I've been here so many times. They always change their menus. Their entrees are bloody delicious. Highly recommend ordering beef tartare, garlic gruyere and blinis! The mains are quite restricted to beef and chicken but they are good. Desserts are also amazing, love the madeleines and chouxcream. The dinning hall gives you a classy yet fresh feeling. My all time favourite french restaurant!
Always my favourite place to go, especially on a date with the loved one. The place will take you back to France and it’s very romantic and relaxing. The staff are all friendly and accommodating. The food is always tasty and the ingredients prepared beautifully. My top one will be the cheese croquets (forgot what it’s called), tomato salad and beetroot. I would love to try the choux next time when winter comes.
The dishes and service here was amazing! Definitely a lovely quaint place to take your partner. I absolutely loved their steak tartare and oysters!
Tucked away in the busy Hardware lane, this hidden gem serves up amazing quality French dishes along with amazing service. It is absolutely an unforgettable experience. The waitress had extensive knowledge in wine and helped recommend us a bottle that suited our taste.
Loved the steak tartare and the sher wagyu ribeye.
Will be back to try other dishes.
The french saloon is a discrete doorway tucked away between little bourke street and hardware lane. The dining hall has a classic but fresh feeling. Staff are friendly, informative and efficient. The menu has a simple structure but food is delicious, one of the best steaks I have had anywhere! The deserts were also great, can definitely recommend.
What a great little bistro this is. I love that you can have a drink first at the Wine Bar and then move upstairs for a meal (or vice versa of course!). The ambience is quite lovely, with some tables having white table cloths and others exposed. The interior has exposed wood and is light, airy and mostly white. It's got a great feel.But the reason you really come is for the food. I had a terrine to start which was so so delicious, perfectly balanced flavours and a great consistency. My friend had a fresh tomato starter which was a plate of different types of tomatoes, fresh and light. She was amazed by the simplicity of the dish and how good it was. We then shared the roast chicken which was perfectly cooked, succulent, and a perfect serve for two people. We were incredibly impressed!
Nice place which we found hard to fault going on our lunch stop here yesterday. We liked the space and we loved the very professional food and service. My meat was cooked beautifully. The place seems underrated and likely to become more popular in time.
French Saloon is an airy and light-filled bistro that is perched atop Kirk’s Wine Bar — exemplifying much of the casual chic vibe that you find downstairs but with decidedly more flourish and pomp.
Restricted menu, particularly mains, it’s steak and chicken. This is why I went and it delivered, steak and chicken were bloody delicious. Wine list was awesome. Ordering the large share steak, chicken and some entrees with a few bottles of wine was less than $100 a head.
Monday evening dinner for three. Greeted warmly and seated quickly with drinks menus at hand. Orders quickly processed without a blink.
Food menus were presented to us and efficiently followed up by a comprehensive description from the waitress on special dishes and knowledgeable answers to our queries.
We ordered a number of plates to share and all were absolutely flawless. Presentation, flavour, ingredients, portion size and temperature all spot on.
Fantastic wine list with an obvious bias to good French wines.
Service was excellent with a very experienced and happy team working in together as one.
A very enjoyable evening.
First time there with a girlfriend was very good so couldn't wait to come back again with my boyfriend to have the same again. Both times had charcuterie plate, beef cappaccio ,mussels, roasted cauliflower and tuna and first time was all good however some reason the second time was a little disappointing. Everything just tasted not quite the same especially the cappaccio was extremely salty and we brought it up the waiters attention and the dish was taken away.
The entrance to this place can be hard to miss. It's spacious and well-lit inside. The smoked tongue dish was great and was a decent size serving. We really liked the muscles too. Then we shared the 900g cape grim steak - it was cooked perfectly. Friendly service to top it off.
Awesome french bistro, was packed and we didn't have a booking although they got us a spot on the balcony. It was warm and really had a great atmosphere. Food was good and the service I couldn't fault.
Had been meaning to try this place out for ages, finally came for my partners birthday & it did not disappoint! The beef tartare was perfect, the kingfish & charcuterie board we're great too. Only slight let down were the spring bay mussels, which were just too big for their own good, however, the bouillabaisse they were in was quite nice, especially with the bread provided.
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What is French food?
