Contemporary French bistronomy is showcased at Mademoiselle, Portside’s chic new brasserie
The team behind high-end boulangerie and patisserie Rise Bakery has expanded its foothold at Portside Wharf, opening a brand-new bistro that is looking to take diners on a tour of present-day French cuisine. At Mademoiselle, guests are being treated to modern interpretations of classic dishes alongside a la mode morsels you’ll find in Paris right now.
Mademoiselle, Portside Wharf’s brand-new brasserie, is inspired by memory.
According to co-owner Harry Ohayon, the sleek restaurant is an ode to the bistros he and fellow co-owner Maxime Bournazel visit every time they return to their native France. It’s the same with the duo’s other concept – blockbuster boulangerie Rise Bakery, which is an evocation of the neighbourhood pastry shops they’d frequent in their younger years.
“Max and I have been here for 12 and 15 years respectively,” says Harry. “Rise Bakery was always a way of bringing back to life those memories of suburban bakeries where we would go as kids.
“Here, it’s more about adulthood memories – of every time we go back to France, the little bistros that we always visit where the food’s great, the wines are selected carefully and there’s beautiful decor.”
Mademoiselle opened earlier this month in the space formerly occupied by Greek restaurant Atalanta. While imbued with the same classic grace as many traditional French bistros, Harry and Max have sought to deliver a more contemporary interpretation of the brasserie format – one that better reflects France’s modern culinary trends and also meshes with Portside’s ongoing revitalisation.
“What we’ve tried to establish is a modern take on an old bistro, because we don’t have the architecture and everything as in France,” explains Harry. “We wanted to have a modern take on it but still have those staples of the brasserie bistro style. It needed to be sophisticated, but not over the top.”
This exact brief was provided to Sydney-based interior design firm Tom Mark Henry who, alongside local construction crew Lowry Group, has fashioned an aesthetic that exudes style, courtesy of timber panelling, mirrors, opaque glass, brass fixtures, warm lighting and imported Italian tiles. The bar divides the venue into two – a cocktail bar sits on one side and a formal restaurant space and private-dining room on the other, with an alfresco space out front for a more casual setting.
In the kitchen, head chef Laurent Hoffarth has been tasked with executing Mademoiselle’s offering, which Harry describes as a seasonally shifting affair that blends traditional dishes with more trendy fare and a sprinkling of inflections from southern France.
“The vision on the menu and the food came very quickly – we did not want to do everything as everyone does,” says Harry. “If you go to Paris, a lot of those menu items we have on the menu you’ll find there, right now.”
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Mademoiselle’s a la carte menu starts with a clutch of amuse-bouche – think oeuf mimosa (deviled egg with fennel cream and confit prawn), tartelette soleil and moules au beurre d’escargot (mussels served in garlic and chervil butter).
These are followed by entrees, including poulpe à la sauce vierge (octopus with sauce vierge, hummus and citrus fruit, and crispy chickpeas), sardines juste saisies (flash-seared sardines served with green sauce and garlic chips) and brochette de St Jacques (scallop skewer on buttered leek, with seafood veloute and toasted hazelnuts).
Mains like steak frites, gnocchi Parisienne with beurre blanc and market fish risotto are joined by slightly more obscure options like daube à la provençale (a southern riff on boeuf bourguignon boasting slow-cooked 2GR full blood wagyu beef neck with crushed potatoes, black olives and spices). Meanwhile, Mademoiselle’s rotisserie is also serving half and full Bannockburn organic free-range chickens and chuck tail flap à l’échalote – a butcher’s take on a French classic with Kidman premium grain-fed chuck flat tail and shallot jus. Mademoiselle is also serving an ever-changing lunch menu headlined by a plat du jour, as well as a one-course, two-course, three-course menu.
“It’s a seasonal menu,” explains Harry. “Right now it’s very Mediterranean, inspired by the south of France. We’ll change it as we go into winter or spring, but one can expect to experience food from all across France. We’ll use seasonal products that will allow us to deliver on a different French experience. It is a Parisian bistro at heart, but we want to take guests all around France over a year span.”
As the restaurant’s food menu will be shifting to match the seasons, Mademoiselle’s wine list has been kept concise to allow for greater flexibility to add and subtract as necessary. “We just want to make sure that once we move into winter and serve something a bit more hearty, a bit more warm and a bit more baked, we can introduce wines that match a bit better,” says Harry.
The cocktail list is distinctly French, with classics like the Kir Royal, Boulevardier, French martini and The 1789 available alongside a black raspberry margarita, a Chambord spritz and a selection of French beers on tap.
As French cuisine in Brisbane undergoes a bit of a renaissance period, the Mademoiselle team is eager to dispel the notion that French food is reserved for special occasions while also showcasing how the fare has evolved in recent years.
“We don’t want to be fine dining,” stresses Harry. “We want to be good, but we want to break that cliche that if you go to a French restaurant it’s going to cost you an arm and a leg. Mademoiselle, as per the name, it’s young and it’s on trend – we want to showcase what French gastronomy is today, not what it was 50 years ago.”
You can find Mademoiselle’s operating hours, contact details and booking links in The Directory.