Restaurant Review - Atelier Robuchon

Atelier Robuchon is part of the ever-expanding empire of Joel Robuchon, the French master chef. When he was cooking at Jamin in Paris, and later at Robuchon when he moved premises, he was producing as good food as has ever left a kitchen, and was elected “Chef of the Century” by Gault Millau. At the age of 50 Robuchon hung up his chef whites and turned to business, opening a series of restaurants, from Robuchon Galera in Macau to Atelier Robuchon in Paris. The latter, modelled on Japanese counter dining but with classical French food, has been rolled out from country to country, with branches in Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei and elsewhere. The décor is always a similar style: red upholstery, a central open kitchen with counter and a few tables around the side, The London branch opened in 2006 with head chef Olivier Limousin, who trained at Taillevent, l’Ampychlès and Le Bellecour. There are various menu options, but if you opt for a la carte you are encouraged to eat three starters per person (these are “tapas” style portions) and a main course. This approach means the bill swiftly adds up, as the tapas are each quite fully priced. A tasting menu was £129, and there was a restricted choice three-course lunch for £33.

The wine list spans the world, with wines from Greece, Slovenia and even Japan. The mark-up levels match the global scope. Bernard Fouquet Aubuis Cuvee de Silex Vouvray 2011 was £38 for a wine that you can find in the high street for around £12, Leeuwin Estate Prelude Chardonnay 2008 was £84 for a wine that retails at £24, and the mark-ups showed no relief at the premium end of the list, with Vega Sicilia Unico 2000 at a hefty £750 for a wine that you can buy in a shop for about £216.

Foie gras royale with port wine reduction and Parmesan foam was a little amuse-bouche served in a shot glass, rich but very enjoyable, the hint of Parmesan working well with the liver (6/10). Iberico ham (at a meaty £31) was pleasant enough, though not cut very precisely, served with bruschetta topped with tomatoes. Mackerel tart (£19) had good pastry but surprisingly tasteless mackerel, correctly cooked and pretty to look at, but suffering from ordinary quality mackerel; this was topped with olives and Parmesan shavings (5/10). Better was black cod (£19) with daikon and yuzu mousseline, the cod delicate and the yuzu providing just the right level of acidic balance (7/10). Langoustine ravioli (£16) were well made with the pasta having pleasing texture, the langoustines having good but not dazzling flavour (6/10). Veal cheek confit was flavoured with oriental vegetables and spices; the spices were nicely controlled though for me the veal cheek was a little dry (5/10). I preferred quail (£29) stuffed with foie gras, the quail carefully cooked and the foie gras not overwhelming the delicate flavour of the bird (7/10).

Passion fruit soufflé (£24) was reasonable but not great, the texture not as light as some, and for me a little lacking in passion fruit intensity, though a coconut sorbet with it was excellent (5/10). Better was a chocolate sphere (£18), onto which was poured a caramel sauce and garnished with almonds, served with cognac ice cream: a lovely, rich dish, the chocolate sphere pretty and delicate (7/10). A selection of tarts (£14) were also very good indeed: lemon, chocolate with coconut, caramel and coffee, and finally pistachio and raspberry. The pastry with these was excellent, the fillings nicely balanced e.g. the lemon tart was not too acidic (8/10).

Service was polite but not particularly impressive: water was topped up haphazardly, and when we finished the meal no one bothered to say goodbye. Acceptable in a pub, less so in a restaurant to which Michelin have granted two stars. This meal was a little better than my previous one here, and I can certainly see how it is worthy of a star, but the second star seems generous to me. The menu pricing is consistent with a formal two star experience rather than a casual meal at a counter.

The notes below are from a meal in February 2008. 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). Crab meat 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 seemed cheap, and pretty presentation was a way to 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.

The restaurant has smart décor, if rather 1980s, with lots of red velvet curtains and black lacquer.  Unlike Atelier Robuchon in Paris, this has some tables as well as seating around the bar, though the same bar stools are used throughout the restaurant. 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 was 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 were 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. 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.