Try Cantina, looks like what you described, just not French.

@alexkmg
Thanks - I'll give them a whirl as soon as I find them.

@laotou
If you haven't found them yet, Cantina, the Great Australian Bite, new branch of French Cafe, Brooklyn Pizza (with bar), a Chinese owned vegetarian restaurant, and a few other places are all together in the new area behind McD drive through at the bottom of the hill on Hongshandong Lu.

I've tried all of those places Tiger.

Cantina: overpriced, overlit, underwhelming. Burger was one of the worst tasting I 've ever had. Pasta is tiny, obviously meant to be a starter, fine, but don't charge 50RMB for it! To be full, you need to spend well over 100RMB per person, and that's just the food. Add in some wine and it's gonna be more like 200 per person.

French Cafe: dreadful food. Went as a party of four, nobody enjoyed their food. And there is nothing french about the place, even the name is in English!

Brooklyn: reasonable pizza (base too thick, too much cheese with little taste, not enough veg, but inexpensive, plenty of meat, and satisfying), so-so sandwiches (too cheesy, bread dry and breaks up, minimal salad). However, they do have some very good beer.

Australia Bite: Every meal I've had there has been very delicious. The Aussie chef really knows how to cook. The Koala burger must be the best burger & fries combo in Kunming by some distance. Caesar salad ditto. Steaks are excellent. Sunday roast dinners are excellent, undoubtedly the best in Kunming (I don't know of anywhere else that does them!). They also do excellent desserts.

@laotou: I don't know of any such bistro in Kunming (one of the few things I miss about Beijing), but keep us posted if you find any good ones.

French Cafe has a pretty good French loaf for sale, and some of their pastries are decent as well.

Here's a good time to point out "The Loaf." It's a German guy who trained as a baker. Every Sunday he holds a little bread party in the garden at DT bar. He makes some of the best bread I've ever had in China, and is also making herb-infused butters. You can buy a loaf to take home, but you have to order in advance. DT Bar is definitely not a sophisticated dining experience, but I can't recommend the bread enough.

tapas places? they were popular in beijing.

Cantina does tapas. I think 80rmb with glass of wine.

ok. koala burgers? seriously?

warning may contain koala and traces of nuts

French Cafe hasn't had a new idea in 10 years; Sunday dinner at Great Australian Bite is indeed a really good feed. I still don't think you can beat the bread at Wicker Basket, but I'll try the bread at DT.