With nothing over $14, this new bistro was built for buzz. But is it actually good value?
When was the last time you got a steak – or a dirty martini – for $14? New Collins Street venue Frenchie has a unique flat-price menu, but does it deliver the goods?
You’ve probably already heard about Frenchie, a new city bistro where no dish or drink is over $14. It’s the stuff marketing dreams are made of. A three-course meal for two, with drinks, for under $100? Almost unheard of. Good Food took Frenchie for a test drive, and asked the co-owner how the numbers stack up. Here’s what to know before you go.
Why the fixed price?
Frenchie owners Lucas Boucly and Julian Diprose ran a successful restaurant in Auckland where everything was $8. “The fixed-price concept worked really well for us there,” says Boucly, so they brought it to Melbourne for their Australian debut.
How does the business model work?
“It’s all about volume,” says Boucly. “We knew from experience that having a concept like this would bring a lot of attention, and a lot of people through the doors.”
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Sign upIt proved true, with it being near impossible to get a Frenchie booking before 11pm in its first three weeks. The venue’s currently doing around 300 covers a night with less than 100 seats.
“We’re a high-volume, high-turnover venue, which means we have good negotiating power with suppliers to get the best deal [by ordering produce in bulk],” says Boucly.
Is the food any good?
A restaurant that was built to go viral could easily be all style, no substance. (Seeing “Bon appetit, bitch” projected onto the velvet curtains was certainly eyebrow-raising.) But what head chef Sylvain Bernard (ex-Chez Olivier) is serving is surprisingly good. The produce is better quality than you’d expect, the cooking is confident and the sauces are a highlight.
Where’s the best value?
Most people are, understandably, flocking to the steak: a 140-gram Black Angus rump with a marble score of two. It’s tender, nicely crusted and slathered in a herby, buttery entrecote sauce. I ordered it once, and I’d order it again.
Four thick slices of seared albacore tuna come with a piquant peppercorn sauce for a winning dish. Also well-priced are the three-for-$14 Boomer Bay oysters and $14 oscietra caviar bumps from a roving trolley. And when was the last time you had a dirty martini for $14?
Serving sizes are smaller than you’re used to – to match the price – but that can be an opportunity to go hard on variety as well as volume. Or just double up on that steak.
Where is it not so great?
The steak and duck à l’orange come sans frites, but you can add on a small serve for $7, which will likely leave you wanting more. Surely $14 for a big bowl would be better.
“Bites” like the crab choux buns are decent, but could sub out for larger, better-value proteins. And while the creme caramel was textbook, it was only a centimetre or so deep.
Will the price go up?
Not for the foreseeable future. “$14 isn’t just some opening offer,” says Boucly.
“There are a couple of routes we could go down later, depending on how inflation goes, including increasing the price a bit or creating new dishes [that fit our price tag].”
Open dinner daily
Shop 1/15 Collins Street, Melbourne, frenchierestaurant.au
Tomas Telegramma is a food, drinks and culture writer.