Tarte flambée is not well known in Australia, but Dan Xerri wants to change that with his Melbourne restaurant, .
What is tarte flambée?
Tarte flambée, also called flammekueche, is a speciality of the Alsace region, in France. It’s made of very thin bread dough topped with crème fraîche (fresh cream) or fromage blanc (white cheese), sliced onions and lardons, and cooked in a wood-fired oven. It’s both light and rich at the same time, and perfect to share with friends.
There are a few variations like the gratinée, with gruyère or Emmental cheese, or the forestière, with mushrooms.
Resto Bobo does offer these traditional tartes flambées, but chef Guillaume Theron has also created more creative ones, with blue cheese and pear or spicy salmon and apple.
Xerri says that French customers tend to like their tarte flambée traditional, while Australians are more open to creative interpretations.
"Australians tend to go towards the ones with the steak or the salmon," he says.
"They are more open to those kinds of flavour profiles.
"In the French community, la fermière, the one with the goat cheese, is quite popular.”
An idea straight from Alsace
Xerri started thinking about Resto Bobo when he was working as a mechanical engineer in Strasbourg. His colleagues would invite him to drink wine and eat tarte flambée in their backyards.
“I was inspired by the casual, communal, convivial style of eating,” he says.
"I wanted to bring a part of that back to Melbourne."
He left engineering behind when he moved back to Australia and started working on Resto Bobo, developing the menu with executive chef Guillaume Theron.
Chef Guillaume Theron and owner Dan Xerri at Resto Bobo (Photo: Audrey Bourget) Source: Audrey Bourget
Casual French dining
There’s often that perception in Australia that French restaurants are quite upscale, but Resto Bobo wants to offer a more casual and accessible alternative.
On top their tartes flambées, they also offer small plates to share like a chorizo butter bread tartine, a salmon tartare, charcuterie and cheese boards and roasted cauliflower bites.
Very on-trend, the Frenchified mac’n’cheese is made of pan-fried housemade Spaetzle (an Alsatian Pasta) and Emmental cheese.
Resto Bobo is French, but not as you know it. "What we’ve ended up doing is taking these fundamental elements of tarte flambée and French food, and bringing into the menu a bit of fusion with Melbourne cuisine to have a different offering," explaisn Xerri.
"We’re not allowing ourselves to be bound by the traditions of French cuisine and the way tarte flambée has to be."
If you’re not sure where to start, Xerri recommends the garlic & chive tarte flambée, which is close to the original and “mildly addictive”.
Listen to our interview with Dan Xerri and Guillaume Theron:
Resto Bobo
110 Chapel Street, Windsor
Tuesday – Saturday 5 pm til late
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