Les Bistronomes — Restaurant in District of Canberra Central

In food loving France, we love that the lunch break can, and indeed should, last around two hours. There is the belief it is important to take a break in order to enjoy one of life's most important pleasures, sharing a meal. Lunch usually includes a glass of wine, and is the opportunity to discuss the important topics of the day, and freely offer opinions. Les Bistronomes brilliantly captures the tradition of the importance of lunch. Their weekly special Le Menu du Samedi allows for plenty of room to enjoy inspired food, cleverly matched wines and wonderful, self-assured but warm service. As our hospitality businesses continue to suffer, we are full of admiration for our restaurants who not only find ways to stay open, but who put in lots of energy and creativity to offer inspiring options for customers. Loud applause for Chef Clement Chauvin  and his team. Les Bistronomes' main menu retains many well-established classics. But their Menu du Samedi changes every Saturday in response to seasonal ingredients and availability and it is pure pleasure. An example from our recent experience: Savoury chou pastry with salmon tartare, Cucumber gazpacho, cucumber and tarragon sorbet and black olive oil (divine on a sultry, warm Summer's day), Herb crusted tuna, confit heirloom tomatoes and basil oil (luxuriant mouthfeel and flavour pleasure), Lamb rump, kipfler potato stuffed with ratatouille capsicum jus (melt in the mouth texture, and the Cowra lamb quite delicately flavoured, unlike some lamb that can be quite powerful), and a summery, happy-go-well Peach and frangipane tart, yogurt sorbet. All enjoyed in the lovely ambience of Les Bistronomes new-ish home in Campbell. And last, but anything but least the service.  Restaurant dining is always a two-way deal between the customer and the staff. We suspect Les Bistronomes were one short on the floor, but the two waiters we had were wonderful, and added meaningfully to our experience.  Knowledgeable about the dishes, including sources of ingredients and techniques used, assured about the matching wines and the impressive large wine list, friendly and unfussed even when having to...

What an experience! I don't even know where to start! Everything about this restaurant is beautiful and it's so cute! I would 100% recommend it to anyone. I would have given this restaurant 5 stars but there was a little hiccup with the main course. Don't worry though, everything else made up for it and they were very apologetic!

The food and beverage attendants know the menu and are clearly professionals in the industry. The food was perfect and different. I loved the La Soupe du Jour, which was a melon soup (cold of course) with balls of melon infused with different alcohols. We were a little worried when we heard this as our waiter said the alcohol was very prominent, luckily the alcohol flavour was subtle letting the melon flavours come through. The prosciutto was a wonderful touch to the dish but the salt was a little too overpowering with the delicate flavours of the melons. For the main course, I had the L'agneau des Pyrenees which was beautiful in every way. The meat just melted in the mouth and the flavours compliment each other. However, I found that the liquorice gel was a little overwhelming by the end of the meal as that gel was all I could taste. OH AND THE POTATOES ARE A MUST HAVE! Crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside... mmmm I want more even just thinking about it! The palate cleanser for the night was a passionfruit sorbet and oh my goodness did it taste like passionfruit! It was so good that I wish it came in a bigger serving for dessert. Dessert was equally amazing and looked so gooood. Le Dôme de Chocolat. Soft, sweet and made even better with real gold dust chef kiss

Overall, the whole experience was wonderful. The food was beyond exceptional with the perfect balance of flavours and each course was a work of art. Each time a dish came out, the waiter would give a detailed explanation of what it was. I thought they could have said some French words considering it was a French restaurant but I guess not everything can be perfect. Thank you for such a wonderful experience Les Bistonomes and we will...

We ate at Les Bistronomes occasionally when it was located in Braddon but were stoked when it moved into Campbell in late 2019. No more parking issues for friends and easy striking distance for us. Clement and his team have taken the food and atmosphere to the next level in this time and location. It remains authentic and unpretentious.

Over time, we have savoured all of the signature dishes (Beef Wellington, Chateaubriand and Duck a'lorange) in the restaurant, and during the pandemic lockdowns, ordering and finishing these dishes off thru several of the cook-at-home offerings - great stuff with 'how to' videos posted online by Clement (and I can now make Sauce Béarnaise as a result, thank you). The only thing we miss about lockdown is those meals!

The food is consistently excellent, portion sizes are 'just right' and the front of house, led by Chris, is polished and friendly. Great selection of French and local wines catering for all budgets, and Chris is always happy to talk about choices and recommendations. Have tried and been particularly impressed by several alternative grape varieties as a result.

Apart from the signature meals, the menu changes seasonally and we visit several times a year to try something different. Our 2 February 2022 dinner choices were Scallop carpaccio/Salmon Wellington fish of the day (Coulibiac if I recorded that correctly)/le Citron; and Duck neck terrine/Roasted Quail/Chocolate cigar. The flavours and textures were just great. Washed down with a fabulous Cote du Rhone white blend and a couple of matching sticky dessert wines.

As you can tell, we are unabashed fans of this restaurant, its people and its food. However, we can't recommend it too highly and were very pleased to see that it was awarded another Chef's Hat the day after our visit - although we truly think it deserves a double!

(Attaching a couple of photos of our dinner, which were taken at the request of an interstate friend who loves...