Sydney's frou-frou-free Loulou is a flexible bistro for uncertain times

• Bistros are back: Why Sydney is hooked (again) on the French classics

There are few culinary cliches as reliable as that of the French bistro. Before you even walk in the door, you know there will be baguettes and banquettes, and mirrors on the wall.

There will be champagne and charcuterie, and steak frites and mille-feuille. The bread-and-butter of the bistro business is that they do what we know and love.

Then there's Loulou, which gives us all this and more – and it's the more that's the most interesting part.

Tucked into Milsons Point just up from Lavender Bay, Loulou has a lot of other things going on as well. Sebastien Lutaud (Merivale and Solotel) and team have taken pains to build a hybrid business model designed to survive what the economy might throw at it.

With a boulangerie that bakes four times a day and a traiteur/delicatessen for ready meals, you can drop in for pain au raisin and St Ali coffee to take to the park, buy takeaway sausage rolls for lunch, or pick up a roast chicken for dinner.

The traiteur also informs the bistro menu next door, and you could eat here quite happily on just the ocean trout gravadlax, classy chicken liver parfait with warm brioche, and pâté en croute du jour ($24).

The fact that there is pâté en croute of the day is amazing in itself, but I love the form and rigour and pastry of today's duck and pork version, threaded with seedy figs.

As for the rest of the menu, chef Billy Hannigan (last seen at Bistro Guillaume and before that, The Ledbury in London) heads a serious-looking team on pots, pans and Josper grills. He's faithful to the idea of bistro classics, while at the same time lightening and brightening them.

There's a startlingly pretty tartlette of summer greens ($24), freshly assembled so the fine pastry base is still crisp, the fromage blanc pillowy and the pyramid of fresh herbs, asparagus and peas fresh and crunchy.

Hannigan's moules frites ($28) sees the meaty, lightly cooked mussels taken from their shells, tossed in Cafe de Paris butter and teamed with a cascade of shoestring potatoes. The kitchen does the work, you reap the riches.

It's a large space, divided by a cocktail bar and fringed with booths. There's no wallowing in bistro nostalgia; instead, the architectural lines are clean and contemporary, and light floods in from a skylight that runs from the broad open terrace to the very schmick loos at the rear.

As can happen in a bistro, I find the befores, afters and sides more compelling than the main courses (plats). Steak frites au poivre vert ($54) is heavily coated with a creamy, herbal green sauce that smothers any sizzle from the grill.

Rotisserie chicken ($26/$42) is a big dish, jointed and served to share with a sauce chasseur of onions and mushrooms. It's a bit set in its ways, which suggests the brining has had more effect than the rotisserie.

Back for lunch, and the Loulou burger ($28) is benchmark; the mix of grass-fed brisket and chuck meats texturally interesting, the balance of pickle, sauce and lettuce adroit, the brioche bun and pommes frites excellent.

Pastry work is also good, with a seasonally pleasing apricot mille-feuille drizzled at the table with a fine sauternes and vanilla caramel ($16).

The resolute Frenchness of Loulou has its own charm, with its determined use of tarragon and soft chervil and perky vinaigrettes; the finesse of the pastry, the insistence on compound sauces, the freshly baked miniature madeleines.

But it keeps coming across as more than the sum of its parts, with a built-in resilience and flexibility that says it will be there when we need it. That, more than anything – more than the pâté en croute, even – makes it a bistro for our times.

The low-down

Loulou Bistro

Drinks Cocktails go from Le Bleu martini to a classic Ramos gin fizz. Consultant sommelier Shun Eto's impressive wine list is strong on champagne.

Vegetarian Tartlette of summer greens, eggplant a la Provencale, plus a dedicated vegan menu.

Pro tip There's an outdoor terrace for sunny days.

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.