Friday, June 13, 2014

Bistro Thierry

The older I get, the less I enjoy going out drinking for birthdays, and instead, intimate gatherings seem to be more my thing. This counts for birthdays that aren't mine as well! 

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When Sarah celebrated her birthday this year (which seemed to stretch for a month…!) she organised a lovely lunch at Bistro Thierry with a little group of us. French food has a tendency to come with a price tag…but not at Bistro Thierry if you're going for the $35 Prix Fixe lunch menu. 

Such a steal of a deal!

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Located in Toorak, Bistro Thierry is quite charming, with dark walls and French memorabilia and motifs hung up liberally on the walls. It's quite proper, but not stuffy, with a lovely dose of light brightening up the space. I loved that the tables had white paper over the top of the table cloth, which I'm sure is more for practicality than anything, but it certainly brings a more casual atmosphere. 

We were fortunate to have a round table for the 7 of us, perfect to have some serious banter about the hot topic of the moment…the Real Housewives of Melbourne! Oh come on…we all have our trashy delights…

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The Prix Fixe menu at Bistro Thierry consists of two courses, and a glass of wine (which many of us swapped out for tea or coffee). I was immediately impressed with the sheer selection of entrees and mains, 7 of each, which mostly featured classic French dishes (French onion soup, Salad Nicoise, minute steak), but with a few slightly modern additions as well (panko crumbed salmon cakes). 

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Daisy and I decided to each get an entree, two mains and a dessert between us to share (although for $8.50 for an extra course, we really should've gone for another dessert…)

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Overall, we were all very impressed with our meals that day, classic caesar salads went down a treat, fresh and crunchy, and our country style pate served with cornichons and rocket was a nice and light start to the meal (although I was tempted to get the pan-fried lamb brains). The rocket and cornichons were so crunchy and provided a lovely contrast in texture.

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For my main I had to go for the timeless beef bourguignon, braised in red wine with onions, mushrooms and mashed potato. 

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Will admit, I thought the serve looked a bit small when we first received it…but wow. Talk about flavour and texture, and meat that's falling apart at the touch of a fork. Talk about rich and hearty, and mashed potato that's sitting at the bottom just swimming in gravy. Small, but incredibly decadent!

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The minute steak was a popular option, and everyone who ordered it was beaming over how perfectly the meat was cooked and the mountain of fries that came with. I might've eaten half of Daisy's serve of fries. Maybe.

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To wrap up, whilst some went for creme brulee, Daisy and I opted to have the tart tartan, a warm apple and caramel tart with calvados scented ice cream. Once again, it initially looked a bit small…but proved to be quite mighty. When they say 'caramel' tart, they're not kidding, with the apples absolutely drowning in a thick, rich and very moreish caramel, liberally poured all over the plate. With a scoop of ice-cream? Perfection. 

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Bistro Thierry proves that classic can still be casual and enjoyable, and the $35 lunch makes a nice way to test the menu out (which they execute amazingly) and certainly has me wanting coming back for more. 

511 Malvern Road
Toorak 3142

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2 comments:

  1. OMG I gotta go back here for the steak. Totally had food envy at the other table's meal!

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  2. Oh yay! Thank-you for coming and celebrating my birthday with me! I totally agree with you that intimate gatherings are much nicer than going out for drinks - but maybe that's just my old age talking ;)

    #teamgina

    xox Sarah

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