L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon

(All pictures courtesy of Cook Sister! as I forgot my camera AGAIN!)

When Chris whisked me off to Paris at short notice at the beginning of December last year, one of the foodie destinations I had in mind was L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon. I had been following this man when he still had his top-notch fine dining restaurant and was shocked to hear that he was giving it all up in 1996. But I guess he's not one to lean back and relax on the laurels his profession has earned him, and he came back 6 years later, and with a vengeance. We thoroughly enjoyed our Sunday lunch there and it was with much anticipation that I awaited the opening of his Atelier in London, slightly worried that he might be spreading himself a bit too thinly as he now has Ateliers in Paris, New York, Las Vegas and Tokyo... a similar expansion didn't do Ducasse any good, in my humble opinion, so I was very critical with regards to his London outpost.
His new approach to fine dining is to offer an informal and completely unstuffy atmosphere while offering all the eclectic food you expect from a chef of his calibre. The restaurants are designed for diners to enjoy their food at a bar surrounding the open kitchen, so you not only get to stuff your face, but be entertained at the same time. It is amazing how calm and collected and environment their kitchen is, no GR-like swearing, no dropped pans, no blood, sweat and tears - but still, or even more so, very interesting to watch.
The other main characteristic of his restaurants is the reservations policy: no two-months-on-the-dot advance booking like at the Fat Duck or Ramsay's Hospital Road, and even less the excruciatingly painful wait for a reply after emailing El Bulli more than 9 months in advance of your visit (and yes, I am still waiting, which apparently is a good sign)... even if you've got Tony Blair or Madonna in your party, if you want a table after 7pm, you'll have to stand in line - or rather wait your turn in the very sleek and sensuous bar on the third floor (which serves amazing cocktails).*
If this is too much of a lottery for you, don't despair. I actually booked ahead, but if you do, you have to be flexible with regards to the time (you need to arrive for 7pm at the latest) and your choice of seating, as they cannot guarantee a place at the bar anymore - but we didn't mind that at all, seeing that the walls behind our table where covered in mirrors, so we could still behold some of the spectacle that is a gourmet kitchen and for a party of four, sitting round a table does wonders for communication ;-)
The menu at L'Atelier (and I am told it is not much different from the 1st floor dining room) is designed for grazing - serving anything from a plate of exquisite pata negra ham to more elaborately presented dishes, with a very balanced selection for vegetarians and carnivores alike. When the Cook Sister! and I went with our respective better halves two weeks ago, we opted for the Menu Découverte (aka Tasting Menu, which is only available if all in your party agree on having it) which allowed us to sample eight courses, plus an amuse-bouche and coffees, which we were hoping would be a foray of what the kitchen does best.
The first two dishes were a bit of a let-down, I have to say - nothing to fault, but not overwhelming, and I was fearing the worst. The amuse-bouche was a roulade of smoked salmon, nori seaweed and a celeriac remoulade served with coulis of red and yellow pepper, the first course ("L'Avocat") a glass of vegetable "fondant" topped with avocado cream - the fondant had the consistency of jelly that hadn't quite set, tasted of mainly of tomato with some fine dices of cucumber - think gazpacho sieved and stabilised with agar-agar.
All in all there was too much of it and the thin layer of avocado "velouté" couldn't really make up for it, as it tasted perfectly bland. I have lost my notes for my Paris visit, but remember every single course standing out if not through the complexity of the creation, then through the amazing quality of ingredients used - a plate of scallop carpaccio with the best fleur de sel and most excellent olive oil, which were a treat of their own... the two first dishes in London failed to show complexity, innovation, great ingredients or fantastic presentation - there was just nothing to blow your mind.
But luckily, things did improve from thereon.
The "Scallop cooked in its shell with a seaweed butter" was as simple as it was gorgeous - perfectly cooked (although I doubt that it had been done in the shell, as it looked pan-fried to me) to be crispy around the egdes, but still raw in the very centre... and of course, anything tasting of real butter is a sure thing to win me over!
Next up, the "Frog's legs, garlic mash and parsley coulis". Now, I am not someone to order them on a regular basis, let alone cook them at home, but when they come as part of a package deal, I am not shy to eat them. Their meat tastes a bit like chicken, only more tender and a bit sweeter. I wasn't too impressed with the way they were prepared here, though, as their flavour was completely drowning in the thick batter they were fried in, very similar in style to the deep-fried shrimps at Wagamama's. Not bad, but certainly not overwhelming, although I can see this might be a safe option for their London clientèle who are not familiar with this French delicacy - though it has to be said that on the night we went, almost half of the diners were French anyway...
(A short interlude for a very nice touch brought to the table with the frogs: two trays holding two mini-bowls of water, dried rose buds scattered around them. Next to them, two tablets of what looked like Alka-Seltzer, but turned out to be dehydrated and compressed hand towels which, once thrown into the bowls soaked up the water ready for us to wipe our greasy fingers... how cute is that!)
And then, all the hesitations we had had over our first few courses were crushed by the succession of dishes that was to follow. It was as if Joel Robuchon himself had suddenly turned up in the kitchen and realised what his team had been up to so far... and steered the boat around to sunnier shores.
"L'Œuf" - served in a cocktail glass, this œuf en cocotte was easily the best I have had in my life (and I am a sucker for them, so have tried a fair few) had a perfectly wobbly consistency still and was topped with a heavenly cream of wild mushrooms - so simple, yet so indulgent, I could have eaten another five if only they let me.
"Pan-fried sea bass with lemon grass foam and stewed leeks" was another dish that not only shone through its execution, but the perfect balance of ingredients: tiny leeks, just enough to accompany the six bites of top-quality fish, a foam that wasn't too overpowering to drown the flavour of the protagonist and tiny strands of (what I believe to have been) crisp-fried lemon-grass... again, very moreish.
And I think that's just what a tasting menu should be. It should always leave you longing for more, whet your appetite, tickle your tastebuds, and only if you feel you desperately want to eat another plateful (or three) has the dish been a success. Like the next course.
We had given "Calf's sweetbreads with a sprig of fresh laurel" a miss in favour of another favourite dish of the evening: "Free-range quail stuffed with foie-gras and served with truffled potatoes". I have always been a big fan of quail and I like it even more when it's prepped so you can actually eat it before it's gone cold from all the deboning you have to do... you couldn't wish for a better stuffing for it than a good foie-gras like this one, of course, making this as rich a dish as you could possibly imagine, but to top it all off, it came served with Robuchon's famous potato mash, which allegedly is prepared with 70% butter, 30% potato. YUM! In hindsight, it was good this came in tasting menu proportions, because if served as a full-blown main course, you can already book yourself in for a heart-bypass... but good Lord, this dish was enough to make me forget all the shortcomings of the first few courses, and (despite the wet black truffles straight out of a jar which were scattered over the mash) I was ready to kiss Robuchon's feet again... but not before indulging in heavenly dessert!
"François' Duo of desserts" consisted of a heavenly pot of chocolate mousses: half milk, half dark chocolate topped with a scoop of icecream (can't remember now if it was a simple panna cotta or white chocolate) and adorned beautifully with a disk of dark chocolate and oreo cookie crumbs. Served with a gold-laced spoon, this was a precious treat.
Then they brought out the last indulgence of the evening: a simple, but heavenly soufflé laced with Chartreuse was put in front of us and a teaspoon full of pistachio icecream was dumped in the centre of it. Light and sweet, hot and cold at the same time... and definitely not something I won't be trying at home, scared as I am of ruining a good soufflé!
For coffee and tea, the staff went out of their way to get us girls fresh mint tea - I love my tea, but I hate it when it comes in sachets... so fresh mint tea it was served in Staub cast-iron tea pots that gave my arm a good workout! I was also happy to see that they serve my beloved Musetti coffee, but their coffee machine had either been decommissioned by that time, or it is simply not a good one - the espresso looked like it had been prepared in a plunger, no "crema" in sight, and my Jura at home certainly does a better job!

