I feel like I need some breadcrumbs. In the maze that is the Crown Complex, I’ve managed to accidentally photobomb an Athletes foot convention, walk into another room and get lost. All on the way to find Bistro Guillaume. When I see the vivid green doors I am relieved that I am not going to accost any unsuspecting strangers but also because it looks so Parisian like the cover of the Rose Bakery cookbook come to life. Yes everything relates to cookbooks and bakeries. Bistro Guillaume is the newest baby for chef Guillaume Brahimi and is only a few weeks old on my visit.
Inside it looks like a classic bistro. Wooden chairs, dark tables, white napkins and wine glasses. Large menus sit on every table. There is even a French accented waiter who in a casual way asks another diner “Eeez good?” when walking past her table. “It’s wonderful” she beams back at him charmed. All we need is a French poodle and a man in a beret walking past holding a baguette under one arm!
Bread
I have sort of deliberately starved myself. I know it’s terrible to miss breakfast but having already stalked the menu online I know what I want to order. I meet Melissa there and given that she has eaten here previously I defer to her to order. As long as I get the steak tartare. Oh yes, I do love you steak tartare. The bread is served as two attached leaves and is very, very chewy and crunchy. There’s no elegant way of pulling these apart and pulling them is like pulling Christmas crackers.
Onion soup $16
The onion soup is an item that he brought over from Guillaume at Bennelong and is said to be excellent so an order is placed for a bowl of this. It arrives with three melty cheesy pieces of bread on top of a swathe of soft, fine onion shreds. In fact the soup is more onion than soup but I do love a good serve of the sweet sauteed onions. It’s rich and deep in flavour with a touch of alcohol and I adore the spongey but not soggy croutons.
King prawn with avocado cream, tomato, croutons and cos lettuce $24
I wanted to order a lighter dish just in case readers wanted to eat here a bit lighter. This is a perfectly pretty salad made with cos lettuce leaves, halved baby kumatoes, Spanish onion, buttery croutons, scoops of avocado cream, enormous prawns and parsley. In fact although it is on the small side for the price it is very fresh and clean.
Steak tartare with pommes gaufrettes $24
The steak tartare comes out glistening and packed with onion, baby capers and herbs. It’s well seasoned and I even resist the urge to tamper with it with the bottle of Tabasco sauce that sits on the table. I don’t need it. It comes with potato chips that in parts are slightly soft and a nicely dressed tiny side salad.
Half a roasted chicken with Paris mash and chicken jus $35
The chicken serve is huge. It is technically half a chicken but it comes out in pieces and sits in a chicken jus that taste just like aromatic roast chicken pan drippings. It needs some salt but once salted the buttery thick and creamy Paris mash and chicken go so well together. Pure comfort food.
Duck Parmentier $34
The duck Parmentier is from the plat du jour menu. Unlike Parisian plat du jours which are usually less expensive these are the same price as the regular mains (and do come on Tuesdays for their Beef Bourguignon if you want to have you own Julie & Julia moment sans breakdown). There is a bit of a service mix up as we’re brought the other duck dish (confit) and a few minutes later the Parmentier arrives. It is similar to a breadcrumb topped shepherd’s pie but with a herby shredded duck leg confit underneath a bed of thick mashed potato.
Broccolini in butter sauce with almonds
There is another service misstep as our broccolini order goes missing. Lucky we chased it up because the broccolini is tender, buttery and topped with toasted slivered almonds. And despite the fact that I was full and this came out after the mains I did have more than my fair share of this side.
Dessert time and there are some suggestions from the waitress. She recommends a single profiterole (you can also get a serving of three). A salted caramel macaron is chosen too and the tarte tatin because I love apple desserts.
Tarte tatin with cinnamon ice cream $15
The tarte tatin has a lovely layered buttery pastry but the apples are very soft indeed, a bit too soft really. Also the cinnamon ice cream doesn’t have much cinnamon flavour at all.
