On the leafy Queen Street, Bistro Moncur is tucked away within Woollahra Hotel. With a meticulous eye for quality ingredients, the bistro has been dishing up classic French fare for the last 24 years.
As expected, the French onion soufflé gratin ($24) to start is excellent. The airy French onion flavoured soufflé yields sweetness, while the creamy, cheese gratin is an indulgent, rich addition. It’s the dish of the day for me.
The hand cut steak tartare ($26) is an assemble-it-yourself situation with finely chopped eshallots, cornichons, parsley, and capers in small, perfectly spaced mounds surrounding the beef topped with egg yolk. With a zingy mustard hit, the steak tartare has the perfect complement: paper-thin pommes gauffrettes.
For my main, the pan-fried barramundi fillet on a bed of mashed peas, crème fraiche and confit spring onion, sunflower seed & caper beurre noisette ($36) sings with flavour. The buttery, nutty beurre noisette over the peas lends itself well to the flawlessly flaky barramundi. I think I overdid it with the soufflé because I struggle to finish my main even though it’s fantastic.
On the meaty side of the mains, Bistro Moncur pure pork sausages with potato puree and Lyonnaise onions ($34) are rustic and handcrafted. While the potato puree is creamy, it’s not as buttery as I had hoped for. Of course, the green salad ($11) acts well in cutting through the rich, creamy direction French food tends to go.
We decide to finish our meal by sharing a vanilla crème brulee and almond tuile ($18). We’re not disappointed. The silky consistency is absolutely perfect, though all the specks of vanilla bean have sunk to the very bottom, which I scrape out eagerly. The almond tuile seems somewhat ornamental, but it doesn’t even matter because the crème brulee is just so excellent.
Bistro Moncur respects ingredients and adds thoughtful French precision to plate up consistent, well-executed food. And for those across the bridge, there’s a Bistro Moncur in Mosman, too.
Bistro Moncur
Address: 116A Queen St, Woollahra NSW 2025
Website: http://www.bistromoncur.com.au/
Sun-Wed 12pm-9pm, Thu-Sat 12pm-10pm
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