A fabulous dinner at C'est Bon French restaurant - Port Melbourne

My husband and I had made our reservation and rocked up right on 7.30. We were greeted and seated by a 30 something French man, french accent and all. Once we got settled, we were immediately brought the wine and food menu. While the f...rench waiter left us to peruse our menus the maitre de, a lovely Australian older blonde lady who was very refined and well spoken came to let us know all about the specials for the evening. While tossing up what to have, we were served with two very warm little aranchini balls. Normally i dont really like them as i find them to be ricey glug but these were DEVINE. Ertan and i were so in awe of the menu we decided that stuff the portion sizes for a night and we were going to over eat and have an entree, main and dessert each and taste each others food. So we ordered a lovely bottle of french reising from the rhone valley along side, hazel nut and rocket salad with sweatbreads and a cheese souffle for entree. For main we ordered duck breast in an orange sauce on a bed of sweet potato and chicken in a creme cheese sauce that had the pungency of blue cheese but wasn't blue cheese.
The service was fantastic with the empty plate of the aranchini balls taken away swiftly and the bread arriving whilst our waiter was topping up our wine. All of this was being done so gently that although we were getting all the attention in the world they were delicate and not over servicing us and were not in our faces.
When the entrees arrived, i tucked into the bread and it was like french bread should be. So soft and airy in the middle yet had a nice thick layer of fresh and crisp crunch. I put a piece of the sweetbread into my mouth along with some salad and my taste buds began to sing. Delicately, i carved a piece of the souffle iwth my fork and it was smooth, light and had an airy texture and amazingly delicate flavour.
We were very happy at this stage cause everything we had put into our mouths had been exceptional. Not good, not very good but exceptional.
In a perfect amount of time after we finished out entrees, about 20 minutes our mains arrived. The presentation of the food was an art form. So much so the Asian couple next to us were taking photos of their plates.. Yes I'm not joking but they were.
Duck is usually a heavy meat, but it had been cooked to perfection. It was not dry and the orange gave a lovely balance to what is normally a heavy meat. Ertan's chicken with the pungent cheese sauce was so creamy and still moist.
By this stage I was beyond full but as i was so highly satisfied with everything i had to have dessert. The menu has some typical french things like chocolate mousse and creme brulee but i decided to have a biscuit with marinaded strawberries with a honeycomb ice creme and hazelnut mousse. I thought Ertan was being boring ordering creme brulee but now i understand the difference between a normal creme brulee and a VERY good one. There was no trace of that egg yolky taste you normally get from a brulee. My biscuit concoction i ate in tiny tiny bits as i didnt want it to finish...
So impressed, we then decided to see what their coffee was like. 2 long macciatos. Wow,, they even do great coffee with fabulous presentation served with a chocolate rum ball..
Price wise, we payed $210 which i thought wasnt too bad for the quality of food and service considering the bottle of wine was $60... Mains are about 34-40, and entrees and desserts to make it simple budget for $20.
Its a lovely special occasion venue where you will be guaranteed GREAT food and GREAT service. They were very deserving of the $10 tip we left for them.
Its a definite MUST GO and experience ...