With Boire, Frenchwoman Catherine Chauchat has created a winebar and restaurant very much in character with this part of Smith Street. Yet there is much more to Boire than a sense of trendy austerity. Chauchat, a native of Bordeaux and a trained viticulturalist, brings to Boire a loving and uncompromising emphasis on wine, most of which she imports exclusively herself. It is a small, tight, well-priced selection, predominantly French and mostly from Bordeaux. Importing it herself means Catherine can sell these great wines at more than affordable prices. A couple of beers and two vintages of Armagnac complete the drinks list. There are no mixed drinks on offer and coffee only comes short and black.

A small selection of food is in keeping with the feel of the place and rotates weekly depending on what Chauchat and her chef Caliopi Buch pick up at the market. Chauchat’s style and approach to cooking directly translates into English as ‘Farmers Market Cuisine’. This results in highly seasonal produce and a simple yet refined style. French technique and skill bring the menu together. On a typical night there might be a few snacks, like a home-made rustic pork pate, black olives from the Grampians or boiled eggs. There are then three entrée’s three mains and three desserts. Entrees could be free range quail with bean puree, roasted carrots, soft herbs and snow peas. Follow this with a main of lamb belly and neck wrap with chickpea puree, blanched coz, chichory and celery. Finish off your meal a crème caramel for dessert.

Balance is important in the dishes at Boire. Each main will incorporate three or four complimentary vegetables, making them a complete experience in themselves.

After a night at Boire one is left with the powerful feeling that, despite its feel and style – no stereotypical Gallic wine bar or bistro this – it retains the integrity and focus of the best of its French cousins: it is all about good, unpretentious, well-cooked, seasonal food complementing interesting, approachable French and local wine.