Guillaume Brahimi returns to Sydney with four-night Baker Bleu residency

Guillaume Brahimi will return to a Sydney kitchen this August, bringing the French bistro dishes that have defined his career to Baker Bleu in Double Bay.

Guillaume Brahimi is returning to Sydney for a four-night residency at Baker Bleu in Double Bay.

Running from Thursday 6 to Sunday 9 August, the bakery will move from its regular daytime service into an intimate French bistro for the evening.

The residency marks Guillaume’s first public Sydney restaurant service since the closure of his Paddington venue in 2020.

A return to Guillaume’s bistro classics

Rather than developing an entirely new menu, Guillaume will revisit the dishes that have shaped his restaurants over more than two decades.

The $190 menu includes bread, a snack, entrée, main course, sides, dessert and petit fours.

Guests can choose from entrées including French onion soup and cheese soufflé, followed by roast chicken with tarragon jus or steak au poivre.

Paris mash, frites and green salad will accompany the main courses, with profiteroles, passionfruit soufflé and lemon tart among the dessert options.

A short wine list featuring some of Guillaume’s personal favourites will also be available by the glass and bottle.

“The dishes on this menu are my most highly requested bistro dishes, and are ones I love to cook,” Guillaume said.

“I have missed cooking them for Sydney. Six years is a long time.”

Several of the dishes also feature in his latest cookbook, Plat du Tour, which brings together recipes inspired by the French regions explored during the Tour de France.

Nine tables across four nights

The residency will be limited to nine tables per service, with Guillaume in the kitchen throughout the four-night run.

The compact dining room will create a very different setting from the larger restaurants that have defined much of his Australian career.

It will also keep the focus firmly on the food, with a concise menu built around recognisable French bistro cooking rather than a broad retrospective.

Baker Bleu co-founder Mike Russell said Guillaume had long supported the bakery’s bread, with the residency developing through a shared respect for ingredients, technique and traditional production.

That connection will carry through to the table, with Baker Bleu’s bread forming part of a menu grounded in butter, classical sauces and traditional French cookery.

Back in a Sydney kitchen

Guillaume trained in Paris at La Tour d’Argent and under Joël Robuchon before moving to Australia in the 1990s.

His Australian career has included Guillaume at Bennelong inside the Sydney Opera House, Guillaume in Paddington and Bistro Guillaume restaurants in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.

He has remained active through television, publishing and events, but the Baker Bleu residency brings him back to the stove for a full Sydney restaurant service.

The format also gives Guillaume the opportunity to revisit the dishes most closely associated with his career without attempting to recreate one of his former venues.

Instead, those dishes will be served in a nine-table neighbourhood bakery, with Guillaume in the kitchen and the food taking centre stage.