Chris Lucas — the hospitality force behind Chin Chin, Kissumé, and a collection of venues that have shaped Melbourne's dining culture — built Maison Bâtard as his most ambitious project: a French restaurant of genuine scale and conviction that does not merely reference Paris but attempts to recreate the emotional register of dining there. At 23 Bourke Street, across four levels that include a ground-floor oyster and caviar bar, the main Restaurant Bâtard dining room, a private dining space, and the rooftop La Terrasse, the building itself is the opening argument. You arrive and feel that something is expected of you. This is a compliment.
The menu takes French classical technique as its foundation and applies it with the lightness and ingredient focus that Melbourne demands. Oysters arrive with mignonette and the casual authority of a Parisian brasserie that has been serving them for a century; the steak tartare is constructed tableside with the performative care that the dish has always deserved; the lobster à l'Américaine — AU$185 — is the kind of dish that justifies the existence of the restaurant alone. The wine list skews heavily French, with a champagne selection that extends from accessible entry points to serious él've cuvées rarely found outside the country's finest cellars.
La Terrasse, the rooftop, operates as the most beautiful outdoor dining space in Melbourne: partially sheltered, heated in the cooler months, with the kind of views that remind you the city contains architecture worth looking at. It is the destination for a summer aperitif or a full dinner when the weather cooperates, and the bar programme up there is strong enough to sustain an evening without the restaurant below.
Maison Bâtard received a five-star review from Time Out Melbourne on opening and has maintained its position as the most theatrical dining experience in the CBD. The criticisms that occasionally appear — about noise levels, about pricing for what you receive — are the criticisms of every ambitious room where the ambience is doing as much work as the kitchen. Those who surrender to the theatre rather than resisting it tend to have a significantly better time.
