L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon in London, England

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon, London - ★★ September 2013

2 weeks into 3rd year of school and I'm getting all depressed and lonely. Parents allowed me to have a mini getaway to London. And obviously, my family knew I love eating good food and allowed us to have a taste of good food. Also, my sisters surprised me when I saw them at the tube station. :D Lovely surprise. So, we decided to try L'Aterlier de Joel Robuchon in London. I have tried the same one in Paris and it was amazing. We dined in La Cuisine for lunch, which is a table concept as compared to the counter concept of L'Atelier. I heard and tried the counter concept in Paris and I must say that the counter concept food are way better. Lunch set menus are definitely cheaper and affordable. Whether it is worth it... Questionable.

The restaurant before entering. It looks amazing. 

Bundle of bread joy. All the bread tasted good.

Appetizer:

Amuse bouche - Layers of foie gras, red wine and parmesan cheese

This is one of the best food I've ever tasted. You have to eat all 3 layers at the same time to taste how wonderful it actually is. Eating it alone has very weird taste. Although the combination may seem awkward, but it is definitely just a cover.

Starters:

LA LISETTE - Fresh mackerel thin tart with parmesan shavings and olives

LA LISETTE - Fresh mackerel thin tart with parmesan shavings and olives

LE BOEUF - Carpaccio of beef with marinated pepper oil, chives and garlic crisps

The appetizers were only so-so. It was honestly rather disappointing after the Amuse Bouche. I have tasted better carpaccio and mackerel.

Mains:

LES SPAGHETTIS - Shellfish spaghetti with fresh tomato and basil 

If I'm not wrong, the shellfish was actually langoustine. I'm quite sure it was written on the menu, even though it didn't state on the online one. This dish is actually quite nice, but not fantastic that it can blow you off your feet. 

Split roast of the day - Pork (I can't remember what exact it is, and it's not on the online menu)

Split roast of the day - Pork

This dish honestly tasted just like a normal chinese pork dish although the meat is really tender and nice. But nothing too spectacular if you're Chinese and actually have tasted this with an ordinary roadside store. The mash was also only so-so, had tasted better.

LA VOLAILLE FERMERE - Ginger glazed Corn fed chicken thigh with sauteed mushrooms

LA VOLAILLE FERMERE - Ginger glazed Corn fed chicken thigh with sauteed mushrooms

LA VOLAILLE FERMERE - Ginger glazed Corn fed chicken thigh with sauteed mushrooms

LA VOLAILLE FERMERE - Ginger glazed Corn fed chicken thigh with sauteed mushrooms

My brother had this dish. It is honestly not too bad, but my brother had just recently tried the chicken at Gordon Ramsey's maize and apparently Gordon Ramsey's one was much better than this. But I've no complaints about this dish. It's nice. The mushrooms are really good though.

LE SAUMON - Norwegian salmon seared with teriyaki suace and wasabi flavoured spinach

We all came to an agreement that this was the best dish among all. The salmon was seared just right and tasted so amazing. The photo doesn't really do it justice as it is much better than it looks and definitely tasted much better. 

Desserts:

LE CHOUX PRALINE - Praline choux with blood orange jelly, caramelised almonds and macadamia nuts

I absolutely loved this dessert. It's a little bit like a profiteroles I would say. And I have tried many profiteroles and I hated all of them, but this was simply amazing. The whole combination of orange with that crunchiness and sweetness of the caramelised almonds and macadamia nuts was just to die for. 

ETON MESS - Eton mess with fresh mixed berries, lime sorbet and raspberry coullis

ETON MESS - Eton mess with fresh mixed berries, lime sorbet and raspberry coullis

Another spectacular dessert. Probably the best out of all the dessert, coming close behind is the praline. We almost had a another serving of this but was too full.

Can't remember the name of this dessert and it is not state on the online menu. Only thing I could remember that it has apples in it.

Not a good choice of dessert. Tasted horrible that 5 of us couldn't even finish it. Rather disappointing, but we wanted to try all 3 desserts so we ordered this. I guess this is has an acquired taste.

Overall, I would say it is only so-so and have really tasted better food. Was really looking forward to having a nice lunch because of the standards I had in Paris for dinner, but was let down instead. The concept of the restaurant is very nice and retro looking. Fully black and white tiled walls and floors. However, when the restaurant gets really busy, the waiters and waitresses can't seem to catch up. We had to wait quite awhile for service. &Also, they did get our orders mixed up, although minor, but it's a michelin star restaurant. Really expected more. Don't think I would come back here again, probably not for lunch.