Fat Belly Club: Le Grand Cafe - A touch of Paris in Sydney (Nov 09)

Want to experience the French culture, but can't afford the plane ticket to Paris? Well.. lunch at the Le Grand Cafe on Clarence Street near Town Hall (in Sydney) could be the answer for you.

Artwork in Le Grand Cafe

Finding a decent, relatively relaxing and cheap(ish) lunch in the Sydney CBD (near Town Hall) on a Saturday is difficult. There are a prolific number of food courts in the CBD area, but they are usually filled with lots of non-inspiring sandwich bars and greasy stuff. However on this Saturday, Mr FBC and I find ourselves at Le Grand Cafe, a French cafe, on Clarence Street. It's opposite Becasse and Plan B (which has been blogged a lot by other foodbloggers) and is owned and run by the same people. The Cafe is located on the ground floor of the Alliance Francaise building which was designed by the late Harry Seidler.

Artisanal Charcuterie Plate ($12)

The Cafe is really a nice and quiet place to hang out for a leisurely Saturday lunch. It wasn't particularly busy when Mr FBC and I were there on a Saturday and the service is relatively quick. To add to the French ambience and authenticity of the place, the waitstaff are all French speaking. I assume there are even kids French classes occuring on Saturday as there is a table of kids with their teacher having their morning break in the Cafe area. It's cute watching a bunch of 6/7 year olds speaking French (albeit broken French for some!) and drinking hot chocolate - how very French (I assume?!).

We ordered two dishes, the Artisanal Charcuterie Plate and the Beof Bourguignon (the Plat du Jour). The Charcuterie Plate was a substantial meat-fest with lovely flavoursome salamis and proscuitto, accompanied by slices on soft white bread drizzled with olive oil.

Plate Du Jour - Beef Bourguignon ($12)

The Beef Bourguignon was absolutely delicious. There was an abundance of meat, which was very tender and the sauce had a rich red wine flavour. This dish was also accompanied by white soft bread which Mr FBC and I used to wipe up the last remnants of the lovely sauce. The prices for both dishes were very affordable - especially considering the quality of the food. To accompany our lunch, we had a glass of rose ($7) and some perrier ($3).

Despite being full from lunch, neither Mr FBC or I could say no to dessert. To compromise, we decided to share a dessert and opted for a pot of Honeycomb and chocolate mousse. It was a small dessert but it was more than enough to satisfy our sweet tooths with its rich decadent chocolate flavour and crunchy honeycomb. Yummo!

Petit Pot au Chocolate - Honeycomb Mousse and Caramel ($8)

I don't think there are many cafes in the Sydney CBD area where you can enjoy a quiet lunch, with good food and wine, and still be well priced. Tres Bien - we will be back!