Sydney can’t get enough of this steak frites sandwich

• Loulou Martin Place has now opened as a sister restaurant to the Milsons Point original.
• The all-day French restaurant feels like something Martin Place (now known as MP District) has needed for a long time.
• Office workers are raving about the lunch-only special: a steak frites sandwich.
• READ MORE: Saint Peter’s tuna wellington is one of the best dishes in Sydney right now.

Loulou’s new CBD outpost feels like it could pull Martin Place into a brand new era of boozy French breakfasts, infallible power lunches and punchy group dinners.

Martin Place, now conceived as the MP District, has been the focal point of great change in the past few months. There’s already been a push to turn it into the heart of CBD’s nightlife, with venues like Caterpillar Club and Centro 86. And most recently, the financial canyon’s culinary chops sharpened with the opening of Rovollo and the subject of this announcement, French-accented newcomer Loulou.

Etymon Projects opened the original Loulou in Milsons Point in 2022. It was quickly understood that this wasn’t just any regular new French restaurant in Sydney. This was a wholly confident, multi-faceted celebration of regional French dining and an extension of the country’s unique aesthetic, worked without compromise and dedicated entirely to deepening Sydney’s knowledge of French food.

Loulou Milsons Point has since become the best example of a restaurant so relentlessly exacting in its conceit that it’s surprising to think it took this long for an expansion, especially in a city as obsessed with French cuisine as Sydney.

Though I would imagine Etymon Projects’ CBD footprint was wide enough with The Charles, still as grand and impactful as it was when it first opened. The hospitality group already opened Petit Loulou in Martin Place, pushing the tiny shopfront as a bakery-only spin-off for Loulou.

Now the full-scale restaurant has arrived, mirroring the original’s confident, stylish interiors with a bigger, smarter approach that’s spread across two levels. Loulou Martin Place can serve 175 diners at any one time, offering many different areas from charming banquettes in a sun-soaked dining room to an upstairs oyster and wine bar, plus several streetside tables for quick al fresco lunches.

READ MORE: Are these the best French restaurants in Sydney?

The ultimate sandwich?

Loulou’s kitchen could have easily gone for the classic French dip sandwich. There’s nothing like that in the area, so it would have made an impact. They went in a completely different direction instead, bringing Sydney its very first Sandwich Americain, a steak frites baguette that’s only served at lunch.

It’s a no-brainer. Taking some steak frites and squashing it all into a chewy French baguette worked brilliantly for Frank’s Deli in Melbourne, but there’s been no such thing in Sydney. Here, the Loulou team offers the Sandwich Americain for $25, between 12pm and 2:30pm only. A beef patty is stuffed with frites and covered in sauce andalouse. It’s then served in a crusty fresh baguette with your choice of house wine, beer or soft drink. The indulgent sandwich is appropriately decadent while still being approachable and easy to handle.

Loulou is serious about its all-day offering. The adjacent bakery is pumping in the early hours of the morning, but the main dining room also does up some fine French breakfast. Think crumpets with avocado and optional caviar, the requisite signature croque monsieur with ham, cheese and pickles, and a $14 eggs florentine. Priced at $29, the Grand Loulou breakfast offers a Toulouse sausage served alongside mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, bacon and poached eggs.

Lunch and dinner brings the air of sophistication all MP District restaurants should have if Sydney really wants to push this as the upscale financial district for tourists. A grilled octopus bouillabaisse with saffron rouille should go down well with Sydney’s seafood-centric tastes, as should a spanner crab, leek and gruyere tart, John Dory with scallop farci and a hearty seafood platter served in either a $60 size or a $160 size.

The coast plays a big part in this foray into French dining but there are three steak options as well as a host of land-based dishes including confit duck leg with smoked beetroot. The $160 bone-in sirloin (a 600g Westholme wagyu MBS5-6 from QLD) should be a frequent order for big client lunches, but we’d be just as content with the $56 steak frites with tenderloin from award-winning farm Jacks Creek.

Considering Jacks Creek have won World’s Best Steak multiple years in a row, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the steak frites from Loulou Martin Place become every bit as essential as the same dish from French dining institutions the world over like New York’s Balthazaar and even Paris’ Le Relais de l’Entrecote.

Etymon is serious about building a community around this Loulou Martin Place. The drinks list is just as central as the food, with an extensive selection of 350 wines for lunch and dinner, breakfast cocktails for anyone starting early, and a happy hour each day from 4pm – 7pm, when the kitchen starts shelling $2 oysters and escargot, alongside mini martinis and an $18 cheeseburger special with a side of frites.

Loulou Martin Place

Address: Cnr Elizabeth & Hunter St, 1 Elizabeth St, Sydney NSW 2000
Contact: (02) 8201 8820
Opening Hours: Monday – Friday (7am – 10pm); Saturday (4pm – 10pm)

loulou.sydney