Now the French government is to abolish mademoiselle as a term of address on the grounds of being condescending and sexist, can we assume that the term grand-mere is next? Clearly, it is both ageist and demeaning. And yet, I think not.
Grandmothers hold a special place in the hearts of the French. A special softness creeps into their voices when they speak of their meme - the affectionate term for grandmother - dredging up memories of working alongside her in kitchen gardens and preparing home-grown chickens for the pot.
Traditional, old-fashioned, French home cooking is known as cuisine grand-mere. So naming your new restaurant Bistro Meme is not such a stretch for someone like David Poirier, of Rozelle's La Grande Bouffe. He claims it was his grandmother who inspired him to open a restaurant in the first place.
Advertisement: Story continues below
Tucked away in a modern complex just off Victoria Road, Bistro Meme is like a little village shop, neighbourhood cafe and alfresco terrace all rolled into one. Wooden tables and chairs, market umbrellas, large terracotta planters and a tinkling fountain all contribute to the sense that A Year in Provence just started without you. There is lavender in the air, rose on the wine list and baguettes, petit pois, pommes frites, charcuterie and chateaubriand on the menu.
And in case that's laying it all on a bit thick, along comes an appetiser of two plump little snails, all buttery and garlicky; a suitably Gallic beginning. It's then I see there is also muscadet on the wine list. I have a simple rule regarding muscadet: if it is on the wine list, I order it. It's always refreshing, it makes an excellent aperitif and is splendid with oysters and seafood. In its honour, I order a crisp, golden bramble bush of South Australian whitebait ($16) served with a well-dressed rocket salad and house-made tartare sauce. The tiny deep-fried fish taste more of crunch than anything else, but the Pierre de la Grange Muscadet ($11) from old vines is delicious.
A goodly slab of homely duck and pork terrine ($16) is more generous in flavour, punched up with a feisty little cornichon and cress salad and crunched up with crisp rounds of baguette.
I'm thinking that with a name such as Jay Kim, the chef is not your typical apron-clad grand-mere. Instead, he's a young Korean-Australian with a good feel for the bistro kitchen, having studied at Le Cordon Bleu and worked with Poirier at La Grande Bouffe.
There's a lot that is likeable here, including a concise but usable wine list of reasonably sympathetique prices. Post-muscadet, a juicy, lightly smoky 2009 Denis Pommier Bourgogne ($60) is a solid all-rounder but without any great depth.
The same could be said for a bowl of saffron-infused moules marinieres ($21), tossed with kipfler potatoes. Another, larger, main course of calves' liver ($23) is for the gros mangeur (trencherman), three sauteed chunks piled onto mashed potato and topped with a thatch of gnarly, fried onion rings that put the whitebait in the shade.
Steak tartare ($24), is the big surprise (and no, not because it comes raw, thank you very much). The hand-chopped raw beef has real flavour and zip, mixed and mulched with Dijon mustard, shallots, cornichons, capers, and Tabasco, tomato and Worcestershire sauces, then topped with a bright orange egg yolk. It calls for the use of a word that, like mademoiselle, the modern world finds little use for - piquant - and with a bowl of decent frites to the side, it's just so Frenchy, so chic.
There are crepes, folded in four, over mascarpone cream and drizzled with blueberry compote ($14), as well as lavender creme brulee, mille feuille and chocolate fondant, and a range of mostly French cheeses.
The cheery, unpretentious atmosphere is aided by chatty locals who all seem to know each other. They probably do - apparently the local primary school has urged parents to support Bistro Meme, to help welcome it into the local business community.
Only the French would believe they can do everything well - roast their own coffee on-site, operate as a traiteur selling cheese and house-made gourmet goodies, run a little bar and then turn around and bake madeleines for breakfast, make omelets for lunch and whip up twice-cooked gruyere souffles for dinner. They can't, of course, do it all equally well; but they genuinely try and that's what makes the French - and Bistro Meme - so appealing.
A little bit of La Grande Bouffe has come to Gladesville, writes Jane Southward.
In a cosy courtyard underneath some modern apartments in Gladesville, David Poirier is creating a little bit of France.
The owner of La Grande Bouffe, a popular French restaurant in Rozelle, has expanded his business and opened Bistro Meme a little further west.
Its a huge task, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner every day (except on Mondays when staff take the night off).
On a warm evening, its pleasant sitting outside and dining French-style.
We begin with a small appetiser of snails in a buttery herb and garlic sauce, and a warmed baguette served with butter.
A fondue for two follows - Normandie camembert baked in its round wooden box, accompanied by toasted bread for dipping.
Its a heady, rich entree that would have been better with a green salad to lift it.
The mains menu has something for everyone - bouillabaisse, chateaubriand served with mashed potato, duck confit, mussels and veal livers, but we tuck into a whole snapper stuffed with lemon and thyme and topped with an olive tapenade.
The fish is perfectly sweet, and the salty olive crust complements it well.
