It takes a certain sort of person to turn their back on everything that’s trend-forward and create a restaurant that, well, they simply want to create. But then no one could accuse Guillaume Brahimi of chasing trends, or being like everyone else. Hell, the guy’s even a knight, last year inducted into France’s Chevalier de l’Ordre National du Mérite (national order of merit) for his contribution to promoting French culture abroad. Impressive.

Impressive too is his eponymous fine-diner, nestled into a luxurious corner terrace in Sydney’s leafy inner-city Paddington. In a food world  ruled by such inconveniences as shared plates, graffitied restaurant walls, and heavy metal music offered without comment as your background listening music, Guillaume – all linen walls, Riedel glassware and damask table cloths – reminds the diner of what used to be, and how good used to be was.

Brahimi’s is a menu of precision, where excellence is pursued for its own end, and ingredients are bold and indulgent. We’re talking dishes of Port Lincoln squid given a faintly Spanish (or would that be southern French?) touch via mussels and jamon, asparagus luxed up with late-winter truffles and sweet Queensland mud crab, partridge with carrot, eggplant and an unexpected dash of cumin, and sensual full-blood wagyu with globe artichoke and pickled radish. The cooking is ridiculously elegant, entirely in the classical French tradition of protein and garnish offered with sauces so riveting and complex they have the mercurial intensity of quality Burgundy. Of course there are favourites among the two dining options – four courses for $150 or degustation for $180 – with Brahimi’s signature basil-infused yellowfin tuna with mustard seeds and soy so light and textural with its faint Asian base notes, competing with an endlessly cheering, textbook passionfruit soufflé for line honors.

Guillaume is something special. It’s like putting on a tailored suit after wearing cheap knock-offs for far too long. Slip into it.

Social feed