Salted caramel macaron $5
I have never had a macaron quite like this. It hasn’t quite been rested in the fridge enough so that the shell is quite crunchy. Filled with salted caramel it also has a wet and moussey caramel filling which makes me think at first that it isn’t baked fully but it is (and besides it doesn’t taste like raw macaron). It’s just unusual and I can’t figure out why or how it is done like this.
The moussey centre of the macaron just under the crunchy shell top
Profiterole $5
The profiterole comes filled with their famously and fabulously vanilla beany ice cream. The profiterole is lovely and crisp and the rich chocolate sauce is poured on top of it. At the end of a rich meal like this it’s a little like scaling a mountain, you really want to but you can’t given how hard you try. I content myself with the ice cream instead and wished that I had time to rest and come back to this. I wave my white flag of surrender, there’s only so much a girl can eat for lunch!
And if you’re planning a visit to Melbourne, from the 2nd to the 21st of March 2012 they will be holding their annual Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. This is the festival’s 20th year and they have an amazing lineup including Denmark’s Rene Redzepi talking about why Nordic chefs dig nature so much, New York’s David Chang discovering Australia and Italy’s Massimo Bottura who has two Michelin stars and whose restaurant is placed fourth in the San Pellegrino World’s 50 best restaurants list!
So tell me Dear Reader, who makes the best macarons in your opinion?
NQN dined and stayed as a guest of Crown
Bistro Guillaume
Crown Entertainment Complex, Ground level, 8 Whiteman St, Southbank VIC
Tel: +61 (03) 9292 4751
Open Monday-Sunday 12pm to late
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51 Comments | Add your own
Looking at the menu online; they have Mariage Freres teas!
I really like the puffy pink lamp shades, the chairs and the green bar:)
There is a macaron cafe in Adelaide called ‘The Mac Factory’. They make all sorts of different slavours; salted caramel, milo to DURIAN FRUIT!
They’re very good and if they’re doing chef training you can buy the slightly messy looking ones for cheaper:)
Wow, no wonder you missed breakfast! That all looks AMAZING!! I love how you’re nice-but-honest about everything! I bet every future macaroon out of that place will be perfect
I haven’t really had a lot of macaroons, apart from a few parisian bakeries and lauderee! I’m too scared to make them myself..!
This looks fantastic, Lorraine! What a reward for all of your hard work walking through Crown. Brunetti in Carlton (they have a few other stores too including one on Swanston St) takes best macaron title in my books. Simple flavours done very well, great chewy/crunchy ratio and the colours are simply fabulous to ogle upon arrival.
I have always been a massive fan of Zumbo’s macarons.
I love the unusual flavours and combos, they are always a wonderful surprise
oh my – these desserts look delightful!
I sighed over the roast chicken (and its lovely presentation), but I almost wept at the sight of the Duck Parmentier!
I vote for Ladurée’s macarons in Paris. Definitely!
la maison du chocolat and jean paul hevin makes really good chocolate macarons.
so far, none of the australian macarons manage to truly capture my heart and leave me wanting for more. macarons from lindt are not too bad though.
I love the hanging lights! The food looks so good in the pictures even the duck dish. Normally I do not eat duck, do not like the dark meat of poultry.
LOL – I love the fact that you photobombed a sports shoe convention! The setting and food here look good – I bags the profiterole. I am not a huge fan of macarons – they look cute, and they are a not so naughty snack that taste quite good, but I can’t understand the euphoria over them. (Says I who bought Pierre Hermes book on them …)
I LOVE steak tartare! The best macarons I have had were at Iggy’s in Singapore.
Those lights look just like lychees! That chicken looks great and the mash looks so rich and velvety, yumm…
Zumbo macaroons are pretty good, but I flavor the shell and centre separately so I get double yums when I make macaroons at home.
Australian casinos are coming into their own foodwise these days!
The steak tartare looks amazing.
