Chris Lucas reveals opening date and name of his hotly anticipated four-level Bourke Street ‘dining house’
Long-awaited Maison Batard will arrive in November with an executive chef who honed his craft at The Fat Duck and Noma, a subterranean supper club, and more.
For eight years, a foray into French cuisine has been percolating for Chris Lucas, the kingpin of the Melbourne-based Lucas Restaurants group, which encompasses such venues as Society, Grill Americano, Chin Chin and the newly opened Tombo Den.
Next month, it comes to fruition at last. Lucas today said his French-inspired CBD dining destination, Maison Batard, will open on November 26.
“After so many years of hard work and countless challenges, there’s a real sense of relief knowing that I’m finally getting to open the doors in November,” Lucas tells Good Food.
He has acquired three buildings at the top end of Bourke Street and melded them into four levels of flashy Francophilia. The piece de resistance is the restaurant (spanning the ground and first floors), which has an extravagant oyster and crustacea bar. Beneath it is a late-night subterranean supper club; above it, a suave rooftop terrace.
“Protecting the heritage of the site was essential,” says Lucas. “This is a legacy project, and I hope Maison Batard will usher in those elegant moments that were first seen when the original Italian Society restaurant opened its doors [here] in 1927.”
His venue was formerly named Batard, after Burgundy’s Batard-Montrachet vineyard, but adding Maison (“house” in French) speaks to it being a “dining house”.
“The space has become like a home that my wife Sarah and I have carefully crafted together,” says Lucas. “From artwork sourced in Paris, to chandeliers from Milan, and vintage mirrors and lamps from flea markets, every detail tells a story of our time together.”
Today’s announcement also includes key players in the kitchen team.
Long-time Lucas collaborator Damian Snell is the culinary director. The executive chef is Adam Sanderson, bringing to the table experience at international juggernauts The Fat Duck and Noma plus the Mornington Peninsula’s Ten Minutes by Tractor. Grill Americano head pastry chef Michaela Kang is assuming the same role at Maison Batard. And Lucas Restaurants’s accomplished head of wine, Loic Avril, will oversee the vin program.
Maison Batard opens on November 26. Reservations open on November 7.
23 Bourke Street, Melbourne, maisonbatard.com.au
Tomas Telegramma is a food, drinks and culture writer.