Viva la France at Ete, Sydney

Je voudrais un verre de vin rouge, s'il vous plait. I have to brush up on my French, in order to host a river cruise through Bordeaux in August. I also have to brush up on my knowledge of wine (nothing if not rigorous), so I figure the above phrase will possibly be all I will need.

Nevertheless, it won't hurt to acclimatise once again with French gastronomy at a sunny streetside table at Barangaroo's Ete, which is, of course, French for summer. Even I knew that.

Tucked in behind Cirrus, beside Fujisaki and below Nola, it has surprisingly good views to the water marred only by idling taxis. Never there when you need 'em, always when you don't.

Design outfit Foolscap Studio has created an aptly summery, light, bright and white corner space, if a little decorative. The entrance is spiced up with a seasonally adjusted installation wall of flora, the back wall lined with appealing framed abstracts from Chicago-based John Zabawa, another wall dramatically muralled.

The kitchen is open, the bar is zinc-topped, and long communal tables reference Provencal village feasts. It's all very likeable, as is owner-chef Drew Bolton, formerly of Vine in Double Bay.

Together with chef de cuisine Michael Flood, Bolton has gone for no-brainer French brasserie classics such as freshly opened oysters, charcuterie platters, chicken liver parfaits with sauternes jelly and at lunch, classic moules frites.

He's inclined to take it one step further, to avoid cliche; enriching a veal tartare with foie gras, for instance, or teaming pork rump with fermented apple and black pudding.

So a pot du mollusques ($25) combines mussels and diamond clams with little cubes of lardo and a velvety celeriac and fennel puree, the shells whipped from the pan while still vibrant, fleshy and full of their own juices. Pork and pistachio terrine ($18) with a plum and rosella chutney is well-made, if a bit polite.

Quail galantine ($27) filled with chicken mousse and sweetbreads sits in a puddle of quail jus with a fricassee of onion and peas; gentle and finessed.

Cote de boeuf with sauce bordelaise ($44) is not the mighty bone of red meat on a plank I expect, but instead is prettily plated as four uniform slices sauced with red wine (just doing my homework) jus and watercress puree. Strewn with sea succulents and accompanied by pomme fondant, it's cooked spot-on medium rare. There's also a lunchtime steak frites, topped with a clever bearnaise butter.

A cracklingly crisp-roofed creme brulee is textbook stuff, with a charming peach and lemon balm ice-cream ($16). But if you live only for dessert, you must do the assiette mignardise ($38), a show-off assortment of a dozen different mini-desserts presented on a show-stopping, white-painted, wooden dessert trolley parked on your tabletop.

The kitchen is strong on saucing, temperatures and timing, so it just depends on whether you like your French rough and rustic, or pretty and polite.

Service, while cheerful, lets itself down somewhat with a distinct lack of French training and style, leading to cringeworthy announcements such as "the tarte du jour today is…" (If it's "du jour", it's already – oh, never mind).

Ete is crying out for a mellifluous, melodic French accent to waft through the room. Apart from mine, of course.

The low-down

Vegetarian Token appetiser, entree and main course only (that's very French).

Drinks A serious and satisfying list of French and Oz labels, plus a separate and seasonal Coravin wine-by-glass list currently highlighting the Loire Valley.

Go-to dish Pot du mollusques of clams, mussels, lardo, celeriac, $25.

Pro tip Order the assorted desserts on their miniature dessert trolley or get serious table envy.

Terry Durack is chief restaurant critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and senior reviewer for the Good Food Guide. This rating is based on the Good Food Guide scoring system.