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Friday, May 13, 2011

Bistro Thierry - Express Lunch

511 Malvern Rd
Prahran, VIC 3142
Ph: 9824 0888
Website: Bistro Thierry


As part of this year's Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, I went to an express lunch at Bistro Thierry with my Esther and Ivy. I hadn't heard about Bistro Thierry before but now I know that they do very traditional French food and if I ever want French fare, I'll know where to go.

The restaurant is decorated in classical French fare with very nice prints and painting adorning the walls. Tables and chairs are of a sturdy good quality and the waiters all have their sexy French accents. For the express lunch, we all went for two courses as the desserts didn't look too exciting. We had decided to go to Luxbite already for our desserts.


The three entrees that we shared (I love my friends as they all want to eat as much as me and are always willing to share the food, without needing to be asked) were the Pear and Endive Salad, Lambs Brains wrapped in Ham and Salad Nicoise. Suprisingly, the Pear Salad was a highlight. The flavour combinations with the pear, endive, walnut and mustard honey dressing was superb. The fried lamb's brains was also very good, wrapped in the salty ham. The sauteed mushrooms was also very good, but the sauce was a bit too rich and thick. I scraped off most of it and that made the dish much better. The Salad Nicoise was simple, but again done very well.



The options for mains for the express lunch weren't too large, but they turned out to be good. The Steak and Chips was super simple, but done well. The meat was tender and flavoursome, although again the same sauce in the lamb's brain dish appeared and was far too overpowering. I scraped it away again and the dish was much improved. The Seared John Dory was cooked perfect with a simple dusting of pepper. Finally, a real highlight was the Cheese Omelette. The omelette was still slightly runny and the cheese was so fragrant and I kept wanting more of the omelette.



The ambiance during the day time is very nice, with lots of light streaming in through the windows. The room is quite small and cosy and the noise levels get quite high but you can still hear your friends. The wait staff are quite efficient, with some slight confusion between them at times. Overall it was a good meal and I would go back to try out the normal menu.

Overall Rating: 14/20, Good classical French fare.

Scores: 1-9: Unacceptable, don't bother. 10-11: Just OK,some shortcomings. 12: Fair. 13: Getting there. 14: Recommended. 15: Good. 16: Really good. 17: Truly excellent. 18: An outstanding experience. 19-20:Approaching perfection, Victoria's best.

Bistro Thierry on Urbanspoon

5 comments:

  1. Michelle, the food is very simple bistro type French food, which I like.

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  2. Ooh, lamb brains? Yum! :) I've always sort of put Bistro Thierry a bit lower on the 'need to go to list' frankly because, the website is kinda bland and the menu therefore, doesn't look so appealing to me. So superficial! Haha, but the blog posts I've seen for it always look so goood! The food looks so succulent and delicious! :)

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  3. I love a good French bistro! Comfort food and a relaxed ambiance to enjoy with friends. But hold off on the offal! :)

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  4. Ashley, I love brains too. Too many people are scared of eating it. A bland website can be a deterrent indeed, or annoying sites with so much flash I want to throw something at it. The food was simple but good.

    Corinne, you have to give offal a try. Done right, it is super delicious.

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