Being a French restaurant, we expect a lot of dessert and we share two dishes - a gooey chocolate fondant that isnt overly sweet and a creme brulee infused with lavender.
Im not a fan of lavender in food and the brulee is slightly eggy. The fondant, however, is a winner.
David moved to Sydney from Avignon, after meeting his Australian wife Meredith in London. He has worked with a whos who of Sydney food - Matt Moran, Luke Mangan at Salt, and at MG Garage before it closed in 2004.
The team has researched the market and offers a $19 two-course childrens meal - either grilled fish with chips or steak and salad followed by Nutella and banana crepe or nut brownie with ice-cream.
With room outside for the kids to wander, there could be few easier family outings than dinner with the crew at Bistro Meme.
All of the waiters are French and inside theres some house-made condiments and a range of wines that add to the experience. All the bread, croissants and other baked goods are made on site.
For breakfast, the menu is large - traditional eggs and bacon, Madelines with lemon curd, croissants and omelettes (of course) or brioche.
Meme means grandma and David wants the food to be more homey than fancy.
This is easy in Sydney, he says, where he finds the produce of such high quality that we dont need to fuss to make it special.
La Grand Bouffes chef, Jay Kin, has moved to the Gladesville restaurant to ensure this happens. Bon appetit.
Elizabeth Meryment: A Charming taste of French style at Bistro Meme
BISTRO MEME Shop 2-3/7 Cowell St, Gladesville Phone: (02) 9879 0486 Web: bistromeme.com Food: French Service: French Value: Good Vibe: Chic suburban dining
You hear a lot of complaints about service when you hang around restaurants for a while.
As a general rule, I say that if you suffer poor service, simply do not go back. And do not tip. That is your revenge.
Generally it is true that the further from the CBD you get, the worse service tends to be.
So it is surprising and very pleasant to arrive at Gladesville's Bistro Meme on a rainy midweek night and be served by some rather, well, handsome young French waiters, who know what they are doing.
Their accents are thick, they look suave and they bustle about efficiently. It lends the venue, which looks out on to a car park from its strip shopping centre position, an almost authentically Gallic air.
And, in fact, the space housing the restaurant is rather appealing.
Spread over two rooms _ one inside and one out on a stone-floor terrace _ it is roomy and pleasantly moody with bistro-style tables and chairs and plenty of homely touches, including some scenic indoor plants.
The restaurant is a sister to Rozelle's popular La Grande Bouffe, with owner David Poirer in charge of both venues, and chef Jay Kim at the pans here.
The name Bistro Meme translates as Bistro Grandma, which is a generous hint to the style of cuisine on offer: old-style French cooking.
So expect a host of classics of provincial French cuisine _ think, for entrees, pork rillettes ($16), duck liver parfait ($16), a twice-baked gruyere and capsicum souffle ($17), and for mains, saffron moules (mussels) mariniere with kipfler potatoes ($21), classic Marseilles bouillabaisse with rouille ($65, for two), pork belly with braised red cabbage and chestnuts ($24) and an (almost inevitable) duck confit with an interesting-sounding frisee, hazelnut and orange salad ($24).
Sure, this menu is not going to win any innovation awards but it is nice enough.
The pleasant touches begin with an amuse-bouche of escargot in garlic butter. You could not get much more French than this, and the little snails are expertly squishy, and, well, garlicky.
Crispy whitebait with tartare ($16), to follow, is a peculiar thing - the miniscule fish fried together to form a crisp disc which leaves less of the fishy form than you would perhaps prefer.
King prawns with parsley and garlic ($18) is much less overwrought _ a collection of prawns, split up the middle, grilled with herbs and served simply. A winner.
Braised lamb neck with ratatouille ($23) is a great dish, the slow-cooked lamb picked from the bone and shaped into a mound that sits in a rich, deconstructed ratatouille that is almost soupy in consistency. It is rich with basil and fresh herb flavour and very well seasoned.
Vegetarian options are not a French strong point and a meat-less dish of eggplant rolled with goat's cheese and served with a roast vegetable stack ($22) has been given a lot of love, even though you can tell the chef's heart is not really in it. Eggplant needs to be cooked almost until it is falling apart to reach its potential and here the poor maligned veg could use a bit longer in the oven. Never mind.
It is slightly aggravating to pay for a baguette ($4.50) but as the prices of the mains have been kept reasonably low, you cannot expect miracles.
The wine list is also well priced, with a good spread of European wines by the glass for about $10, or less.
A rather chunky strawberry and lemon curd mille feuille ($14.50) is an expensive way to finish.
Perhaps opt instead for crepes with blueberry compote and marscapone ($14), hardly less cheap but arguably more accomplished.
I wonder sometimes if French cuisine has not been done to death in Sydney. And yet there is something comforting about what is familiar and safe.
Bistro Meme, reasonably priced, competent and with rather sexy staff, has much to recommend it.
