Cafe St Omer owner Olivier Lequeux paid more than $20,000 to buy the counter in France and have it shipped to Dunedin.
"I got it purely by luck. A friend of mine in France found it and told me about it," he said last week.
"It is just so beautiful. It's absolutely unique. There is nothing else in this part of the world like it."
The counter features a maker's plate, showing it was built by master furniture craftsman Martin Meallet in 1926 in Paris.
Mr Lequeux named the cafe after Frenchman Francois St Omer, who was the mayor of Queenstown for 14 years in the late-1800s, and who initiated the planting of weeping willow trees around Lake Wakatipu at Queenstown Bay.
Otago's French heritage also included immigrant gold miner Jean Desire Feraud, who was the first mayor of Clyde and planted the first grapes in Central Otago, in the 1850s, he said.
"The French are very parochial and I wanted to bring back some heritage and culture to the centre of the city and celebrate Otago. It's about what we have lost," he said.
"It will be a traditional French bistro; a place where people can come and have their coffee in the morning and read the paper. We'll also sell local wine, beer and food, which will show everyone all the fantastic produce we have here in Otago."
Mr Lequeux said Cafe St Omer would be open in time for the Rugby World Cup next month.
