Dinner: Bouillabaisse

Image 1: Bouillabaisse, untouched

Food synopsis: A warming seafood stew from the south of France. Soup is flavoured from the mix of salmon, mussels, scallops, lobster and other seafood with a hint of saffron and fennel. Served with 3 updated baguette slices and a buttery-mayonnaise like spread and light cheese. 

Location: Chez Olivier
Greville Street Village
121 Greville Street
Prahran
http://www.chezolivier.com.au/



Impressions:
I rather like to define Chez Olivier not as a French restaurant, but a Melbournian restaurant that offers French food.

Soup was flavoursome, but a bit salty, really needed water after and during the meal to quench thirst. They didn't leave a bottle of water for the table during the meal, so we were at the mercy of the
waiters/waitresses.

Overall, the service wasn't too bad, but it wasn't what I was expecting from a French restaurant. The waiters/waitresses did pour water for patrons, but I didn't feel as though they were 'waiting' on us, like they did in the Parisian restaurants I visited.

The soup was served in a terracotta dish on a large white plate (see Image 1), which was a bit of an inconvenience as the table and seating was quite cramped for a group of 10. This probably wouldn't have been so much of an issue if it were a table to 2 - 4, though I can't be certain as I've not been there in a smaller group.

Accompanying this dish were 3 small pieces of sliced, white baguette with a small dish of buttery-mayonnaise and some light-tasting cheese. I didn't take a photo of this because I was a bit apprehensive about whether it actually came with my soup. The mayonnaise was a pale mustard colour, so I was expecting to be tasting one of my favourite sauces - hot French mustard. It was a disappointment not to have that kick of heat with the bread and cheese! Unfortunately, it came on a large, round plate as well, so amongst all the elbow knocking with 2 neighbours, my food also took up a lot of table space!

The large diameter of the serving dish meant soup cooled very quickly. It came with lobster claws, but didn't come with shell-cracking apparatus, nor pre-cracked in the kitchen. I needed to crack shell open with my teeth to extract flesh! I would certainly not expect this in a proper French restaurant. Not only did it take a long time for me to get to all the flesh, by the time I'd finished just with the lobster, the soup was cold. Shame really. It was also off-putting for me needing to use my fingers to eat, especially in a fairly civilized place and having 9 others around me using cutlery. Clearly, I made a bit of a mess, which i was able to wipe off on cloth napkin provided. Would've been nice to have a wet towel though.

 Maybe I've written a bit on the harsh side in this review. After all, I've just come back from France and dining in true French style.