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Restaurant review: This French bistro has a menu that's packed with classics

The head chef seems to have doubled down on their Frenchness to delicious effect

Sat, 22 Mar, 2025 - 02:00

Leslie Williams

“Play the hits!” That’s the advice that should be given to every ageing rock band turning up at festivals this summer — if we want to hear their new songs we can go to Spotify. It is also good advice for anyone opening a French bistro. We really don’t want to taste your French twist on the coconut rice you had on holiday in Bali — we want the classics.

Classic French bistro food can be found in Dublin (La Maison on Castle Market and Temple Garner’s Bresson in Monkstown), but there is always room for more. Forêt by John and Sandy Wyer opened last November promising the classics, and the only reason I have delayed reviewing is because it was a little too soon after my (rave) review of their nearby restaurant Forest Avenue in October. The other reason is that I couldn’t get a booking — the Wyers have a hit on their hands.

Forêt used to be the Sussex restaurant and is located above O’Brien’s pub, a fine traditional Dublin boozer that is popular with advertising folk from Fitzwilliam Square and environs, be warned. The room has lots of dark wood furniture and panelling, an open fireplace and a traditional feel reflecting the age of the building. The dining room is split in two, with an open kitchen in the middle and it felt welcoming and warm, not that different from some traditional bistros I’ve visited in France.

The menu has lots of reassuring words like ‘chasseur’, ‘rillettes’, ‘campagne’, and ‘paysanne’ and we began with Forest Avenue sourdough (€5), some of the best bread in the country with an immaculate crisp exterior and a sweet-sour soft interior.

We each had an oyster (€3), plump and shiny, and topped with a pastis granita to give it a touch of anise and some compressed apple to add a hint of sweetness; two added flavours that enhanced, rather than interfered with, the oyster’s briny deliciousness. Fish cakes (€5 each) had a crumbed crisp exterior which yielded a flaky white fish filling cut with dill, sitting on a punchy sauce ravigote which provided a mustardy vinegar contrast.

Terrine de campagne (€16) is often rather unexciting but Forêt’s version seemed more city-chic than ‘campagne’. This is not a criticism. My guest adored it and although I just took a taste, I warmed immediately to its chicken liver pungency, its crumbly texture, and the contrasting savoury, wobbly, mahogany gelée on top. The liver and pork richness was balanced by cornichons and a properly pungent and spicy wholegrain violet mustard.

French onion soup (€12) is another French classic we don’t see on menus often enough and this was a textbook version with sweet caramelised onion flavours and a proper wedge of toasted sourdough lathered with bubbling comté to float on top.

Chicken au vin jaune (€26) is a famed dish from the Jura in the French Alps, but one I’m not sure I’ve ever seen on an Irish menu. The chicken was textured and flavourful with a tiny hint of game, clearly a fine quality bird. Vin jaune is an oxidised unfortified wine aged under flor yeast like fino sherry, the delicious tang from the oxidation shone through in the sauce. On the side was a savoury rice ‘paysanne’ cooked with lardons in stock (I reckon) and pleasingly topped with bonus chunks of sweet nutty chicken breast.

I went with confit duck leg (€26) which seemed to be some sort of giant duck such was the large amount of tender sweet flesh, a sauce charcutière cutting nicely through the richness.

Forêt’s wine list is entirely French, with a focus on smaller producers including grower Champagnes and wines from en vogue regions such as the Jura-Savoie and Beaujolais plus Bordeaux, Burgundy and the Languedoc. Domaine Rolet Chardonnay (€62) from the Jura was a beautifully balanced, coiled spring of a wine with white fruit flavours and fine-boned acidity. A fine match for the poulet and the confit duck.

Our waiter minded us well and knew us from wine events so was kind enough to pour us a vin jaune from the same producer that was new on the list; it too was stunning.

Desserts included a cheese plate and of course a crème brûlée but I opted for a croissant pudding (€8) which had a delightful buttery intensity and was the texture of (well made) bread and butter pudding. A vanilla-rich custard also contributed to the joy. Warm chocolate mousse (€8) had proper bittersweet dark chocolate flavours and was rich without being in any way cloying. A quenelle of vanilla ice cream in the centre held its own.

Forêt’s head chef, Paul Brogan, worked in Forest Avenue for three years and is to be praised, not only for packing his menu with classics, but how he seems to have doubled down on their Frenchness to delicious effect. Bravo.

Our rating: 8.5/10