on the counter to the quiches and pies and beef casserole.

The casserole is, Trinquet explains, made without beef stock, giving the impression that is a no-no: the marinade consists of red wine, orange zest (he makes a vigorous zesting motion with his hands), lots of garlic, herbes de Provence, thyme and bay leaf.

It comes in a big white bowl - four or five chunks of beef that are a rich brown on the outside and pinkly tender inside, falling apart on the fork, of course, in a rich broth with carrots and mushrooms. On a separate plate are some slices of chewy sourdough baguette for mopping up and a green salad dressed with a light vinaigrette.

Advertisement

''You can have more bread,'' Trinquet offers. ''Just ask.'' It's a delicious winter lunch.

Lighter dishes include quiches lorraine, onion, and spinach and cheese. The onion quiche has a custardy filling with savoury hints, and is served with a leaf salad.

A baguette of confit duck and cornichon comes on an olive brioche bun, the brioche salty-savoury-sweet and nicely chewy, the duck tender and sweet.

There are pies of free-range beef cooked in red wine and rosemary, or chicken and tarragon: tall, substantial things with a solid crust that are worth at least two of what we call a pie; a special of potato and leek soup; and baguettes of smoked chicken and spicy mango chutney; and ham, brie and cornichon.

The Belgian-style waffles are substantial, sweet and almost biscuity, but the full serve, with vanilla ice-cream, strawberries and chocolate sauce, would make the climb back up that steep hill tough.

Advertisement

Make it a little tart of strawberries and custard with an old-school short black of Bambaleros beans, a coffee roasted in Maling Road by a Colombian called Alfonso. But that's a ''Where are you from?'' story for another day.

Dish… Waffles or beef casserole
Do… Check out the courtyard with its vertical garden and fish pond
Don't… Miss the home-made hot chocolate
Vibe… Tres, er, jolie

Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox.

Sign up

From our partners

Advertisement
Advertisement