Who would have thought 197 years ago, when Australia’s first government architect Francis Greenway was trudging around in the Macquarie Street basement of what was to become St James church, that we’d be nibbling cornichons there in 2016?

And yet here we are, perched beneath the exquisite archways, sipping chablis where once convict labour — those poor souls — hauled rocks 20 hours a day for four years.

Now it’s eastern suburbs ladies-who-lunch and suitssoaking up the historical surrounds thanks to hospitality guru Bill Drakopoulos (Ormeggio At The Spit, Lumi), who moved in five months ago.

Originally a coffee cart on the front forecourt at the eastern end of the building (serving hellishly good coffee, just FYI), the business has now expanded to an intimate, indoor-outdoor dining space for breakfast and lunch.

And in case you’re thinking the French theme is merely a gimmick, “détrompez-vous” (think again). Part-owner/operator Julien Besnard, along with Paris-born chef Thibault Grimmel, mean business.

“I wanted to try and create this little French bistro where you have a quick dish and read the paper and soon a glass of wine and then very simple food presented well, like a good Parisienne brasserie,” Besnard says.

The result: simple French cafe fare done exceedingly well, with no more than seven main dishes, four starters and four sandwich varieties.

We start out gently with the smallest of the charcuterie plate options ($19). It’s a perfectly presented plate of melt-in-your-mouth San Daniele prosciutto, onion jam, cornichons and a generous brick of gelatinous, crumbly pork terrine that instantly proves this is a kitchen very well versed in the essentials.

Next is the smoked salmon tarte flambee (or “small French-style pizza”) which is a little on the soggy side, served stone cold and needing a little more crème fraîche to balance out the lashings of fish.

Still, my friend points out, “probably better than the watery soup and millet that the convicts who built this place lived on”. Indeed!

Our mains, though, are magnifique. A puck of steak tartare ($26) served with a simple green-leaf salad, a smear of guacamole and fresh bread. The ruby-red beef fillet is soft and sweet and perfectly balanced with equal parts of chopped shallots, cornichons, capers and parsley.

But a generous serving of ocean trout ($26) served “en papillote” style (baked in wax paper) takes the cake, layered atop perfectly cooked seasonal carrots and silverbeet and served with hollandaise.

On the side; a hefty bowl of Dauphinois potatoes ($8) cooked creamy but crisp on the edges, as well as buttered green beans with toasted almonds ($7).

Less than perfect? The lighting — a strip of fluorescent horror — is screechingly bright and unflattering, while the church pews are a little uncomfortable.

The $12 corkage is a little unfair, too, especially considering the fact that BYO wine is mandatory and the nearest bottle-o — located in the David Jones food court — carries the sort of prices that would make Napoleon blush. (The licence is several weeks away.)

But that aside, Besnard and his team have given us a fine example of what happens when you combine great Australian ingredients with a bit of French technique.

And located in a converted church crypt underneath one of our city’s oldest buildings. Sydney hey? You gotta love it.

Originally published on dailytelegraph.com.au