First Look: Want a Drink at Le Splendide? Put a Sticker Over Your Phone Camera

“Running a place properly is extremely expensive now. Everything has gone up at least 20 per cent and shipping costs have doubled. But I felt like there was a moment to do something new. Is it worth the risk? Well, I don’t know. I’ll tell you in six months,” Jean-Paul Prunetti tells Broadsheet.

Anyone who’s eaten at Prunetti’s first and only restaurant, France-Soir, in the past 38 years has probably tasted this flippant yet entirely charming attitude of his – one famously shared by the staff.

Le Splendide, right next door, is marked by cascading burgundy drapes in the window that lend a clandestine feel. Inside, there are 40 seats, red carpets, timber panels and a chic zinc bar. It joins the recent crop of restaurants opening adjacent bars: Gimlet’s Apollo Inn , Scopri’s Bar Olo and just this week, Entrecote’s Gigi.

France-Soir’s head chef, Geraud Fabre, has held the position since the mid ’90s. We can only imagine his excitement working on this new menu of grignotages (snacks), featuring foie gras, salmon gravlax with crème fraîche, Marcel Petite Comté and Russian Oscietra caviar. The idea is that you can get bigger meals next door.

That leaves drinks to be the real focus, from classic cocktails mixed to perfection, to a wine list that’s equally (if not more) impressive. It’s full of renowned names, with a lean towards natural production. Expect Taittinger Comtes de Champagne, chardonnay from Burgundy sub-regions Cote de Beaune and Cote Chalonnaise, and even a Châteauneuf-du-Pape from southern Rhône.

As at the mothership, food and drink are only part of the appeal. It’s Le Splendide’s ambience and charm that’ll keep people coming back again and again. Prunetti’s keeping it carefully protected, too. You won’t be posting photos from here. Putting the supplied heart-shaped stickers over your phone’s camera(s) is a requirement of entry.

“It’s genuine here because we’re all French. We operate like we would in France, putting a lot of energy into our service. It’s a show. It’s theatre,” Prunetti says. “Many try to copy it, but if you’re not French, it’s hard to do it right.”

Le Splendide
9 Toorak Rd, South Yarra
(03) 9866 8569

Hours
Mon to Sat 4pm–1am

france-soir.com.au
@bar_lesplendide