Côte Basque is here and it looks glorious. Taking over what was once the site of Becco, this new upmarket, European-accented grill brings big Basque energy to Melbourne’s CBD. It’s Andrew McConnell and Jo McGann’s first restaurant in six years since they opened Gimlet, but McConnell says it’s a long way from being Gimlet Part II. “Côte Basque is worlds apart in terms of what we’re serving and how we’re serving it,” says McConnell.
“Côte Basque” is the French for “Basque Coast”, so we’re talking about the part of the world along the Atlantic coast of Europe where Spain meets France on the Bay of Biscay. It’s rich pickings in terms of food inspiration, and a region McConnell loves. He and chef Allan Eccles (who was also the original chef at Gimlet) have designed a menu that puts the wood-fire to the fore, using it to deliver superior meats and seafood from a grill section that runs to perhaps a dozen choices on a given day, from the tongue-twisting txistorra (a Basque pork sausage) to mullet and dory to a honking great rib-eye.
McConnell is working with wagyu producer David Blackmore to bring in prime cuts of Rohne, an exclusive breed of beef found at very few restaurants across the country, dry-aged in-house for a month. “We want to keep it as simple as possible,” says McConnell. “We’ve restricted the cooking medium to a grill and an oven. We’re really intent on keeping true to those roots in that inspiration.”
The Basque Country is prime snacking territory, and while no one is calling Côte Basque a pintxos bar, there’s plenty here to nibble with a drink, whether it’s crab tarts, oysters with a cider vinegar mignonette, socca enriched with Ossau-Iraty cheese and hazelnuts or the matrimonio, a Spanish classic that sees pickled white anchovies and regular anchovies bedding down together on the same piece of toast. It’s good times.
Further into the menu you’ll find an entree of Victorian calamari that’s grilled and dressed with its own ink and plated with chickpeas, while a winter-perfect “fisherman’s soup” takes its inspiration from ttoro, the traditional stew commonly found in Basque fishing ports. Eccles calls it “a pure expression of the sea”.
The dessert list is concise, but enticing: a dark-chocolate souffle with vanilla gelato, a gâteau Basque (of course!), flores fritas with apple and fennel and a blood orange and olive oil glace.
And how about drinks? Team McConnell stepped up their cocktail game with Gimlet and Apollo Inn and you’ll see the same level of thoughtfulness here. There’s a white port and tonic number known as a Porto Tonico, a gutsy house Spritz built on amari and Cocchi Americano, plus a curveball that’s equal parts unexpected and exciting.
“I don’t want to give too much away, we want to bring back the Cosmopolitan,” McConnell says. “Very underrated and it was a very popular drink here at Becco through the 90s into the early 2000s.”
Côte Basque’s dining room ahead of service (image: Sharyn Cairns).
McGann and McConnell engaged ACME, the team behind the fit-outs at Apollo Inn, Gimlet and Supernormal, for a sensitive remodelling of the space. The design studio has restored the original terrazzo flooring and cherrywood panelling throughout, while retaining the original ceiling and lighting from when the site first opened in the 1950s. “It just made sense to retain it,” he says. “It’s 50 per cent restoration, 50 per cent fit out.”
Ultimately, says McConnell, he wants diners to feel really well looked after at Côte Basque. “We want you to feel spoiled.”
Côte Basque opens Friday 7 August.
Côte Basque, 25 Crossley St, Melbourne, open 12 noon until late seven days, cotebasque.com.au, @cote.basque.restaurant
Côte Basque’s opening menu
Grill
- Strawberry clams 18
- King prawns 14
- Yellow-eye mullet 18
- Leeks 22
- Txistorra 24
- Fremantle octopus 32
- Blue mackerel 28
- Butterflied red mullet 24
- John Dory 110
- Rohne beef eye fillet 72
- Rohne beef sirloin 500g 96
- Dry-aged Rohne beef rib-eye 1.2kg 220
Menu
- Wood-roasted potato bread, cultured butter 12
- Anchovy matrimony 12
- Sydney Rock oysters, cidre vinegar mignonette 7
- “Txangurro” crab tart 14
- Boudin toast, smoked tomato, royal red prawns 14
- Socca, Ossau-Iraty, hazelnuts 16
- “Fisherman’s Soup” 22
- Bluefin tuna belly, sauce Gilda 32
- Chicory salad, Marcona almond, capra Sarda, tangelo 26
- Squid à la brute, chickpeas (serves two) 34
- Steak tartare, Anchoïade, Tasmanian paprika 29
- Potato & ricotta quenelle, globe artichokes, lemon butter 36
- Grilled flathead, young carrots and leeks, Fino sherry velouté 52
- Rohne hanger steak, wood-roasted cippolini onions, green pepper 62
- Roast duck, treviso, Madeira prunes, mustard cream 69
- Winter greens, salsa verde 17
- Hand cut chips, aïoli 16
- Butter leaf salad, mustard vinaigrette 16
- Wood-roasted artichoke and celeriac, marjoram, fromage blanc 17
Dessert
- Dark chocolate soufflé, vanilla gelato 24
- Floras fritas, apple and fennel 22
- Gâteau Basque, prune, cream Chantilly 22
- Blood orange and olive oil glace 18
- Hot Chocolate “Swiss” 14