Eating Out: Bistro de Paris

Joie de vivre isn’t a concept often associated with one’s work life. Behind a crimson shopfront in Bondi Junction, however, is a restaurateur whose approach to his profession truly embodies it.“Anyone who says this business is hard work – that’s just not true!” says Frederick Robins, gesturing towards the tables of Bistro de Paris.

The original Bistro de Paris was born almost a decade ago, and reopened in 2012 after a relocation to the other side of the road – one of the four Sydney eateries Fred and his wife, Mauricette, have run over the last 40 years. The Robins family are well known in this part of town, where their timeless bistro is a local favourite.

“Come on, I challenge you to tell me what is difficult about this life?” Fred asks. “From A to Z it is pleasure with wonderful food, happy people and Champagne – especially the Champagne!”

Born in Paris and raised there, as well as in the Cognac region during WWII, Fred’s melodic accent sings of his childhood. “My mother brought me to Australia when I was 15. She was seeking distance from the sadness of post-war Europe, I think.”

Madame Robins had previously owned a cafe in Sète (near Montpellier in the south of France) and decided to open a continental delicatessen in Sydney’s Rose Bay. Fred says it was these early years at work with her that inspired his lifelong passion for hospitality management. “Like my family, I loved the food business, and the service side of it has always especially appealed,” he says.

Meanwhile, Mauricette (who came to be known as Maureen) had arrived in

Sydney too, and was following a similar career path. She and Fred met and married in the early eighties while both were working at The Wentworth, one of city’s original luxury hotels. “She was beautiful, and by coincidence, the only other French person there!” quips Fred.

The couple soon launched their own 250-seat city wine bar and kitchen, Le Chifley, which they went on to run for almost two decades. In the early eighties, the pair also opened MiLords just down the road, the décor a tribute to the iconic Maxim’s restaurant in Paris. “Sydney was a town of big lunches then, with fewer restaurants,” says Fred. “Bistro de Paris is now for my later years.

It’s a relaxed place and more suited to the times. I also have my three sons to help me now,” winks Fred, as Jerome Robins, his eldest, offers a small vichyssoise, the evening’s amuse bouche (which translates to ‘happy mouth’).

From the superbly yeasty house Champagne, to the fragrant bouillabaisse and the gentle sounds of Cole Porter, Bistro De Paris could easily occupy a side-street in the French capital. The unassuming prices, however, are not what one expects to find in a big city. Especially here in Sydney.

“All around the world there’s a real misuse of the word ‘bistro’,” says Fred.

“A bistro is meant to be homely, simple and definitely not expensive. The term supposedly comes from the Napoleonic era, when the Russian officers would run into kitchens looking for food yelling ‘bystro, bystro, bystro’, meaning quick, quick, quick!” he explains.

“What Michael cooks here is very special, but still authentic bistro cuisine.” Fred is referring to Londoner Michael Golowicz, Bistro de Paris’s classically trained head chef. “Michael was my head chef when we first opened Le Chifley, we stayed in touch and it’s marvellous to be reacquainted almost 40 years later.” With Michael at the helm of the kitchen, says Fred, there’s no need for collaboration on the menu. “I give him carte blanche in the kitchen. Michael’s a far better cook than I, so it would be an insult not to!”

Michael took his apprenticeship at the then iconic Le Coq d'Or in Mayfair and went on to cook in many other top French kitchens in London and Dordogne, France. His own restaurant, September Brasserie in Blackpool, was widely acclaimed, gaining a listing in the Michelin Guide UK.

Michael, of French and Polish heritage, keeps Bistro De Paris’s menu always seasonal and mostly classic. “We change the selection every month or so, but the snails and the rillettes are permanent fixtures – there’d be uproar with our regulars if they ever came off,” he says, laughing.

Michael serves Bistro de Paris’s escargot in house-made puff pastry with a garlic butter. Rillettes are traditionally prepared with chopped, salted pork, cooked gently in fat, then shredded and cooled with enough of the lard to form a spread. Over time, game birds, rabbits and certain fish have also become classic rillettes.

Tonight, Michael is serving rillettes de canard (duck) with smoked salmon, apricot jam and a crisp baguette. “For mains, fish dishes are probably our most popular,” he says, plating up grilled sole with caper and lemon sauce. With creamed spinach and pommes frites (French fries) on the side, it’s a model bistro dish.

“The French way with seafood is all about simplicity, so the quality is so important,” says Michael. One of the current menu specials is coquilles St Jacques (scallops) on cauliflower purée with asparagus tempura and prawn bisque. “Our local produce around New South Wales is very good, but any chance I get to use Tasmanian produce, especially seafood, I grab it,” says Michael.

“He loves Tasmanian beer, too!” adds Fred, on his way to greet two more guests. They’ve stopped to check out the media clippings and memorabilia at the entrance, and are pointing to one photo in particular.

“Yes, that is her – the White Mouse,” confirms Fred, nodding at the picture of himself with the legendary agent Nancy Wake. Nancy was an Australian-raised French Resistance fighter in World War II who, in her later years, was one of Fred and Maureen’s friends and most regular customers at Le Chifley. “Nancy was a wonderful ambassador for both our nations,” says Fred warmly.

“I’m now a very proud Australian as well as Frenchman, and one of the things I love the most about my business is sharing what is wonderful about French culture with Australians and, of course, vice versa,” he says.

Jerome offers the nearby table lemon sorbet palate cleansers, as Fred points to a more recent newspaper clipping. “You can see here, French cuisine was the first-ever gastronomic listing by UNESCO,” he proudly states. Added to the World Intangible Heritage list in 2010, UNESCO declared French gastronomy as a “social practice for celebrating important moments in the lives of individuals and groups”.

Fred Robins and his family have long delighted in sharing these French culinary rituals with their adopted homeland.

At Bistro De Paris, it quickly becomes apparent that it is all about la joie de vivre – celebrating the simple joys and pleasures of life, starting with the palate.

Bistro De Paris, 306 Oxford St, Bondi Junction, (02) 9389 4000, bistrodeparis.com.au

Photography by Tom Donald. 

As seen in Feast magazine, August 2014, Issue 34. For more recipes and articles, pick up a copy of this month's Feast magazine or check out our great subscriptions offers here.