Is there any country more renowned for its food than France? French cuisine is arguably the most revered on earth – indeed the very word “cuisine” is French. Training in traditional French methods and cooking techniques is considered a core component of many a chef’s basic education, regardless of their country of origin.
How was it, you ask?
Sublime.
French Saloon is a beautiful space, serving classic French Bistro fare with a liberal dose of Melbourne food scene chic. A must try for anyone who likes food – simple as that!
We ate:
Oysters Natural
Millionaires sandwich
House Made Charcuterie Plate
Cape Grim Hanger Tartare, Truffle & Crisps
Whole Flounder with Buerre Noisette
900g Cape Grim Dry aged club steak (served with Roquefort butter, Café de Paris butter, Dijon Mustard, Jus)
Hand Cut Chips
Madeleines
Fruit Tart of the day with clotted Cream
Crème caramel
We drank:
NV Isola Prosecco (Veneto)
Hautes Cotes de Nuits (Burgundy)
Les Enfants Sauvages Muscat de Rivesaltes (Roussilon)
Would we go again? Yes, definately. This is the European Groups most accomplished venue yet.
Friday night and no plans except for a need to decompress from a busy work week. I found myself wandering around Hardware Lane and a quick enquiry at French Saloon resulted in the availability of a table for two in an hour's time. I idled the time away back downstairs at Kirk's Wine Bar at a street side table as good fortune smiled on me and allowed me to jump in as a departing couple paid their bill and ventured out into the Melbourne weekend vortex.
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It is not every day a collection of restaurants has such an impact on a diverse range of dining and drinking experiences. The European, City Wine Shop, and most importantly The Supper Club (and Siglo), are three places that captured my imagination many years ago, and have held it to this day. It seems without even knowing it, the people behind these stunning establishments, have grabbed me in the opposite end of town.
Kirk’s Wine Bar is not a place that grabs your immediate attention. In fact, it looks like a lot of wine bars I’ve been to overseas. It is the feeling here that is special. Somehow many of those I’ve been with there, feel the same way too. The fascinating part is why I feel drawn to it whenever I’m in that part of town, whether shopping, after lunch, for pre-dinner drinks, or pretty much any other time.
Naturally, upstairs was always going to end up capturing my attention. It’s not the same, but the walk up the stairs is a bit like going up to the Supper Club. What is upstairs though is a tribute to the casual dining of France. Not that the French do anything that is actually that casual. The French Saloon is put together in this manner.
I like the ambience of this quaint restaurant, bright, airy and romantic. The food was good, especially the salmon caviar, mussels with French fries, and steak
service was erratic, and food took a while to be served
Some of tables a little small for groups of 4
Try to get a seat by the windows
Will give this restaurant another visit
Another visit to French Saloon with friends who hadn’t been previously and really wanted to dine there. Needless to say, they were not disappointed! Our preference is to share dishes and everything on the menu seems to cater for this whim. While we loved all our choices we were particularly impressed with the pumpkin roasted in seaweed butter and the roasted cauliflower. Seems quirky as we are not vegetarians!
This place was absolutely delicious! The staff were lovely and food was great. We had quite a bit of food - from the spanner crab & avocado brioche, the raw tuna and kingfish starters to the 700g cape grim to share with a side of chips and salad - it was outstanding. A really highly recommended French bistro!
Only stopped by for a wine - picked a table out on the terrace. The ambience in this place is beautiful, romantic with a buzz. I think I'll be back for food next time, a bit earlier in the night.
A pretty space upstairs and somewhat tucked away from the madness in hardware lane. French bistro food was all very delicious - can recommend the charcuterie, I also had the skeak frites. Great fries and the steak was perfectly cooked med-rare. A nice night out.
I enjoyed the food and ambience at French Saloon so much I went twice within a week! The charcuterie platter was delicious and the steak for 2 was juicy and there's a great wine selection.
The only drawback for me was that none of the desserts really caught my eye but that wasn't too much of an issue as I was too full to fit in any both times anyway.
Came here for dinner on Thursday night and we all thought is was great. The food was amazing, the wine list was extensive and the staff were friendly and very accommodating. The value for money was exceptional, while it wasn't cheap, the amount of food we ordered was enough to feed us and my last minute dinner guest who didn't order anything and we also had a few bottles of wine.
