Bastille Day 2014: French festivities around Melbourne
Calling all Francophiles, Melbourne's bistros are getting into the spirit of the French national day, stretching out Bastille Day into a full week of special events. Here are our picks. Bon appetit!
Bistro Vue
Bistro Vue's Bastille Day dinner (7pm, July 14) let's you eat cake – and lots of it, with a patisserie assortment of petits fours including canele, madeleine, macaron, creme brulee and Paris-Brest. The five-course dinner ($155) is inspired by Paul Bocuse, and includes matching French wines.
At midday from Monday to Saturday, a classic three-course lunch line-up includes soft-shell crab with rouille sauce; confit duck leg and sautéed potatoes; and lemon pudding with pistachio ice-cream ($60).
Monday, July 14- Saturday, July 19, Bistro Vue, 430 Little Collins Street, 9691 3838, vuedemonde.com.au/bistrovue
Union Dining
Richmond's Union Dining is also celebrating all week, showcasing a different pair of French classics every evening from Tuesday-Saturday. The two-course dinner and a glass of French wine (rose, white or red) is $45, perhaps pissaladiere and coq au vin (Tuesday), steak tartare and duck a l'orange (Thursday), or chef Nicky Reimer's dinner party staple, cassoulet (Saturday). Got a sweet tooth? Add on a special dessert of chocolate mousse with poached strawberries.
July 15-19, Union Dining, 270 Swan Street, Richmond, 9428 2988, uniondining.com.au
Le Grand Cirque
Circus-skills-trained Manu Fieldel (of My Kitchen Rules fame) will be playing ringmaster at his French bistro Le Grand Cirque. Expect burlesque performers and high-kicking can-can dancers. The $95 four-course dinner includes a cocktail on arrival.
7pm, Monday, July 14, Le Grand Cirque, 21 Daly Street, South Yarra, legrandcirque.com.au
France-Soir
The South Yarra stalwart's annual Bastille Day celebrations are fun and frivolous, think can-can dancers, an accordion/violin duo playing French tunes, and staff dressed in period garb. The brasserie is serving its a la carte menu, with entertainment from 8pm tonight. Vive la France-Soir!
11 Toorak Road, South Yarra, 9866 8569, france-soir.com.au
Luxembourg
Andrew McConnell's latest restaurant Luxembourg, a glamorous wine bar and bistro (formerly Golden Fields), is preparing a three-course Bastille Day set menu ($65) featuring a shared selection of oysters, gougeres and house-made charcuterie; confit duck leg cassoulet or chermoula-slicked bouillabaisse for main; concluding with desserts of swoon-worthy quince millefeuille and chocolate tart, plus a coffee and canele.
From 5pm, Monday, July 14, Luxembourg Bar and Bistro, Shop 2, 157 Fitzroy Street, St Kilda, 9525 4488, luxembourgbistro.com.au
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