Four levels, a Josper rotisserie hung with ducks, an ice-mounded oyster bar and a chocolate-mousse trolley that does laps of the room: Maison Bâtard, the French house Chris Lucas opened on Bourke Street in late 2024, was named Gourmet Traveller's Best New Restaurant for 2025. It is the most ambitious French opening Melbourne has seen in years.
Melbourne's French scene runs deeper than one address, from a 1980s South Yarra institution to a steak-frites room modelled on a Paris classic. Four rooms follow, each with its chef or operator, a dish to order, the price bracket and who should book elsewhere.
Maison Bâtard
Food: 9/10 | Ambience: 9/10 | Value: 7/10
Chris Lucas's four-level French spectacular, Best New Restaurant 2025 — book the dining room for a big-night Melbourne dinner.
Chris Lucas opened Maison Bâtard on Bourke Street in November 2024, with Adam Sanderson — who has cooked at The Fat Duck and Noma — leading the kitchen across a two-level restaurant, a basement supper club and a rooftop terrace. The potato omelette rolled with crisp chips and crowned with Oscietra caviar is the signature opener; the lobster à l'Américaine, at $185, is the room's grand gesture.
Gourmet Traveller named it Australia's Best New Restaurant for 2025. Beyond the caviar omelette, the Tournedos Rossini, the John Dory in chardonnay-caper sauce and the dessert trolley carry the French canon at full volume. The full profile has the menu; start with a martini and oysters on the rooftop before moving down to the dining room.
Not for: Not for a quiet or low-key dinner — Maison Bâtard is loud, theatrical and built for occasion, with prices to match the spectacle.
Best for: Birthday, Close a Deal, Anniversary
France-Soir
Food: 8/10 | Ambience: 8/10 | Value: 8/10
Melbourne's defining French bistro since 1986 — go for steak frites in a white-linen, zinc-bar room that never changes.
France-Soir has run on Toorak Road since 1986, and it is the bistro every later Melbourne French room is measured against — white tablecloths, a wall of Bordeaux, waiters in long aprons. The menu sticks to the canon: steak frites, duck à l'orange, boeuf bourguignon, escargots, a soufflé to finish.
Nothing here chases a trend, which is the point — a working Parisian bistro transplanted to South Yarra and run with conviction for nearly forty years. The full profile covers the menu. The grill section, with its choice of béarnaise, pepper or bordelaise, is where regulars start.
Not for: Not for diners after modern, plated fine dining — France-Soir is a traditional bistro, proudly unchanged, and serves the classics straight.
Best for: Anniversary, First Date, Birthday
Bistro Gitan
Food: 8/10 | Ambience: 8/10 | Value: 8/10
A Victorian-terrace French bistro by Fawkner Park — book the garden room for escargots and a long, leafy Sunday lunch.
Bistro Gitan occupies a Victorian terrace on the edge of Fawkner Park, blending French bistro cooking with a leafy South Yarra setting. The escargots in garlic butter, steak tartare cut with horseradish, and an Aurum duck breast are the orders, with a croque monsieur that outclasses any home version.
The name — French for gypsy — nods to wandering European influences, but the kitchen is a proper bistro through and through, with oven-baked rockling and a mustard-crusted spatchcock among the mains. The full profile has the detail; the park-side tables make it one of the prettier lunch rooms in the city.
Not for: Not for a quick bite — Bistro Gitan is built for the long, wine-soaked lunch or dinner, not a rushed table.
Best for: First Date, Birthday, Anniversary
Entrecôte
Food: 8/10 | Ambience: 8/10 | Value: 8/10
Melbourne's steak-frites specialist, modelled on Paris's Le Relais de l'Entrecôte — try it for the secret-herb-butter classic done right.
Entrecôte on Domain Road takes its cue from Le Relais de l'Entrecôte in Paris, building its name on one dish: steak frites with a secret herb-butter sauce, served in the classic two-service style. Around it sits a tight French brasserie menu — a duck pithivier, caviar service, a tarte au citron and a Paris-Brest to finish.
The room is a polished take on the Paris brasserie, and the focus on doing the steak frites properly rather than chasing a long menu is exactly its appeal. Dinner runs in the mid brasserie range. It is the South Yarra room to choose when the craving is specifically for steak and chips done the French way.
Not for: Not for non-meat-eaters chasing variety — the kitchen is built around steak frites, and the menu beyond it is deliberately short.
Best for: First Date, Birthday, Team Dinner
How to Eat French in Melbourne
Melbourne's French rooms run from the grand to the everyday. Maison Bâtard is the big-night spectacle; France-Soir and Bistro Gitan are the bistro institutions; Entrecôte is the steak-frites specialist. Book Maison Bâtard well ahead, especially for the rooftop; the bistros take weekend reservations but keep room for walk-ins at the bar.
Order the canon — steak frites, escargots, a duck dish, a classic dessert — and a glass of something French rather than studying the list. Most of these rooms sit in the moderate-to-upper bistro range, with Maison Bâtard the splurge. For grander French tables worldwide, see the best French restaurants guide; for relaxed nights, the first-date picks.
Frequently Asked Questions
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