Amazing food. Wonderful ambiance. Fantastic service-not intrusive but attentive.... Don't take themselves too seriously... Staff are prepared to have a bit of fun with their customers. Thank you for making the night memorable.
A well hidden gem! It took us a while to find the secret entry. The restaurant was light and fresh, with a bit a rustic decoration. Staff were friendly and attentive.
We didn't try any entrees and instead we ordered mains and desserts. We ordered the flounder, half a chicken, some broccolini with goat curd and some chips to share. The flounder was cooked just right, the meat came off the bone easily with the right amount of flavours. The addition of raw fish roe lightened up the dish. The chicken was juicy, perfectly cooked again served with pumpkin puree and some other veges.
For dessert, we had the special, orange custard and rhubarb and ice cream; strawberries and pistachio tart. Both desserts were very good.
We had a very relaxing dinner and was the perfect way to end the week.
Recently received one hat on AGFG and definitely an up and rising modern French restaurant. Loved the cozy relaxed ambience on level 1 at the corner of Hardware Ln and Little Bourke st. The entrance was pretty mysterious and hard to find in the beginning. Took some pics here to show u the entrance. Overall, beautiful entrees, fresh ingredients, flavoursome and well presented dishes, especially the cured Kingfish and raw tuna.
This is a great alternative to the usual suspects (Strozzi, Syracuse, Grossi, Bistro Vue et al) for a business lunch that shows you're one of the cognoscenti. Impossible to find - tick. Food you can identify - tick. Provincial ambiance - tick. Smallish, good wine list, good service.
Great venue that ticks the box for making you feel like you may just be in Paris. An assured and experienced operator who knows how to get things right. Menu was limited, but that was a positive. Great seafood. Familiar faces from City Wine Shop etc working the floor. Only negative was the state of the bathrooms by mid-evening - obviously no one tasked with the occasional check up.
👍 Absolutely authentic flavours and highest quality
👎 Unisex toilets - the doors nearly hit the toilet bowl
😋 Would I visit again - YES!!
Attended a 40th birthday with 80+ guests. Food was 10/10. Staff 10/10. Arancini were perfection. Polenta squares-crisp outside, creamy inside, dipping sauce, mmmm. Cheese from the bottom of the spiral stairs near European 👍.
If you like The European on Spring St. If you like Ian Curly's approach to simple, high quality food with perfect cooking technique - Get here NOW
DaniB @eatmystreet.net
+4.5
I find myself on a Friday night, eating in a gorgeous little French restaurant in the worlds most liveable city, Melbourne. The French Saloon is the latest restaurant to open under the direction of Ian Curley: Chef extraordinaire and food empire building Godfather of the Melbourne dining scene. Perfect French food, wonderful service and charming decor.
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Gosh, how good is it here - so good! As a fan of Kirks (which is downstairs) I was keen to see what they had done with the charming upstairs room and tiny balcony. Two of us wandered upstairs and the welcoming busy team created a table for two on the balcony. It was another warm evening in Melbourne so this was perfect. We could see into the glowing room inside which was full of hard-core Melbourne cashed-up bohos, bankers and lawyers (because of the location) and fortunate tourists who have stumbled in by accident. We started with a delicious smattering of house made grissini and a glass of lovely Australian rose. Then we shared the freshest zingiest selection of kingfish carpaccio with gravlax dressing (and some magical pickled carrot), the best tomato salad I have ever eaten and a beef carpaccio with a green chilli dressing. Oh, and some really good fries of course. Not only was my palate excited buy the flavours and textures but I felt nourished by the food. The service was consistently sweet and responsive. The only negative of this fun place is the quirky unisex bathrooms. Needs better lighting for lipstick freshening. Will be heading back to French Saloon very soon.
“Fortunately enough for us, French Saloon was the only place available for an 8 person booking on a Friday evening to celebrate one of our best friends 30th birthday. Not only was the venue looking modern and classy, the private room was spacious and had a great view. French Saloon served great quality food at an extremely reasonable price. Each one of us left the restaurant with a food baby each – everyone was more than satisfied with the quantity offered. I will definitely be back.”
