If you’re the kind of diner who keeps a mental list of places worth returning to, Frenchy’s Bistrot at the Empire Grill deserves a spot on it.
Set inside the long-established Empire Grill on McKillop Street, Frenchys feels less like a restaurant reinventing French food and more like one rediscovering why the classics became classics in the first place. The cooking is grounded in French technique, infusing seasonal produce with the time and patience that is rarely seen on modern menus.
This is not French food stripped back to a few familiar clichés. Start with Burgundy snails cooked in garlic and parsley butter, a country terrine or pâté of the day, or freshly shucked Sydney Rock oysters with mignonette. There’s also a local goat cheese and leek tart, mussels cooked with white wine, cream, parsley, shallots and garlic, and local scallops flash-fried in citrus butter.
Then comes the part where Frenchy's really earns its place on the Geelong dining map: the mains.
The duck leg confit, served with traditional orange and Grand Marnier sauce, is exactly the sort of dish you want from a French bistrot — generous, deeply rooted in tradition and unapologetically comforting. Steak tartare is prepared with traditional condiments, while the menu also moves into cassoulet of the day, a joint/daily chop and fresh local fish.
For anyone who prefers their French dining with a serious steak, there’s a grass-fed eye fillet of at least 300 grams and a 350-gram-plus Scotch fillet, with sauces including mustard and horseradish, mushroom, beef jus, garlic butter and green peppercorn. There’s also a pan-seared steak with crisp French fries for those who believe steak frites needs very little explanation.
What I particularly like about Frenchy's is that the cooking philosophy goes beyond what arrives on the plate. Chef Andrew makes a point of doing things properly: stocks take two days, the onion soup takes three, and sauces are built from slow reductions and real stocks rather than powders or flour thickeners. The result is a kitchen where technique isn’t something to announce — it is simply part of the process.
That approach also makes Frenchy's an interesting option for diners who need to avoid gluten. The restaurant says its sauces are naturally gluten-free, with the baguette being the only item containing gluten; the onion soup can also be served with gluten-free bread on request.
And while this is somewhere I’d happily settle in for a proper dinner, don’t overlook lunch. Frenchy's is open for lunch Monday to Friday and dinner Monday to Saturday, making it just as suited to a leisurely midday meal as it is to an evening when you want to take your time.
There’s another reason to have Frenchy's on your radar: private dining. The restaurant’s intimate private dining room accommodates up to 20 guests, with the option to build an experience around French cuisine, Australian and local seafood, a rustic provincial feast or a more personalised menu. The broader Empire Grill space can accommodate larger functions of up to 120 guests, with menus ranging from contemporary Australian to classic French or fully tailored concepts.
But for a first visit, I’d keep it simple. Come hungry, order something you wouldn’t normally make at home, and let the kitchen do what it does best.
Frenchy's Bistrot isn’t trying to chase the next big dining trend. It is making a rather convincing case for something timeless: good produce, proper technique, generous cooking and a table worth lingering around.
For Geelong diners who appreciate the difference, that’s more than enough reason to know about it.
