Batard comes to Melbourne

A bit of Paris is coming to Melbourne with the opening of French bistro and wine bar, Batard.

Batard is the creation of restaurateur Chris Lucas.

As he tells it, he started thinking when he was sitting down for a meal in Paris. As you would.

He got thinking about when he received a call from a Melbourne property owner offering a potential site.

The big opening of Batard will be in December.

The restaurant will seat 80 people and Lucas says he’s aiming to create a middle course between classic bistro and cool contemporary update.

"We'll have a big emphasis on charcuterie, which is a bit of a lost art, but we'll contemporise it and make it lighter, and more modern," Lucas told Good Food.

Batard will be producing various types of beef. It will come in various forms, including steak frites, chateaubriand en croute. All of that will be be on the menu.

As for the batards, which are shorter, plumper baguettes, they’ll all be made in-house.

“And if we're baking our own bread, we might as well do pastries for breakfast", Lucas told Good Food.

It will be very different from the other restaurants in the Lucas stable including Chin Chin, Baby Pizza, Kong, Hawker Hall and Kisumé 

Lucas insists he has spent years creating Batard. The name was registered in 2016.

All he needed, he says, was the right location.

Lucas has big plans for the Victorian terrace, at 19-21 Bourke Street, just steps from Parliament House.

He is looking to add a rooftop terrace, a basement wine cellar, a bread oven and a big grill.

Melbourne City Council is now considering his plans and, if approved, it will be open before Christmas.

As he puts it, it’s every chef’s dream.

"If you ask any chef or restaurateur 'What would be your dream business?' they'll always they want to open a little French bistro," Lucas told Good Food.

Leon Getler 8th June 2018