There’s more than a touch of French cuisine at La Belle Vie Bistro in Bardon, an elegant restaurant with panoramic sunset views over Brisbane’s westside.

Dining at La Belle Vie Bistro, Bardon

It starts with French greetings and continues with the sort of touches that take me right back to dining in Paris. The scene is set with black bentwood chairs, white table cloths and attentive service.

French bread and butter at La Belle Vie Bistro
escargots La Belle Vie

French classics

The dinner menu is filled with traditional French classics. It starts with the bread (made with French flour) and Payson Breton butter with French salt on the side, an optional extra. How could I resist?
I also couldn’t resist the escargots ($22 for 6). The whole snails are imported from France and come bubbling with garlic-infused butter. Getting them out of the shell using the supplied tongs and skewer is part of the fun. So delicious!

K2 broke his no seafood rule with an entree of pan-seared caramelised scallops Saint-Jacques ($28) with a sweet potato puree and a kick of crisp serrano ham. Unfortunately, that meant I had to choose another dish. Still, he did share a portion of a perfectly opaque, tender scallop and sauce.

My entrée pick was the cajun spice tuna with a Szechuan infused mayonnaise ($27. The tuna was spiced with a deft hand, just enough to make it interesting without overpowering the fish.
K2’s tender grilled eye fillet with a large slice of beurre café de Paris arrived at the table, causing immediate food envy. Luckily it was accompanied by a large bowl of perfectly cooked French fries. A simple dish, French fries are often disappointing, but these were perfection!

Even though delicious chat potatoes came with my tender, flavoursome duck breast, perfectly cooked with a pink interior, I still stole some of his. It just has to happen!

 Scallops Saint-Jacques
La Belle View duck breast

Dessert dreams

I’ve been dreaming about trying Crepe Suzette at La Belle Vie for quite a while. Crepe Suzette was one of the dishes I loved when my father would take the family dining in Brisbane’s fancy restaurants when we were children. I may have enjoyed it at Alexander’s, a restaurant on Leichhardt Street, for many years.

That moment when the Crepe Suzette is set on fire beside your table has always thrilled me. Unfortunately, it is a labour-intensive process for restaurants, so it is rarely offered these days. La Belle Vie offers them only on Wednesday nights.

The thin French crepes are doused in butter and Grand Marnier and theatrically flambéed beside the dining table on a kitchen cart. Served with orange flambée sauce and ice cream, this is a lick the plate dish for me (only I didn’t).

 

Top suburban dining

It’s not always easy to find elegant dining with a commanding outlook in the suburbs, but La Belle Vie ticks all those boxes. It also has plenty of parking in a street-level carpark with easy restaurant access and even more car spaces downstairs. The accessibility makes it a perfect venue for older or less mobile diners.

While dinner offers the sunset outlook, lunch at La Belle Vie Bistro is still a visual feast. The dining room is enclosed with 2.5 metre high windows to take in the glorious view day or night.

Find it at 1/60 Macgregor Terrace, Bardon.

Tip – Check out their two-course lunch special, which comes with a glass of wine for $47.

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Disclaimer: Ed+bK was a guest of La Belle Vie Bistro

Crepes Suzette La Belle Vie Bistro