SSG xxx
I love it when you do a Melbourne place. Thanks. It might be a Tuesday night adventure =D sorry not a macaroon efficienardo so can’t answer you question with conviction, But melt in mouth is what I look for. =) tamzyn
the best macarons I have tried have been zumbos because of the flavour combinations. made some of my own chocolate (of course) macarons with a friend 2 weeks ago… not as difficult as you think except ours where a bit larger than we had planned!
No questions asked the best macaron I’ve ever had is from Laduree in Paris. I could eat a chocolate macaron from there every day of the week.
Coming in a close second is the salted caramel macaron at Baroque in Sydney. Oh how I love macarons!
$5 for a macaron!
looks great here, I’ve wondered past a few times but haven’t had an occasion to dine there. Perhaps soon, and I’ll be chasing up any missing broccoli!
Ahh, you should try PM24 next time you are in Melbourne. Dare we say even more fabulous (more consistent) French bistro food? Desserts are far better too. We are revisiting soon, and will do a post for it. Otherwise, if you want something outside the CBD, A La Bouffe and Bistro Gitan.
Best macarons in Melbourne – La Belle Miette. You can see our blog post here: http://momoandcoco.wordpress.com/2011/05/29/la-belle-miette/
Oooh, all the food looks amazing!! I love French Bistro Food, too bad the restaurant is in Melbourne as I live in Sydney, but I will be dining at Guillaume at Bennelong for my birthday in a few weeks! I was in Paris in July and love Pierre Herme & Laduree Macarons, but I also loved the local boulangerie macarons. you can’t really go too wrong in Paris! In Australia I like Baroque’s salted caramel macarons and after doing a macaron cooking course whilst we were in Paris, I must say that our attempts of making them at home have so far been pretty good!! We made a choc-coconut macaron, and a choc-spiced macaron (had just the right amount of ginger in the filling-yum!!)
Since I have not made it to Guillaume’s at Bennelong yet, not much use dreaming about the Melbourne one
! Looks inviting, as does the food. Quite a few of the dishes you show were made by Guillaume for the ‘French Food Safari’ series, including the wonderfully different and appetizing steak tartare, which happens to be a huge favourite with me also 
! This is still the only time I have seen the dish with pommes gaufrettes?! Must say I could eat the onion soup right off the page also 
!
Best macarons hands-down are the ones I had at La Belle Miette in Melbourne. I haven’t had any that come remotely close to them in flavour and texture.
That’s it! I’m definitely going to this place! Looks incredible. Normally when I go to Crown, Rockpool is my restaurant of choice – but I might just have to change that, at least one time anyway. Your photos looks awesome and it looks like food you actually want to it – it’s not presentious. Big tick for me! Great review. Thanks for sharing
That duck parmentier looks amazing (as would anything with mashed potato and duck!). Must make a beeline for it next Melbourne visit.
And I love the macarons from MakMakaron; they look and taste great, esp. the strawberry shortcake one.
I’m obsessed with roasted chicken right now.
Thanks for this unique view,
Bistro Guillaume is “on the list” too!
Could not get past the duck parmentier for me!
PERFECT winter dish to experience and see!
mmmmmm LOTS of contenders for Macaroon king or queen,TRUE!
Partial to Callum’s Violet Macaroons with Raspberries & Butter Cream…WHOO HOO!
The salt and butter holder is gorgeous! Love the look of the Duck Parmentier and the creamy Paris mash with the chicken.
That steak tartare looks AMAZING! I’ve never had it, but I keep promising myself I will..
Zumbo presents amazing macarons for Sydney. I’m always disappointed with steak tartare that comes pre-mixed. I’m afraid I belong to that age which remembers always and only having it prepared to your specifications at the table. Noone would dare present it pre-mixed from the kitchen.
Majorly drooling over the onion soup and Paris mash – perfect French bistro fare
Wow, lovely food!:) It just makes me wanna have my meals there too;)
I feel like going to a bistro or restaurants like these now
I love the macarons from la belle Miette on hardware lane they re so incredible light and fluffy
and Zumbo s macarons are also to die for!
