Restaurant Review - Atelier Robuchon

This time we sat downstairs, at the bar stools that surround the open kitchen.   These are quite tightly spaced, so any extravagant arm movement ended up bumping the neighbouring diner’s arm, yet the place was fairly empty this lunch time so I am not sure why they packed the settings so tightly. Bread rolls (just white) were surprisingly dull, and tasted worryingly like catering rolls. 

An amuse bouche of foie gras with a pork emulsion and a Parmesan topping was enjoyable rich, the small pieces of pork adding a texture contrast to the foie gras (6/10). Crabmeat in tomato jelly and avocado suffered from the very intense tomato jelly completely overpowering the delicate flavour of the crab (4/10). Egg cocotte topped with light mushroom cream was pleasant enough, though another rich dish (4/10). 

Scottish salmon cooked a la plancha was served on a bed of nicely cooked leeks flavoured with ginger, but this was hard to tell because the spiced honey sauce on top of the (farmed but correctly cooked) salmon killed every other flavour on the plate (4/10). Caramelised veal was a little dry, served with braised vegetables and a little sage-flavoured jus (4/10). Even the fabled Robuchon mash was only a pale reflection of the real thing at the old Robuchon in Paris(5/10). 

A chocolate mousse was served in a dish of dry ice (why?) and was prettily presented with a disc of chocolate on top, but the mousse itself seemed quite ordinary to me, smooth but without great intensity. A second similar mousse with a darker chocolate again looked pretty but I was not that impressed with the flavour of the chocolate (5/10). Coffee was good (6/10). 

Overall I was disappointed by this meal. Ingredients were cheap, and pretty presentation seems to be used to try and distract the diner from this. Even a taste of pata negra ham was disappointing; I’m not sure what producer this was (“it varies” according to the waiter) but although cut fresh off the leg by hand it had an unusually pale pallor and was merely nice when this ham can be dazzling at its best. Cooking technique was generally good, but some of the dishes seemed ill-conceived, with flavours that did not match well. Service was very pleasant throughout, a big improvement on my last experience here. Sadly the food was not.

Below are notes from a meal in September 2006, by way of comparison.

Smart décor, if rather 1980s, with lots of red velvet curtains and black lacquer.  Unlike Atlelier Robuchon in Paris, this has some tables as well as sitting around the bar, though the same bar stools are used throughout. Space is “intimate” according to an interview with Joel Robuchon, though “tightly packed” would be another view.  The menu offers either small portions or a conventional set of starters and main courses; we went for the tasting mini portions.  There is just one type of bread, rather bland country bread that was just a little chewier in texture than ideal (4/10).  Crab and avocado salad was two small pairs of rounds of avocado with crab sandwiched between, served with a few spots of red pepper sauce (5/10).  Fried langoustine was delicate and served with a smear of pesto sauce and a little deep-fried basil as garnish (7/10).  Langoustine ravioli wrapped in Savoy cabbage was less successful, topped with a little black truffle, and with a tiny amount of shellfish sauce (5/10).  Mackerel tart was very good, with delicate pastry and tasty mackerel, topped with black olives (6/10).  Raw tuna with a little finely chopped tomato was of good quality (5/10).  Two miniature beefburgers with foie gras was good, the steak of high quality and cooked with lightly caramelised bell peppers (6/10).  Two small pieces of quail on the bone were very tender, stuffed with a little foie gras and served with a little truffled mashed potato (7/10).  The mashed potato was reminiscent of Robuchon’s famous version, but was nowhere near as good. 

Tarts of chocolate and passion fruit had reasonable pastry and high grade fillings, but a vanilla and cinnamon tart was less successful (6/10).  The coffee glace dessert was very intensely flavoured coffee ice-cream topped with coffee mousse and a melting coffee tuile, served in a glass; at the base was a chicory jelly, which worked very well; the glass stood in a dish of silvered coffee beans (6/10).  Service was friendly but a shambles.  There were lots of waiters, mostly French, but they were completely unable to keep tabs on who had ordered the various dishes.  Overall it was all just a little disappointing, given the high price tag, and certainly less good than Atelier Robuchon in Paris.  It would be interesting to compare with Maze, which may well have the edge.  Frederique Simonin may have got two Michelin stars at La Table de Joel Robuchon in Paris, but he has a long way to go before getting anywhere near that standard here. The service in particular seems inexcusably bad, and little details like a typo on the main menu “whitting” instead of whiting are careless.

To book on-line here follow this link.