Popping the cork

As Hong Kong’s hardy economy braces for another uncertain year, the city’s landlords and hospitality industry are having to pull out all the stops – and a fair few corks – to keep things flowing. November 2024 saw a show of newfound confidence in the city’s hospitality in the form of Club Bâtard in the central business district. The members-only drinking and dining destination pairs three restaurants and 300 covers with a three-storey wine cellar – the biggest walk-in cellar in Hong Kong; possibly even Asia. Memberships are capped at 1,200 and the majority were snapped up by the time the contractors began to pour concrete.

Club Bâtard’s appeal is remarkably simple: drinking quality and paying less for it. Bottles are reasonably priced when compared to the hefty mark-ups at five-star hotels and high-end restaurants. And since Hong Kong abolished all wine taxes in 2008, that makes a glass of bordeaux or burgundy at Club Bâtard competitive across the region. “A lot of people go to Shenzhen to have good food but here the traffic is moving in the opposite direction,” says Michael Wu, who founded the club with Linden Wilkie and Randy See. “Hong Kong will always be the wine hub of Asia,” he says.

Wilkie and Wu are founders of The Fine Wine Experience, a wine cellar in Sai Ying Pun with a restaurant inside founded by See, named Bâtard. Having successfully tested this combination in a quiet, residential area of Hong Kong island, they are now taking a proven concept to the heart of the city’s hectic commercial district. Club Bâtard has taken three storeys of the Pedder Building, a rare pre-war heritage structure surrounded on all sides by high-end shopping centres and office towers. Every floor features a different restaurant and the flavours on each menu are designed to go well with the wine stocked in the adjacent cellar – the centrepiece and star attraction.

According to Wilkie, the three founders want Club Bâtard to be a place that brings together a community of wine lovers, suppliers and sommeliers. “Guests know each other, they ask what each other are drinking and they bring glasses over – that’s the whole idea,” he says, beaming. Though it is still early days, faces are already starting to become familiar to staff, while some members are treating the address like a second home, dropping by for breakfast at Le Clos then returning for dinner with a group of friends at French restaurant Bâtard or Hop Sze, a Cantonese favourite. There’s also a whisky bar and two karaoke rooms for good measure.

Hospitality designer Joyce Wang oversaw all of the interiors, working with fellow Hong Kong studio Sensis, a wine-storage specialist, on the cellar. Wood is the primary material, with the colours getting progressively lighter: dark walnut on one, where the oldest, dustiest reds are kept; honey-toned burl wood on two and the lightest tones at the top to represent the canopy of a tree and the champagnes on display.

Each restaurant is accessible by elevator but for those who can manage the stairs, climbing up and down the wine cellar is a core part of the experience. Knocking through two ceilings in a historical building to create this integral architectural feature required approval from the authorities and the support of the building’s owner. “All of this could not have been achieved without the landlord sharing our vision,” says co-founder Wu, who is one of Hong Kong’s leading burgundy merchants.

The cellar’s 12,000-strong collection balances top wineries and small growers. Bottles range from hk$500 (€59) to more than hk$2m (€236,550); the oldest label is a 1898 vintage Château Latour. Members also have access to a warehouse of about 150,000 bottles, which they can browse online to place pre-orders before their next visit. French regions dominate, though wine director Della Tang is keen to diversify. The sweetness and clear-cut acidity of German riesling, for instance, pairs well with the Cantonese dishes served at Hop Sze, such as the “stir-fry king” with dried prawns and chives.

Club Bâtard’s food is overseen by See, the seasoned restaurateur behind Piccolo Concepts, a subsidiary of Singapore’s Les Amis Group. He develops menus and recipes with the club’s head chefs. The goal of “straightforward and versatile” dishes, such as Bâtard’s signature roast chicken and duck burger, is to make wine fun and a little less formal, he says.

The culinary bait is also bringing new drinkers to the table. Managing director Timothée Lesné and his front-of-house team has identified a sub-category of beginner-level members keen to learn about wine and embark on a wine-appreciation journey. Introductory classes on how to read a map of Burgundy or navigate a list of grands crus are proving surprisingly popular, alongside the traditional wine- tasting events that cater to connoisseurs. We’ll drink to that. — L
clubbatard.com