I was taken to dinner here recently, and discovered this wonderful restaurant ! The terrace looked very inviting ( will have to try it next time ) but we decided to eat in the dining room, which was fine. The waiter was friendly and very helpful, without being pushy. The wine he suggested was perfect with our excellent and very fresh oysters. This was followed with a main dish of raw king fish that was both surprising and delicious. All in all, it was a lovely dinner in good company. To be repeated !
Held my wife's 40th here last week. Incredible venue, incredible staff, incredible food. Need I say more? Tried downstairs at Kirks the next day for lunch and was suitably impressed. Keep up the good work. 10/10
Dropped in here today to have a quick look (work nearby) and loved the space and the warm welcome from the team. Unlike the previous reviewer, my experience was ultra flexible (no entrée-main-dessert script) - all I had time for was a single glass of rose - delicious - and that was no problem whatsoever. Will go back for lunch soon and I can see a few drinks on that terrace coming right up.
Chef Ian Curley is quoted in Broadsheet saying he wants French Saloon to be a place where people can come for anything from a beer to a three-course meal. I came for a talky lunch with a friend today and the waiters had a pretty definite 'wine, entrée, main, dessert' service script going. We didn't ask for an entrée so the waiter prompted us to choose one and stood there waiting while we looked at the options and still didn't see anything that grabbed us... it was awkward. Not surprisingly the food here isn't all that different to the menu at Kirk's Wine Bar by the same team downstairs, which might have contributed to our lack of interest in the terrine, the charcuterie plate, etc. Similar problem with dessert: I've had the creme brulée and the gelato coppa at Kirk's and they are pleasant but not exciting. And while it's a genuinely lovely airy space with lots of light, it's all hard surfaces and it only takes one table of hospitality bros to make it very loud.
Had a lovely time here for dinner. Service was attentive, helpful and friendly. Menu had a wide selection from French classics to contemporary dishes. Only had issues with environment as there were a few large parties that were quite loud. Acoustics of the main room are not great and was quite difficult to hear the servers or someone across the table. Had some issue with seating as customers and servers kept bumping into my chair even when I was uncomfortably right up the against the table. Other than those issues the food was delicious and well prepared. Would definitely recommend.
Beautiful and charming restaurant in an upstairs space. Delicious artfully presented food, delicate flavors, and all around good. Very attentive service. We went for lunch and had the stake frites, burrata, and a veggie dish. We were not super hungry and it was the perfect amount of food.
Looking for a proper french cuisine? Here is the place. A warm welcome given by the greeter in a such pleasant dining area up on the first floor. Then, a delightful explanation about the dishes by a beautiful assistant. So don't worry for not knowing about french dish at all.
To begin with, i had a mouthwatering abrolhos island scallop crudo as the first dish, then we had a warm whipped cod roe, charchuterie plate, and flounder fish consecutively.
This place is romantic, not really suitable for babies though. Make sure to make a reservation before going, and double check the entrance through a dark brown door.
Food was delicious and in good portions. We had chicken and steak. There's lots of cheese with most things so be aware.
Friendly and helpful service. Pricey but good portions and food is exquisite.
Clientele is older, rich white people from the inner East or Mornington Peninsula - not that there's anything wrong with that. Atmosphere is nice.
Hidden gem on Hardware Lane. No irritating hawkers on the street like the rest of the alleyway haunts of Melbourne. Service here is as attentive as it comes.
Try the caviar (selection of Yarra Valley Caviar served in 30g servings or imported Italian caviar served in more expensive 10g servings).
The back balcony makes for a perfect backdrop for a quiet dinner in the city. Food alone here was $140 for 2 people including $28 Yarra Valley Rainbow Trout Caviar.
Chef’s menu was delicious- very reasonably priced and good service. Knowledgeable staff and lots of local produce (cheese & honeycomb) used which was fantastic! Shame they don’t open for dinners on weekends else I will be a regular diner for sure!
Great food with a relaxed and friendly vibe. Delightful staff and an excellent drinks list. Burgers we're available after 10am but with the new menu this has ceased - however the legend will live on.
Up a narrow stairwell off bustling hardware lane lies the hidden gem of the Melbourne food and wine scene. Rustic open warehouse reveals warm and welcoming staff with the food simply being the best I have ever eaten. Honestly it's world class, as is the extensive champagne and wine list. Fine gastronomic treats appear from an upstairs hidden kitchen. There is evident love in creation here and not to be missed. 10 out of 10
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