Why Hong Kong needs another private members’ club: ‘to drink better, for less,’ Club Batard’s founders say
- Club Batard will be the latest playground for moneyed gastronomes in Hong Kong when it launches this summer with three restaurants and a whisky bar
- Spanning 18,000 sq ft over three levels in the Pedder Building in Central, the club will cap membership at 1,200 people, who will pay up to US$19,200 to join
Pedder Building in Central, Hong Kong celebrates its centenary in 2024.
Significant parts of the iconic colonial-style building have been sitting empty since the high-profile departure of fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch in 2017, two years before its lease expired. Since 2011, the American brand had been paying HK$7 million in rent a month, double that of previous tenants Shanghai Tang.
That will change this summer when hospitality industry veterans transform a large part of Pedder Building into Hong Kong’s latest private members’ venue, Club Batard.
The team behind the opening includes Michael Wu, the founder of wine merchant The Fine Wine Experience, and his long-time collaborator Randy See, the managing partner of Batard restaurant and hospitality group Piccolo Concepts.
Spanning 18,000 sq ft over three levels of Pedder Building, Club Batard will be anchored by a massive interconnecting wine cellar that flows through each level, storing more than 5,000 wines.
Award-winning designer Joyce Wang, who has been behind many of Hong Kong’s trendiest spots, including new steakhouse Carna at Mondrian Hong Kong hotel, is in charge of the Club’s look and feel.
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The wines are available to members and their guests at retail prices, without the usual restaurant mark-ups. “That means saving them 60 to 70 per cent compared to other restaurants in town, and that’s right here in the middle of Central,” says Wu.
“We want wine collectors from around the world to come visit the cellar and have that kind of ‘kids in the candy shop’ experience,” he says. “We want you to drink better for less.”
Apart from the wine cellar, whisky bar OBE – an acronym for ‘old bottle effect’, a whisky ageing term – will also feature premium drams at retail price, selected by former Bonhams head of whisky Asia Diego Lanza.
It will be no surprise that the French fine-dining restaurant Batard will take centre stage.
This will not be a second branch of the celebrated restaurant. Batard – as well as Cantonese restaurant Hop Sze, a Sai Wan Ho favourite – will close in their current locations and move into the Central development by summer 2024.
The last venue at Club Batard is Le Clos, an all-day dining concept with a drink programme created by Raphael Holzer, Yardbird alum and founder of spirits brand Fernet Hunter.
Hop Sze, headed by chef Wong Wing-kyun, is a small neighbourhood venue that has been lauded over the years for traditional Cantonese dishes, from prawn toast to its iconic baked pork chop rice with fried eggs. The restaurant has been known to be booked out for months on end.
“Every time you [go] to Hop Sze, it’s always a dining room full of wine lovers,” says See, who explains that they wanted to bring in two proven brands to Club Batard as opposed to launching new concepts.
“I think that Hop Sze’s food is truly original, and at the same time complementary and very easy to match with wines,” says See.
With Hop Sze’s team and operation moving from Sai Wan Ho to Central for Club Batard, those who wish to have chef Wong’s food will have to either be a member, or a friend of one.
“We’ve been [in Sai Wan Ho] for a good number of years, and yes, there will be some long-time customers who are not going to be able to come [to the club] even if they wanted to,” Wong says. He adds that some of his more moneyed regulars enjoyed Hop Sze’s comfortable and down-to-earth vibe.
However, there is another branch of Hop Sze that opened in Tin Hau in 2022 that will still be in operation. Wong jokes that, after they move, there should be less confusion with diners heading to the wrong location.
Currently, “hundreds” of memberships – at a pre-opening rate of HK$100,000 (US$12,780), with normal pricing set to climb to HK$150,000 – have already been taken up by loyal supporters of Batard, Hop Sze and The Fine Wine experience, and the founders say they will cap recruitment at 1,200 members.
