Our Story
We are a neighbourhood French Bistro. Your place to savour beautiful French food, together with a carefully selected drinks range.
The quick rendezvous. An extended liaison. A private indulgence.
{tɛrˈwɑ}
Terroir means the complete natural environment in which a particular crop is produced, including things like soil, topography, and climate.
It’s a French word — you say it “ter-wah” — but in Daylesford, Victoria it resonates with the philosophy of our inviting bistro. We want our customers to feel like our friends, they are a vital part of our terroir.
News & Events
Bookings
Wednesday through Sunday Dinner and Thursday through Sunday for lunch.
Wednesday to Sunday Evenings À la Carte or 'Terroir Menu' 6pm - Late
Thursday - Sunday Lunches, À la Carte or Terroir Menu, 12 noon - 2.30pm
We ask all guests placing a reservation to please remember If unable to attend, please amend, reschedule or cancel as early as possible. If your booking numbers change or you’re not able to make your booking on time please call to let us know. Please advise of any dietary requirements at the time of booking.
Please note 10% surcharge on Sundays and 15% on Public Holidays
Food Menu
Drinks List
Functions at COQ
COQ is an intimate events and functions space in the heart of Daylesford, VIC located at 8 Howe Street.
COQ sits alongside Bistro Terroir and runs off the same kitchen — seasonal French cooking, a considered wine list, and a room that is yours for the evening. Ninety minutes from Melbourne, and an easy drive from Ballarat and Bendigo.
Sit-down or stand-up
Sit-down for a long lunch, a company dinner or a milestone birthday — one table, courses out of the Bistro Terroir kitchen. Stand-up for canapés and drinks when you would rather the room kept moving. Tell us the numbers and we'll say which one the room does best.
What we cook
Set menus built around whatever the season is doing — the same terroir-led French cooking we serve in the bistro, written for a group. Wine matched from our list or chosen by you. Dietaries are straightforward: put them in the enquiry and we'll work around them.
How booking works
Send us the date, the number of people and roughly what you have in mind. We'll come back with a menu and a price, and hold the room while you decide.
Noël au Bistro
Your team's Christmas lunch, cooked by a French chef around the corner.
One price, a room to yourselves, nothing to chase. Christmas functions for teams of 10 to 30, Wednesday 25 November to Sunday 20 December 2026.
Three courses, $110 per person. $165 with La Formule Noël, three hours of drinks included.
Easy for the organiser. One price a head. One person to deal with, from your first email to the invoice. We collect dietaries at booking, lock numbers a week out and send one bill. You turn up.
Proper festive food. Matthew Carnell trained under Thierry Marx in Paris and Scott Pickett in Melbourne. The Christmas menu is French, cooked with butter, garlic and wine, and every guest picks their own three courses on the day.
A room of your own. COQ, our private room, seats 30. From 22 guests on a Thursday it's exclusively yours. Smaller groups sit together in the main room, no minimum spend.
Local and relaxed. Howe Street, Daylesford. Walk from the office, walk back after. Long table, no white tablecloths, nobody hurrying you out.
Le Menu de Noël. Gougères on arrival, then a choice of three at every course, coffee or tea to finish. To start, Sher Wagyu tartare with confit yolk, salmon gravlax with carrot rémoulade, or a twice-baked Gruyère soufflé with artichoke salad. Then confit duck with pomme purée and mustard jus, barramundi in a sauce bouillabaisse, or gnocchis Parisiens with peas, Comté and mint. To finish, crème brûlée with orange and cinnamon, chocolate mousse with Christmas cherries, or a plate of cheese. Sher Wagyu steak frites can be added as a main for $10 a head.
Book before 31 October. Pay your deposit by Saturday 31 October and every guest at your table gets a glass of sparkling on arrival. Thursdays and Fridays are the days teams ask for, and they are the two that go first. On a Friday, COQ is exclusively yours from 28 guests.
A surcharge of 10% applies on Sundays and 15% on public holidays.
Le Menu de Noël
Three courses, a choice of three at each. Guests choose on the day. $110 per person.
Entrées — Sher Wagyu tartare. Salmon gravlax, carrot rémoulade. Twice-baked Gruyère soufflé, artichoke salad.
Plats — Confit duck, pomme purée, sautéed kale, mustard jus. Barramundi, sauce bouillabaisse, fennel. Gnocchis parisiens, peas, Comté, mint. Sher Wagyu steak frites, add $10 per person.
Desserts — Crème brûlée, Mousse au chocolat, Christmas cherries, hazelnut crumble. Assiette de fromages.
La Formule Noël, $165 per person: a glass of sparkling on arrival, then house red and white, beer and soft drinks for three hours, so nobody is running a tab or splitting a bill at the end. Prefer to pay as you go? The menu on its own is $110 and drinks go on the bill.
Dietary needs are taken at booking and cooked for. Tell us once, we'll take it from there.
Which day, which room
Answer first: Thursday. It's the day COQ is easiest to make yours.
Thursday, lunch or dinner: COQ exclusively yours from 22 guests on La Formule Noël. Our recommendation.
Friday: COQ exclusively yours from 28 guests on La Formule Noël. Smaller groups share the room or sit in the main restaurant.
Wednesday dinner: COQ exclusively yours from 19 guests on La Formule Noël.
Saturday: groups of 10 or more in the main room.
Sunday lunch: same menu, $121 per person or $181.50 with La Formule Noël, the Sunday surcharge already inside the price.
Any day, 10 or more: a long table in the main room. No minimum spend.
Exclusive use of COQ is a minimum spend rather than a head count: $3,000 on a Wednesday, $3,500 on a Thursday, $4,500 on a Friday. The guest numbers above are what that works out to on La Formule Noël. Fewer guests are welcome; the minimum spend still applies.
Book by 31 October. Pay your deposit by Saturday 31 October and every guest gets a glass of sparkling on arrival, on us.
How booking works
Nothing hidden. This is the whole of it.
Enquire. Use the form or email info@bistroterroir.com.au. You'll have a written proposal within 72 hours, and one named contact from your first email to the invoice.
Deposit. $500 for a shared room or a main-room table. 20% of the minimum spend for exclusive use of COQ. It comes off your final bill. We can pencil a date for 7 days without a deposit; after that it's released.
Numbers. Final numbers are locked 7 days before. You're charged on the locked number or the number who turn up, whichever is higher.
Changes. Deposits are non-refundable inside 14 days of the date.
Cake. Bring one and we'll serve it instead of dessert at no charge, or alongside dessert for $5 a person.
Dates. Christmas functions run from Wednesday 25 November to Sunday 20 December. We're closed 21 to 25 December.