The old dame is unrecognisable, re-emerging as Japanese venue Disuko, a throwback to 1980s Tokyo complete with eight-seat omakase, a rooftop terrace and Macca’s-inspired sandos.
Standing in the former Madame Brussels site today, all that remains of the iconic rooftop bar is the skyline view from its third-storey vantage point on Bourke Street.
Unrecognisable after a significant refit, it reopens next week as Disuko, a multifaceted Japanese venue with room for more than 150 people across a restaurant with an eight-seat omakase counter, a cocktail bar, a rooftop terrace and a private dining “penthouse”.
“Anyone who’s seen it – who knew Madame Brussels – has been gobsmacked,” says new owner Thai Ho. It’s the most ambitious opening yet for his decade-old Mamas Dining Group, comprising the Hochi Mama restaurants, plus Suzie Q and Windsor Wine Room.
“I wanted to throw it back to Tokyo in the 1980s,” says Ho of the venue’s retro redesign.
You enter into the bar, where a cluster of disco balls speaks to the all-vinyl soundtrack – as well as the venue’s name, with “disuko” translated from the Japanese word for disco. Japanese red timber is a showpiece, as is the eight-metre-long American oak bartop.
Beyond is a sultry dining room and omakase bar, the walls soaked in a shade of blood orange, apart from a glass-brick feature, with similarly coloured carpet underfoot.
Leading the kitchen is former Kisume head chef Hung Hoa Duong alongside group culinary director Michael Stolley. “We’re not trying to make traditional [Japanese] food,” says Stolley. “But I always aim for the core flavours to be as authentic as possible.”
There’s a playfulness to much of the menu. Stolley says that two dishes were inspired by McDonald’s in Japan: the Filet-O-Ebi sando, with a panko-crumbed prawn (and prawn mousse) patty and house-made tartare; and the wagyu katsu sando, his Japanese take on a cheeseburger, with a bulldog sauce that leans into the funkiness of XO.
The miso-y udon carbonara is “creamy but not overly cheesy”, says Stolley, towing the line between Japanese and Italian, with a shoyuzuke (soy-sauce pickled) egg yolk.
In the restaurant, you can order a la carte or choose five dishes for $65 per person.
The sushi-centric omakase experience is $100 for 12 courses. But, “We didn’t want to make it too ‘fine dining’,” says Ho. It’s more affordable than other big-ticket options across town, but slightly less refined. Dishes might include chawanmushi (Japanese savoury egg custard) with fried-chicken-skin furikake, with tiered sake pairings.
Outside on the no-reservations rooftop, the palette brightens to terracotta, splashed everywhere from the tiles to the umbrellas, popping against Bourke Street’s treetops.
An abridged rooftop snack menu adds curry-spiced fries and nuggets channelling tsukune (Japanese chicken meatballs) to the mix. But drinking is the main event out here, with a list focused on all sorts of sake and highballs, starring sodas made in-house. One pairs whisky infused with shichimi (a Japanese spice blend) with jalapeno soda.
Above is a 30-person private dining room with what Ho says is “an even better view of the city”.
Disuko opens on Tuesday, November 18 at Level 3, 59-63 Bourke Street, Melbourne, disuko.com.au
Lunch and dinner daily
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