Meeting in French bar (9)
I believe the answer is:
encounter
'meeting' is the definition.
('encounter' can be a synonym of 'meeting')
'in french bar' is the wordplay.
'in french' becomes 'en' ('en' can be French for 'in' e.g. en France).
'bar' becomes 'counter' (I've seen this before**).
'en'+'counter'='ENCOUNTER'
(Other definitions for encounter that I've seen before include "Unexpected meeting" , "Meet, come across" , "Struggle" , "battle" , "Face" .)