For our final dinner in Paris, we had to go to L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon in the St Germain district. This was my first Robuchon restaurant I ever went to over a decade prior, but since then have quite a bit of foodie and Robuchon experience and was eager to see how it stacked up against some of the other locations. In fact I was at the Hong Kong location a week prior.
With the short walk from the hotel lobby, we were right inside and had to wait a few minutes as they turned over tables.
The beautiful decorations.
And view of the kitchen.
A chef working over the plancha.
Things seemed very busy and chaotic, especially as they turned over tables for our seating. We were eventually brought to our seats which seemed quite tightly packed together, not as much space as normal L'Atelier's.
But great decorations as usual.
The famous place settings, I love the consistency.
The menu, we decided to build our own tasting menu.
And then we were presented with the bread basket, but to be honest, it was the weakest bread basket of any Robuchon location I've been to. While the bread was good, I can't believe I'm saying this, but the other locations bread was better quality and with way more variety.
The amuse of a potato pottage with a sweet chutney and ever slight spice on bottom. The crunchy chips on top provided a great texture contrast and was a really nice way to start the meal.
I went with a glass of 2013 Domaine Au Pied du Mont Chauve Chassagne-Montrachet. The nose had some oak and lemon curd. The body had lemon, apple, minerality and was medium bodied with acid on the finish. Not as overly rich or okay as others I’ve tried and perfect for the first course. Unfortunately it was too busy and they server took the bottle away before I could get a picture.
The first course was very thinly sliced with two dollops of dill cream and with the lemon squeeze provided acidity. This dish could definitely easily feed four people.
The salmon also came with rosti (hash browns cooked in butter) and provided a nice conduit for the salmon and cream, plus a texture contrast. We had to not eat the whole thing to save room, I wish we could have had a half or 1/3 portion.
Then time for a red and went with the 2012 Domaine Daniel Rion Nuits-Saint Georges. It started being cold and closed, but as it opened the nose had earth and slight woodsy characteristic along with black and red raspberries and bit of floral. The body had delicate red berries, silk and acid well integrated together. As the wine opened up over the dinner, it became more perfumed and floral with more pronounced red raspberries.
The next course was sweet king crab with Daikon radish on top. It came together nicely with the sweetness of the crab and light acidity to tie it together.
Then a new to me at a Robuchon restaurant and bold dish was the giant prawns wrapped in in almost a crispy phyllo. It sat on top of a strong sweet and sour sauce that was bold, perfumed and went perfectly with the prawns and both the Montrachet and Nuits St Georges.
Great presentation!
Then it was time to benchmark the famous langoustine ravioli. Sadly it was just ok, it was a bit bland and needed a more concentrated flavor and seasoning. It tasted diluted and didn't have the intensity and purity of the other locations, especially Hong Kong's rendition. With that being said, the langoustine itself was perfectly sweet and supple and still an enjoyable dish if one had never had one of the other versions.
Then time for the gyoza, they were good, but a bit bland. In fact MrsFlamingo said these could have easily been the Trader Joe's gyoza cooked well, but without the level of flavor. At least the ponzu style broth was good, but this just wasn't at the level it should be. Especially when compared to the gyoza dish at L'Atelier Hong Kong, that was simply out of this world amazing.
For the mains, I got a glass of the 2012 Chateau Tronquoy-Lalande from Saint-Estephe. It had a nice sweet bramble nose with dark boysenberries and black currants. The body was rich and full with smooth tannins, dark fruit and a light earthy finish as it opened up. Also it was too hectic to get a picture of the bottle.
For the mains, first another benchmark of the quail. This was done perfectly and nailed, so kudos for getting that just right with perfectly cooked and glazed quail. The pomme puree being perfect as always and the shaved truffle added a little decadence.
MrsFlamingo wanted some steak so we ordered the entrecôte that was supposed to be dry-aged, but it barely had any dry aging. We know our steaks and this must've been a lame 14-day dry aged example. At least the flavoring was good with the fried padron peppers, potato crisps and the perfect pomme puree.
After the mains, it was pit stop time and down the really cool stairs to the bathrooms.
Great architecture.
Then a palate cleanser of orange cream that was reminiscent of being a kid with the creamsicle, but with a tiny bit of basil on top. It was refreshing.
MrsFlamingo got the chocolate sphere which had the hot chocolate poured over and melting sphere presentation.
It was a great presentation and the flavors of chocolate, mocha, and textures came together.
I ordered the chocolate tenation was just what I’d hoped it’d be. A thin crunchy chocolate shell, dollops of raspberry and I think passion fruit purées for acidity. A chocolate ice cream with an oreo crumble powder around the dollop and underneath a chocolate mouse that was intense and light at the same time. Symphony of textures, intensity and balance, bravo!
Overall the experience and food was meh. We did find out at the end they were down 2-people for service, but even then it was way too hectic and it wasn't relaxing. We felt like we were right inside a Hell's Kitchen episode or restaurant wars on Top Chef with me being/wishing I was Tom Colicchio saying "get it together".
Compared to other locations, especially the Hong Kong one, this doesn’t hold a candle both in terms of food and service. While good, there were too many mistakes, not enough precision, depths of flavor, etc.
With that being said, given it's Paris, I can't recommend spending the money here when for the same amount you have other stunning Michelin level restaurants. I'd be happy to try this again to see if this was a one off night, or if the precision of this location isn't what it used to be.
- Topic