When I think about French food, I think (longingly) about big herby pats of butter, lush silky sauces and melty, gooey cheese. But it turns out I’m daydreaming all wrong.
“Many people think of French food as all butter and cream, and that’s true of a lot of dishes,” Ned Parker, Loulou’s head chef, tells Broadsheet. “But it’s very different depending on the region – much of it is lighter and fresher, made with loads of olive oil. We’re trying to showcase every side.”
Loulou has been doing just that in Milsons Point for four years. But this year it crossed the Bridge. Mini bakery Petit Loulou opened to queues in Martin Place in February, and tomorrow, July 22, a neighbouring bistro arrives.
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“We wanted to bring our neighbourhood restaurant to the city,” says Parker, who’s been cooking French food all his life, including at three-Michelin-starred London diner The Ledbury, Sweden’s Daniel Berlin and Woodcut in Sydney.
Broadsheet visits the newest Loulou for breakfast. Opposite Petit Loulou – which at 8am is crowded with commuters on stools munching on chocolate macadamia croissants – glass doors swing open to a vast room, canopied by a shimmering silver ceiling and backdropped by a busy open kitchen. An explosion of pink cyclamens and white lilies greets us from a white marble counter. The feel is both elegant and relaxed, a hard-to-nail mix.
A friendly, efficient waiter ushers us up dark timber stairs to Loulou’s other space, which overlooks Elizabeth Street through tall gauze curtains. Outside, blue-and-white wicker chairs are paired up on the footpath.
True to Parker’s word, the French menu is light. Eggs Florentine – too often doused in hollandaise like it’s the main event – land nested on toasted miche, with a supportive (not dominating) sauce and shallots on top. A crispy, caramelised slice of brioche wins with berries and fromage blanc. But if you want to go a little heavier, you can: you want the Grand Loulou, starring Toulouse sausage and the lot, or the zingy, pickle-powered Croque Loulou.
Come lunch, the kitchen swings bistro-style. “We’ve brought over all the favourites from Milsons Point,” says Parker. That means house-made chicken liver parfait with marmalade, escargots à la Bourguignonne and steak tartare, as well as cheese souffle, steak frites and a John Dory with a classic velouté, finished with caviar and chives.
More than 350 bottles make up the wine list, put together by sommelier Maxime Bellon. Sip your way through local drops, or opt for legendary French houses like Domaine Dujac and Domaine Leflaive.
The CBD is speedy, and Loulou’s keeping pace. A Martin Place lunch exclusive delivers the $25 Sandwich Americain, where a baguette is stuffed with a charred Wagyu beef patty, frites and Andalusian sauce, and comes with a wine or beer on the side. The two- or three-course prix fixe menu, which will change a few times during the week, is for the power lunches.
Happy hour hits from 4pm till 7pm with $2 escargots and oysters, $18 cheeseburgers and frites, and $13 mini Martinis – the perfect time for people watching, Paris-style.
Loulou Bistro
1 Elizabeth Street, Sydney
Hours:
Mon to Fri 7am–late
Sat 4pm–late
loulou.sydney
@loulou.bistrosydney