French food that ticks all the boxes at Buvette

I never quite work out who eats in hotel restaurant other than those on work assignments who just find it more simple to stay put on someone else's tab. Which might have worked when restaurants were largely restricted to hotels, but with the opposite the case now hotels have to work harder to make themselves a venue for more than just the sleepover guests. It's a theory, at any rate, and possibly explains the makeovers that so many hotel dining rooms have had.

Buvette is modern, a little schmanzy and makes an effort with decor, lighting, music and intimate spaces. It feels quite corporate, as these places so often do, and while you can clearly wander downstairs from your room as causal as you like, it's not a casual space, menu, nor set-up. Tonight, it's decidedly full of couples.

The menu offers three well-described steaks with pepper sauce, red-wine jus, cafe de Paris, bearnaise. I'm sure these sell well, as a simple meal where you know what you're getting, but I really think the big-hunk-of-meat days are past us. You can measure the decline of Western civilisation by the can of fizzy and the app for over-sharing, but you could also make a case for the massive hunk of meat as the beginning of the end.

But Buvette isn't about being cutting edge; the menu is pretty safe and perfectly appealing. We are especially happy with the slice of pig cheek and ham hock "pressed pork confit" ($21). It's a chunky terrine, like a slice of pressed ham, with good crunchy pickled vegetables and hot mustard - and would be perfect in a picnic basket. It's a great start.

The confit salmon ($22) is a thick piece of fish, not super delicate in flavour or cut, and the licorice cure is not obvious. It comes with good pieces of dark beetroot and avocado, and in all is slightly bland - which turns out to be a comment that could be directed at much of tonight's meal. Things are correct and decent, really good in parts, but not jumping with excitement.

The beef tartare ($20) looks to have been properly chopped fine by hand with pickled onion rounds which we like, and a quail egg on top. Unusually, there don't appear to be capers in this dish; rather we think they're spring onions, and in all while there's a bit of heat, it's not super lively.

Very good chewy sourdough bread has been turning up - to start a good piece of baguette with some lovely fresh butter - and with various of the dishes. The wine list, too, is a strength, comprehensive, lengthy and grand, focusing on some of the best Canberra region wines, and the French stuff. By the glass you can check out New World versions of French varieties - Nick O'Leary's local riesling and an Alsace riesling; a New Zealand sauvignon (Babich from Marlborough) alongside the same from Sancerre; a Western Australian chardonnay (from Singlefile) and a version from Chablis. This is an excellent concept. Some of the offers are also exxy enough to be eye-popping in some of the offers (1990 Henschke Hill of Grace, $1875, 2010 Penfolds Grange, $1395). We like the glassware, including the bulbous glass in which the French chardonnay is served.

Bouillabaisse is offered as a special tonight and it's a standout. It's hot, red, minimal in actual soup, and plentiful in the pile of grilled seafood with oiled toast, although the potato rouille alongside is less than interesting.

Confit duck ($36) is tender, the duck leg sensibly served on a pile of wilted lettuce with peas and carrots - with little chunks of "smoked pork belly", tasting essentially like the ham or our entree. The duck is well handled and the dish perfectly serviceable, although overall it feels a little bland and perhaps pedestrian. The wagyu beef cheek ($38) is a huge serve, very rich and gelatinous, so mouthfilling. We like the parsnip sauce under this pile of meat, which is also super rich - although we're annoyed to see the little chunks of ham appearing here also. And again we find it well-handled if curiously conservative.

Service has been good and attentive, although we are ignored after getting our mains and have to call for attention to order dessert. It's worth calling for. We love the bitter chocolate fondant with beetroot ice cream ($18). The ice cream has a wild, earthy flavour and is anything but sweet. Likewise, the fondant is not sweet. It's hot, very runny inside and clearly cooked to order. How excellent. The cranberry and pistachio ice cream ("vacherin glace", $18), is also very good, with a pile of "mulled [read alcohol and sugar soused] autumn fruit" underneath.

It's a very good finish for a largely successful meal at a restaurant that in the end ticks boxes rather than thinks outside them.