Alexandra Carlton
Sep 2, 2025 – 5.00am
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A few weeks after Loulou Bistro opened its second outpost at Martin Place Metro station in Sydney, its group culinary director Sebastien Lutaud noticed a young, trendy-looking couple dining together for lunch. They were the kind who’d usually be at a hip new wine bar or buzzy pan-Asian restaurant than somewhere serving French onion soup and soufflé au fromage. Intrigued, Lutaud checked their bill after they’d left. “They’d ordered the snails. The parfait. All these classic French things,” Lutaud says. “It really seemed like they had an interest in classic French cooking. I think it’s so great to see that in the younger generation.”
Despite – or perhaps, because of – its reputation as the western world’s great culinary benchmark, French food can be perceived as heavy, overly technical or old-fashioned. But if the number of recent and upcoming openings championing Gallic dining is any indication, Le Tricolore is once more de rigueur in Australia.
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Dining and Cooking