Bistrot d' Orsay (Melbourne) 07/2011

Next door to the Atheneum Theatre, across the road from the Regent Theatre and around the corner from the Melbourne Town Hall this little restaurant suffers from a pre theatre rush from about 5.00 pm until 8.00 pm when it is completely filled with patrons who want to eat and run.
Under these circumstances the chefs do a fantastic job, and so do the waiters.
We had quite acceptable waiting times and we had a 3 course meal in about an hour and a half.
Tables are small and crowded and the place is naturally noisy and bustling. Decor is art noveau with unusual lights and a ceiling fresco which looks like some sort of rural bacchanalian scene, perhaps related to the harvest.
Bottled wines stand in alcoves beneath the ceiling.
We started with a goats cheese souffle on beetroot with walnuts, very similar to what we had the two nights before at Pm24 and equally good. The souffle was light and had risen well and the beetroot, in small cubes here, and nut were not worse than Mouchel's offering. A bouillabaisse as an entree, or main, was flavoursome and had plenty of seafood in it.Beef cheek is not an ideal pre theatre meal as it is usually rich and heavy.
This was no exception, very tender in a pleasing reduction, on a bed of mash potato. It was a very good sized serve.
A sea food linguine was much more appropriate.
Excellent pasta and full of sea food.
For dessert we had a couple of scoops ice cream which were barely worth mentioning.
A solid meal it cost about $65 p/p including two glasses of wine.
Score:13.5/20