I really don’t like macarons that have a really rough, dry and hard shell >_< lindt macarons are a little like this
@ retired foodie – um, am kind’of with you: having steak tartare prepped in front of you has always been one of my food ‘adventures’
! Having seen how ‘Guillaume”s does it, tho’, is almost as good? Greedy gutzer me would like a slightly larger helping 
!
I’m with retired foodie. Steak tartare should never be pre-prepared. Ideally it should be made by scraping the meat rather than roughly chopping it too. In Paris you can get it made with horse meat which apparently is the original (but I won’t say “best”). The top Australian example used to be produced by the late lamented “Chez Phillipe de France” of Exhibition St in Melbourne. Long gone but not forgotten.
Is it just me who thinks the light covers in teh second photo make it looks as if there are big floofy petticoats/skirts (probably containing women) dangling from the ceiling?
*cocks head*
@ Sebastian- I just wonder: I have always also had the meat scraped/minced and we agree on ‘table’ presentration, BUT, looking at the way Guillaume Brahmini ‘does’ it: it looks ‘fresh’ and ‘real’ – perhaps we sadly better come to terms with what we can no longer have and hope that what I call ‘handchopped’ tastes almost as good? Lorraine: can’t you get Guillaume to comment?
love the shot of the chocolate pouring onto the profiterole! looks so tantalising
The snap of the chicken and mash was certainly drool-worthy, but it was how the steak tartare was presented which had be utterly floored. A quenelle of beef – how elegant!
I am so envious of you Ms NQN. This looks so wonderful, I would love to go to Bisto Guillaume. I think your photo of the chicken and Paris mash made my heart skip a beat or two. I love your photos. I have tried quite a few good macaron in Melbourne (I live in Canberra) but the BESTEST EVER were the ones I made with a friend’s lovely 11 year old daughter last Saturday. It’s not that our macs were out of this world, it was the joy of sharing the love of baking with a young one so eager to learn. I surprised her at the end by gifting her my copy of the macaron cookbook we used
Lorraine, I can see your new business cards now, foodie, blogger, novelist and professional photo bomber!
beautiful profiteroles !!!
Pierre
Isn’t the chicken and paris mash such a delight! Oh I reckon the best macarons in Melb have got to be from La Belle Miette
I am very taken with that profiterole and nearly always manage to leave room for chocolate, but not so sure about their puffy lampshades!
Have a wonderful Wednesday!
Mmm, Laduree Macarons without question! Have tried Pierre Hermes also but the flavour wasn’t as good and they disintegrated very quickly!
Lol @Hannah – I thought the same of the light fittings!
The chicken & mash would be my pick here – looks simple but perfectly done
I think I will need to try many, many more macarons before i’m experienced enough to comment on ‘best’
I love those big, billowy, hanging lights! And, the food looks like the best of comfort food. The chicken and Paris mash is making me very hungry!
Hey Lorraine I ate there too a few weeks ago – dropped a small fortune but it was lovely – I had the salmon which was perfectly cooked. Beautiful weather too so we sat out on the terrace : )
I’m not a macaron connoisseur but I did enjoy trying Zumbos – except the chocolate coated ones, it’s makes them too dry!
Boring and predictable I know, but Laduree all the way! Salted Caramel is my ultimate fave…!
There is no way that you can go past Adriano Zumbo’s macarons. They are by far the best in my opinion. The satay one is especially delicious and so is the salted butter caramel and the toasted marshmallow. I adore the amazing flavour combos that Mr. Zumbo comes up with. Divine although that macaron looked especially delicious…
Oh dear, they seem to have a few teething problems…… never mind some of the food looks like it is well worth the wait
oh my god, I really like this restaurant. I like the ambiance in the restaurant, love each dishes introduced here and definitely try this place if I live there. sure. I need someone like you to review restaurants in SF!
After your post about the Macaroons I’ve tried the salted caramel in the tea place ( can’t remember the name!) at ION in Singapore. It was lovely. A great reccomendation! Thanks
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