So, what's the verdict?

I like the space. Although like all trendy places in LondonTown it was a bit too full of bragging wanna-be gourmets for my liking who'll complain about a bottle of old Bordeaux showing sediment - even though it had been expertly decanted... and are just generally too loud and full of themselves.
I like the fact that you can get a seat more or less painlessly (especially if arriving early or late after a west-end show, as by 10pm the restaurant was half empty).
I loved most of the dishes (6 out of 9 with the rest being good, but not overwhelming - but something I would probably rave about in another locale where my expectations were a little lower to start with).
I cannot praise the service enough: very friendly and attentive all through the evening, being there when you needed them but not constantly breathing down your neck... they even laid on another act of the hand-towel spectacle as soon as they spotted that I was picking up the leg of my quail with my fingers. (Shoot me for that, but I think it's perfectly acceptable to eat a quail's leg, as much as a frog's leg, with your fingers, no matter how fancy the restaurant... the same goes for mussels, lobster and many other foods)
I loved the presentations: so much care goes not only into the presentation of the dish itself, but the choice of crockery, plates, cutlery & garnish is just amazing...
I didn't like the fact that the menu was laminated - I can't help but think that it won't change very often, which kind of defeats the concept of the chef picking out what's best at the moment and being creative with seasonal produce... but maybe they've just got a brilliant deal with a print shop round the corner...
I'll definitely go again, as think it is excellent value for money if you go for the tasting menu: £55 pp without drinks, our combined bill for tasting menu, cocktails, wine and water came to £180 for two for a 3-hour meal that is without par in this city.

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon
13-15 West Street
London WC2H 9NQ
Tel:  020 7010 8600
Nearest tube: Leicester Square

For another point of view and a much more delightful description of events, go read the Cook Sister!'s account of our evening out...

* This is for the ground floor Atelier - there is also the first floor restaurant, called simply the "Kitchen" (La Cuisine) which takes bookings any time. In Paris we went for a Sunday lunch which was no problem to book for even at quite short notice, albeit in December.

Comments

[David]

Sorry about the bad 'French' coffee...but at least it's interesting to see they're staying true to their Parisian roots.

[Jeanne]

Great write-up Johanna - and thanks for your lavish compliments! I had forgotten about the laminated menu - doesn't bode well for regular changes, does it!! Look forward to our next gourmet outing ;-)

[Martina]

Very interesting as we went to his restaurant in Monte Carlo last Sunday. We loved the fact that we got a table for the same evening, the atmospere was great as well as the service - really excellent. I also noticed how quiet the open kitchen was. Our food was lovely, they had a whole list of small portions, so we had 8 in all and most of them were delicious.
I am curious to try his London Restaurant now!!

[Simonetta]

After your Jeanne post, yours has just added up some extra details.
As I said to Jeanne, I am impressed at the attention to details you both dedicated to your review. Great post!

[cindy]

Hi Johanna!

I've finally put your voucher to good use, and Matt and I had an awesome dining experience. While I don't think I have your way with words, I did manage to post about each and every course that we had at the restaurant on my blog here:

http://monkeyseemonkeydomonkeyeat.blogspot.com/2007/02/matts-birthday-dinner-at-latelier-du.html

Many thanks, again... and congratulations on the little one!