IN BRIEF

Princely dining for paupers.

WHY CHOOSE THIS RESTAURANT?

Entering Le Bouillon Bel Air one finds oneself set down in a fancy Parisian restaurant, circa 1895. A bow-tied, black-waistcoated waiter leads you past mirrors decorated in the same sinuous Art-Nouveau style as the pierced wooden room divider. Overhead you will find a convenient storage rack for your top hat and cane. Down the way, some slovenly gent has forgotten his battered old leather suitcase. Your table is laid with linen of the same pristine whiteness as your waiter’s apron, which reaches almost down to his shoes. Perusing the menu while sipping one of Bel Air’s four Champagnes on offer by the glass, you may spit and splutter upon discovering the most expensive main is not $228, but $28. For Bel Air is New Zealand’s first Parisian-style ‘bouillon’ restaurant, offering classic French cuisine in a fast and affordable manner, within a historically rich setting. A visiting master joiner from France has crafted Bel Air’s mirrors and the divider, both of which pay direct tribute to Chartier, the original Paris bouillon restaurant and still the most famous.

ABOUT THE MENU

The menu, too, is inspired by Chartier, so rather than being subjected to culinary experimentation as a paying lab rat, expect a comforting sense of tradition. Unlike a certain Wellington restaurant of yore, rest assured your duck liver pate won’t come toffee-capped as if it were a crème brûlée. As for Bel Air’s own crème brûlée, you may not have previously experienced such superb creaminess of texture or such a hard cap, formed by a downright daring degree of blow- torching and blackening of the sugar. Consequently, after the second tap with one’s spoon, the brittle cap shatters most satisfyingly. Balance characterises the steak tartare au couteau, which is not jizzed up with fermented habanero juice, but simply chopped capers, salt and a soupçon of balsamic.

ABOUT THE CHEF

Owner Guillaume Rostain spent the first ten years of his career as a TV producer in Paris, and only fell into cooking after he and his wife Edwige decided to return home to Provence, where they operated a restaurant in Aix. Ironically, Guillaume had to traverse the world to Wellington in order to receive his formal French chef’s training at Le Cordon Bleu New Zealand. Guillaume writes the menu in conjunction with head chef Jigar Rajput.

ABOUT THE TEAM

The waiting staff don’t just speak fluent French, they are French – all of them. There are two Duty Managers: Noème Barthe looks after the bar and the till, while Clara Kaufmann heads the waiting team. Clara has herself worked at Chartier, and has been manager of another restaurant in Paris, La Romanella, poshly located near the Eiffel Tower.

OF NOTE

By 1900 there were around 250 bouillon restaurants in Paris but by the turn of this century just one had survived. However, Paris is currently seeing a major resurgence of the genre.

ADDRESS: 88 Tory Street, Wellington
Check website for opening hours
MAINS: $22 – $28
WEBSITE:  lebelair.nz