It turns out that the death notices for duck a l’orange were premature. A French-slash-European restaurant in Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building is the latest to open, as the classic bistro comes back in style and consomme en croute, beurre blanc and frites rear their French têtes on menus again.

Manon Brasserie, at the main entrance of the grand QVB, is an ode to elevated French bistros, where escargot bathe in garlic butter. Here they’re done in a red wine and bacon sauce with garlic bread for mopping up ($27).

Being right at home is what the team behind Manon wants for you, and the service is some of the most welcoming and knowledgeable around. There’s grace to their aproned outfits, an old-world sophistication befitting the grand space. The room would benefit from dimmable lighting in the evening, when there’s a slightly unfitting stark feel. But the luxe details almost make up for it – wooden tables are inlaid with brass, booth seats fitted with red leather. Most of the floor is ornate with cheery white and red mosaic tiles, while an old-fashioned carpet under the dining area stops noisy chairs in their tracks.

Manon is the latest collaboration between Manny Spinola and Marco Ambrosino – the former co-owner of Sydney icons 10 William St and Fratelli Paradiso. The pair also own Lola’s Level 1, Bondi restaurant. At breakfast, a range of pastries, baguettes, tartines, and omelettes are available – and there are classics such as Croque monsieur and Croque madame. A lunch menu spans Brittany-style crepes, club sandwiches, burgers and a salad niçoise. The evening menu is split between a raw bar filled with the likes of scallop carpaccio ($29), kingfish tartare ($28), oysters, and entrees, mains and dessert – there’s a bouncy Île Flottante with a quite-thin but otherwise on-point creme anglaise and crunchy toasted almonds ($19).

The delightfully traditional, not stuffy, menu by French-born head chef Thomas Boisselier, who hails from Lyon where he was deputy head chef at three-Michelin starred Hotel and Spa du Castellet, is filled with crowd-pleasing classics. Radish, baguette, butter, anchovies ($21) is a fresh play of texture and salt, creamy and downright lovely. Tomato wedges come peeled, piled beautifully with fresh basil leaves on a generous puddle of creamy tonnato sauce – the tuna delicate and simple, with caper berries and crispy caper flowers nutty and fragrant ($26).

We will be returning mainly for the bone marrow tartine, though ($18). Sometimes, rarely, a dish just knocks you back with the most glorious, delicious wallop. You think about the dish again and again, obsessing rather greedily, or maybe that’s just me. This toasted perfect slice of sourdough, light and chewy at once, is topped with softened onions that the menu calls onion jam but it’s less cloying than that, more homely and warming. Buttery pebbles of roasted bone marrow sit on top, and there’s a grassy blanket of whole parsley leaves on top, a few thinly sliced French shallots. The tartine is cut in half and those are some of the best mouthfuls of food we’ve had in Sydney.

Sommelier Harry Hunter’s wine list spans 400 bottles, mostly from France, and there are modernised cocktails, a large range of French aperitifs, and Gosset Champagne by the glass.

Related review: Calling all Francophiles! There’s a chic new bistro in town 

There’s a “Paul Bocuse style” beef consomme en croute with foie gras ($49), and a live whole lobster with herb and lemon butter (M/P) as well as a 1kg Cote de Boeuf for two, served on the bone with bearnaise sauce ($190).

Steak frites should be a special dish, it’s one steeped in French and Belgian history. At Manon the 200g bavette ($39) is perfectly medium rare, marbled with a little softened fat and rich with nutty flavour. It’s thickly sliced for sharing. The puddle of jus is a little sweet, but rather disappointing is the paltry tumble of fries on the plate, turning soft by the moment. They’re messily plonked in a meagre offering while the bavette is pushed to the side. Likewise, the green leaf salad with white balsamic is small ($15), barely shareable. It felt like an afterthought.

When you tell a waiter you will share your mains, the unspoken deal is that they do the thinking around how to bring the food out – on the spot or with the chef a moment later. Alas the steak frites and crab and Gruyère souffle with bisque sauce ($33) arrive at the same time. This is no perfect pairing so the souffle waits while we address the steak frites, lest the frites turn cold as well as soggy. The souffle – a light, turned-out dish sitting in a rich bisque and topped with pieces of crab meat – turns cold.

Manon is newly opened, and with time comes refinement. This is a beautiful, ambitious restaurant that will mature and become more interesting with time – just like the greatest cheeses of France.