An ex-E’cco and Layla chef is in the kitchen at this winsome French restaurant

French cooking is well and truly back on the agenda in Australia. Maxime Bournazel has a theory why.

“People have gotten over associating it with the white tablecloth,” Bournazel says. “They realise they can go to a brasserie and still eat very well. A French restaurant is an everyday destination now, and people now understand a lot of those refined elements are built into the cuisine.”

That checks out. Venues such as Restaurant Hubert and Bistro Grenier in Sydney, Bar Margaux (now closed) and L’Hôtel Gitan in Melbourne, and now Pompette at Queen’s Wharf and The French Exit on Mary Street have illustrated there’s a renewed appetite for French food, but in a more casual bistro-like setting.

But it’s also an easy argument for Bournazel to make when he has Simon Palmer in the kitchen of Rise Le Restaurant. This is the new a la carte lunch and dinner component of Rise Bakery at Breakfast Creek Wharf, which he co-owns with Charles Zimmermann.

Palmer was head chef at E’cco across two different stints and most recently led the opening team at Shane Delia’s Layla restaurant in West End. The guy knows his stuff, basically, and his menus for Rise Le Restaurant’s brunch, lunch and dinner are struck through with class.

“Simon came to us at Mademoiselle [at Portside, now closed] about five months ago,” Bournazel says. “We noticed the impact he had there. The style of food Simon delivers, it has French techniques and influence, but it’s putting its Australian ingredients first.

“It can’t be true French cooking, but that’s perfect. That’s what we want.”

In the morning, you might order dishes such as French toast with a dulce caramelised cremeux, cultured butter and maple syrup; a croque madame with leg ham, grated aged comte and bechamel; an heirloom tomato carpaccio with goat curd and pistachio pistou, which can be topped with a poached egg; or grilled garlic Mooloolaba prawns on toast (which can also be topped with an egg).

Lunch is a simple two or three-course prix fixe set-up. It changes every week but expect dishes such as a crab and heirloom tomato salad, and steak frites with a café de Paris sauce.

At dinner the full a la carte experience is rolled out. It’s split into snacks and shared items, entrees, mains and larger plates to share.

To start, there are coral trout croissant sliders with a sauce gribiche; scallop crudo served in the half shell with stone fruit; Bloody Mary mignonette oysters; and wagyu tartlets served with a comte custard and Brazil nut.

Entrees include wagyu pastrami with lyonnaise onions and pickled courgettes; grilled local king prawns served with a savagnin butter; and new season asparagus with pickled Urban Valley mushrooms and a garlic beurre blanc.

Among the mains and larger plates there’s steak frites; a beef cheek bourguignon with pearl onion, speck and pomme puree; and a half or whole rotisserie chicken with aged comte polenta and a tarragon sauce.

For drinks, there are cocktails and a relatively tight 40-bottle wine list that mainly focuses for on French producers.

In terms of fit-out, not much has changed from the venue’s days as Mica. It still boasts the beautiful dark marble, pale brick and timber, fluted glass, mirrors and arched features of Shannon Kellam’s relatively short-lived bakery, although a lengthy external banquette was installed late last year in anticipation of the restaurant launch, giving the entire venue a better sense of presence.

And Bournazel says this is all just the start. Longer term, there are plans to better activate the wharf overlooking Breakfast Creek with a bar, live music and events.

“We want to create a destination,” Bournazel says. “After the Christmas period, maybe in January, we’re going to tap into that and run some afternoons with music and maybe partner with a rose brand.”

Open Sun-Tue 6am-2pm, Wed-Sat 6am-9pm