Guillaume at Crown Casino – Southbank – good French cuisine with river-side views

The Crown Casino complex in Melbourne is breaming with fine dining establishments, including Guillaume – a fine dining French restaurant. I’ve visited this restaurant before and it’s been an establishment at Crown for many, many years. 

Entryway to Guillaume within the Crown Casino complex
Entryway to Guillaume within the Crown Casino complex
HighlightsA nice restaurant along the Yarra River. I really enjoyed the pate, though I wish they gave us more brioche. Surprised by how good the mussels were!
Cost$21 for Pate de Foie de Volaille (chicken liver) with pear chutney and toasted brioche
$21 for Soupe a l’oignon (French onion soup)
$45 for Magret de Canard (duck) with eggplant and tomatoes
$39 for Poulet Roti (rotisserie chicken) with mash and tarragon sauce
Location8, Riverside, Crown Melbourne, Whiteman Street, Southbank VIC 3006
Websitehttps://www.crownmelbourne.com.au/restaurants/bistro-guillaume

It’s important to book at Guillaume, because it can get busy on the weekend and public holidays.

The restaurant is located on the main floor towards the Yarra River. It sits between Ging Thai and Nobu.

Interior décor at Guillaume and a view of Southbank
Interior décor at Guillaume and a view of Southbank

The menu is packed with difficult to pronounce French dishes and French specialties and delicacies like duck, pate and snails (escargots). I’m not game to try snails, but I am sure people are happy to eat them with garlic and parsley butter.

The menu at Guillaume has all the hallmarks of Frrench cuisine with pate, snails, duck and baguette
The menu at Guillaume has all the hallmarks of Frrench cuisine with pate, snails, duck and baguette

The standout dishes were the pate and brioche and the mussels and fries!

The table gets a basket of warm bread and butter. Our waiter was happy to refill our bread basket every time we finished it.

We started with the Pate de Foie de Volaille (chicken liver) with pear chutney and toasted brioche for $21. The brioche was nicely toasted and paired well with the pear chutney and chicken liver pate. The only problem was there wasn’t enough brioche for the amount of pate, but we had the bread basket refilled twice so it wasn’t a big deal.

Pate de Foie de Volaille (chicken liver) with pear chutney and toasted brioche
Pate de Foie de Volaille (chicken liver) with pear chutney and toasted brioche for $21

The real surprise of the meal was just how good the mussels and fries were for $38. The mussels are coated in a delicious, melting butter and white wine sauce. It was addictively delicious. I’ve never had such delicious mussels before – it really changed my view about how good mussels can be. The fries were perfection, just long crispy, crunchy chips.

Moules et Frittes (mussels and fries). The mussels are smothered in a delicious buttery, white wine sauce
Moules et Frittes (mussels and fries). The mussels are smothered in a delicious buttery, white wine sauce for $38

The Poulet Roti (rotisserie chicken) with mash and tarragon sauce for $39 had an excellent cooked chicken – mainly due to the chicken cuts they provided. The mash was fine but I found the tarragon sauce a little bitter for my liking.

Poulet Roti (rotisserie chicken) with mash and tarragon sauce for $39
Poulet Roti (rotisserie chicken) with mash and tarragon sauce for $39

Overall, Guillaume is a fantastic French restaurant to take friends and family for special events or dinners. I highly recommend ordering the mussels, they are so good!

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