Chris Lucas recently opened the doors to his new French restaurant, Maison Bâtard, in Melbourne’s CBD – a four-level venue with a mise-en-scène rooftop and supper club.
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Melbourne has a new French dining experience with a distinctly Australian twist. Maison Bâtard translates as ‘Bastard House,’ but restaurateur Chris Lucas says the name is a nod to Bâtard-Montrachet, the revered Chardonnay from the Côte de Beaune in France’s Burgundy region.
While the restaurant name may hail from an inland French province, the cuisine is largely influenced by France’s coastal regions.
“We’re not serving Beef Bourguignon or heavy traditional French food. What we’re producing at Bâtard is drawn from the more provincial side of France, down South near the Mediterranean. It reflects our warmer climate here in Australia and our modern lifestyle. Light, beautiful and not heavy,” says Lucas.
His trademark contemporary approach is also present in the philosophy behind the multi-level, multi-purpose zones of the Melbourne CBD establishment.
“Maison Bâtard has been built for the next generation of Melbournians. As our city evolves, it’s a centrepiece where you can go to the rooftop terrace, have a little apéritif, or have a club sandwich. La Terrasse is open all day, all night,” he says.
French doors open to the La Terrasse sunlit rooftop centred around a maple tree. Round, gold-edged tables give a Parisian flair to the Harlequin marble-floored outdoor space. The plush
black velvet seating is decidedly more luxurious than the typical French bistro rattan chairs, giving the rooftop an air of ‘see and be seen,’ akin to Wolfgang Puck’s lunchtime Spago Beverly Hills crowd or Café de Flore in the Paris’ Saint-Germain.
A wrought-iron circular staircase connects La Terrasse to the other three levels of Maison Bâtard. Fine-dining Restaurant Bâtard takes up the ground and first floors and features an oyster and caviar station, an open kitchen, and a dark, decadent aesthetic.
Adam Sanderson, who boasts stints at Copenhagen’s Noma and England’s The Fat Duck, is executive chef, and long-time Lucas-collaborator Damian Snell is the culinary director. The menu embraces seafood – lobster, prawns, ceviche and sashimi – as well as classics cooked over charcoal.
“The restaurant is open all day and all night,” says Lucas. On the Monday evening I visited, three months after the November opening, it was packed wall to wall. “Le Club” on the subterranean fourth floor opens on Friday and Saturday evenings, offering cabaret and a shared supper menu for $95 per person.
“For a bit of late-night frivolity, you can now go to the beautiful Supper Club Cabaret,” says Lucas. “There basically wasn’t one in Melbourne. Maison Bâtard is a very sophisticated product that reflects Melbourne into the future but also captures the essence of what has made Melbourne such a beautiful, sophisticated and elegant city.”
The Victorian-born restaurateur spent eight years creating Bâtard, reviving the former “Italian Society” heritage building and the dining scene in Melbourne’s Bourke Hill precinct.
“I’m focused on creating restaurants in our CBD because it’s helping transition our city to a more European style, large-scale village,” says Lucas.
“Work from home is changing people’s work patterns. But people are increasingly congregating back into the city, less for the working experience and more as a living village. That’s what’s going to give our city the next 100 years of longevity.”
