Named after Nicolas’s late mother, Chez Maud brings together seasonal cooking, a young team and a deeply personal story.
Opened in June 2025, Chez Maud combines a restaurant, bar and small deli on Pont Bessières. With its terrace overlooking the city and a menu that changes with the seasons, it’s an easy spot to settle into. But behind the bright blue walls is a story that makes the place much more personal.
Chez Maud is named after Nicolas Lambert’s mother, Maud, who passed away from cancer. Nicolas, the restaurant’s founder and chef, has turned the place into something of a living tribute to her. The bright blue that runs through the restaurant was her favourite colour. Some of the objects and decorative details belonged to her. Even the team has fun weaving her name into the experience, in particular with desserts getting playful nods — including a Maud-leine rather than the more conventional Madeleine. It’s personal without feeling heavy.
That sense of personality extends to the team. We met Nicolas Lambert and Camille Sermier, two of the people at the heart of the project. The pair formed their professional partnership in London before bringing their experience back to Lausanne. The overall team is remarkably young — the youngest member is just 19 — which gives Chez Maud an enthusiasm and energy that suits the concept. There is plenty of ambition here, without being overly formal.
The menu changes with the seasons, with the kitchen focusing on Swiss and regional products wherever possible. The Menu Midi Gourmand offers a starter, main and dessert for 39 CHF. From the wider menu, a few of the dishes we tried were already enough to understand what Chez Maud is going for.
The cappuccino-like starter was almost too pretty to eat — the kind of plate that arrives and immediately gets photographed before anyone takes a bite. Thankfully, the flavours were every bit as good as the presentation. Beneath the chestnut and cacao foam, a silky pumpkin soup with roasted pumpkin and crispy chestnut chips.
We were lucky enough to get a preview of the upcoming chasse dish, which will now be joining the menu, with tender wild boar cheeks in a red-wine sauce and homemade hazelnut spätzli on the side. Crispy around the edges and properly salty, the spätzli were exactly what we want from them — good enough that we could happily have eaten them on their own. Sometimes the simplest side dish is the one you remember.
The veggie burger was another pleasant surprise: a house-made porcini and lentil patty, hearty and full of flavour, and proof that vegetable options here aren't simply there to tick a box. The pumpkin fries and fig BBQ sauce added an unexpected but delicious twist that somehow just works.
Perhaps the most special expression of the restaurant's connection to Maud comes through one of its desserts, L'Origa'Maud. Origami was one of Maud's passions — she was even certified in the art in Japan — and that skill has inspired a dessert shaped around this art form. The summer version played with one set of flavours; for October and November, the dessert is being reinvented around autumn (warm apple and vanilla, double cream and a light green-apple mousse) and folded into the shape of a letter.
It is a lovely idea in itself, but there is another layer to it. For every dessert sold, 1 CHF will be donated to the Ligue Contre le Cancer foundation. With October marking breast cancer awareness month, the dessert becomes both a tribute to Maud and a small way of turning her story into something positive for others.
One of the things we liked most about Chez Maud is that the restaurant doesn't stop at the dining room. Right at the entrance is a small deli where you can pick up things made in-house or sourced from local producers — think garlic spread, pickles and other little things worth taking home. The restaurant also offers ready-to-go meals in glass jars: essentially restaurant-quality dishes that you can bring home and heat in the microwave in a few minutes. It's a clever extension of the restaurant's philosophy: local, homemade and practical, without asking you to sit down for a full meal every time.
There is a sense that the team is still experimenting, adding dishes, playing with ideas and figuring out exactly what this place can become. But there is already a clear identity underneath it all: local products, homemade food, seasonal menus, a young team and restaurant built around a very personal story.
TLG Tips: Keep an eye out for the return of the Sunday roast, a welcome alternative to the usual weekend brunch. If you're visiting this October or November, leave room for L'Origa'Maud dessert. Come back in December to the deli for their special homemade foie gras flavours.
Chez Maud
Pont Charles Bessières 3, 1005 Lausanne
Restaurant: Tue 12–2pm; Wed–Sat 12–2pm & 6–9:30pm.
Bar: Tue 9am–6:30pm; Wed–Sat 10am–midnight.
Deli: Tue–Sat 10am–7pm
