St Tropez, Parnell

By ELEANOR BLACK for canvas

In my mind, French food is about as decadent as it gets. So following a particularly stressful week, an evening at St Tropez, once voted the country's best French restaurant, seemed like the perfect balm.

And so it was. I started to unwind as soon as I hit the cushy bench seat and picked up the wine list. By the time my glass of Chateau Belingard, bergerac blanc, Bordeaux ($7), arrived I was just about purring.

I started my meal with the cognac and pepper chicken liver pate ($12.50), two big slices of gloriously rich pate served with crusty chunks of wholegrain and white bread. It came with a splendid little dressed green salad, which I happily stacked on top of my pate and bread and voila!, a tres jolie open-faced sandwich.

It was lovely, but I envied Tim's soup of the day ($9), a velvety asparagus, broccoli and blue cheese concoction, topped with garlic croutons and cream. It was honestly the most delicious thing I'd eaten in weeks, although my lamb casserole ($24.50) soon changed that. The lamb was tender, the wicked potato mash tasted like equal parts potato and butter (so good!), and the whole thing was swimming in a pool of mushroom/bacon sauce so deep it came with two pieces of unadvertised french bread to sop it up.

It was the kind of dish you can really eat only about once a month or your heart (and waistline) will suffer, but the side order of chargrilled vegetables ($5.50) kind of made up for that. In my mind, anyway.

Tim's chargrilled scotch fillet with rosemary and potato fricassee ($25.50) was beautiful to look at and just as flavoursome. The meat, cooked to specifications, was topped with a gorgeous bundle of asparagus shoots wrapped in thin shavings of carrot. It came with a choice of five sauces - he opted for the red wine, shallot, and garlic butter and talked about it for several days afterwards. His glass of Delas freres, Saint-Esprit, Cotes du Rhone ($8) was a super match, thanks to our charming French waiter.

The sorbet between courses was fresh, tangy and hinted at great things on the dessert menu, but if we'd eaten any more, the waiter would have had to roll us out the door, and as much fun as that would have been, he didn't look quite strong enough.

Cost: $92 for two entrees, two mains, one side dish and two glasses of wine.

Ambience: Refreshingly laidback for a fine restaurant. Not sure about the mirror on the ceiling, though.

* Read more about what's happening in the world of food, wine, party places and entertainment in canvas magazine, part of your Weekend Herald print edition.