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2012-07-14
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Having dined at the bar on a few occasions already, I was quite intrigued to see what Le Jardin de Joel Robuchon looked like. So when my friend C asked me to join her and her sister there for dinner, I was more than happy to accept the invitation.Le Jardin is in a secluded room that you enter through a glass door via the bar area. Inside, the room is quite small with not many tables, but on the far side it is walled with full length windows which gives an illusion that the room is bigger than it
Le Jardin is in a secluded room that you enter through a glass door via the bar area. Inside, the room is quite small with not many tables, but on the far side it is walled with full length windows which gives an illusion that the room is bigger than it actually is. Dining inside was quite a different experience in itself, the surroundings were more formal, service more attentive (but then there wasn't many tables occupied that night) and overall just portrayed a very intimate setting. I must say that it was also a nice change to be able to sit elegantly into a cushioned chair, rather than climb up onto the bar seat.
For our menu that night, we decided to place our trust in the manager have him choose which dishes to try. Since there were some repeated dishes served to us that I have posted about previously, I will concentrate on the new dishes that we had that night.
First to come was our amuse bouche. A tri-coloured foam, starting with avocado at the bottom, corn in the middle and tomato and pepper foam on top which was then topped with three tiny spheres of green apple. Usually I am an avid fan of their amuse bouches, however I felt this one was a little lacking. The mix of flavours did not really appeal to me, but it was pretty to look at.
A plate of 24 month jambon was our shared starter with a side of tomato bruschetta. The jambon had a delicate flavour which was not overpowering or overly salty and the bruschetta with diced tomatoes on thinly toasted sourdough was pleasant with a strong garlic taste.For our first dish, I had La Burrata which was a combination of burrata cheese, avocado and tomatoes. This was really a simple dish and not much can go wrong as long as the ingredients are fresh and of good quality. The burrata was soft and creamy, the tomatoes not too tart, but I found the avocado to be slightly under ripe.
C's sister and herself had the Le Caviar Imperial and a new dish called the L'Oeuf de Poule. The L'Oeuf de Poule was essentially a soft poached egg enveloped by a crispy pasta nest and topped with caviar. C seemed to enjoy this, and I must say I had slight food envy when it was served to her, but not much I could do since I don't eat fried food.
Next we had the La Langoustine. I know I've written about this in the previous post, but this time we had an additional treat of freshly shaved truffles . Although the dish was still good, scampi was tender and pasta was al dente, I felt the fois gras sauce was not as well done. The colour certainly showed it, being more of a brown colour rather than the coral pink I saw on my last visit.For C who is allergic to crustaceans, she was served Les Asperges. Green asparagus with poached egg and also with a generous topping of shaved truffles. From the bite of asparagus that I had, it was as fresh as they come.
This time round, Robuchon was in the process of launching a new drinks menu, both cocktails and mocktails. We tried a few different ones, but there were two that really stood out. One was C's whisky with cherry liquer and the other was her sisters' lemongrass mocktail. The whisky cocktail was quite good, smooth and the flavour of the cherry liquer complemented it well. However C found it to be quite sweet at first, as she preferred a stronger taste of whisky, but as the ice melted it helped to dilute the sweetness. The taste in general was quite mild, but I suppose it was made like that to not overpower the flavour of the food. Presentation was simple and I liked how they only used a cherry as decoration.The lemongrass mocktail was very good. Extremely refreshing on the palate. Just one sip and your whole mouth was brightened with the lemony flavour. Recommended~
Back to the food, Le Fois Gras was next. A perfectly pan-fried portion of fois gras accompanied with cherries and almonds. Each mouthful was delightful, smooth and rich, it just melted in the mouth. C's sister is a huge fan of fois gras and I was sure she enjoyed this dish immensely. As C, does not enjoy fois gras, she was served La Courgette Violon, a zucchini veloute with parmesean foam. I had a small spoonful of her soup, and it was very creamy and flavourful. Comfort food that would be perfect for winter.
Our first main, was fish. Amadai to be exact which I think translates to snapper. For a person that does not love fish, I found this to exceed expectations. The meat was perfectly cooked, and was able to be cut with a fork. The skin was the special part, baked to a crisp, its crunchy texture was a good contrast with the softness of the fish. This sat on a bed of brown grain risotto and japanese mushrooms in a creamy sauce. I must also mention how pretty the plate was, the pattern alluded to the Japanese touch of this dish. Very thoughtful~
By this time we were already very full, but we still had one more dish to come. L'Agneau, baby lamb racks. When the manager brought this out on a steel pan, we were shocked at how much there was. Two full racks. However, he reassured us that we were only supposed to eat the small round part of the cutlet. I found the meat to be quite rare, resulting in a chewy texture and it did not have any gamey taste at all, which would suit Asian palates. I must say that the highlight was the mint jelly we requested to accompany the lamb. Homemade and not overly sweet, it really was a perfect match.
And onto dessert~ What I had was a combination of mango and apricot fruits on a biscuit like base with honey ice-cream. On the bottom was a thin layer of yoghurt cream. Maybe because I don't find yellow fruits interesting, the dessert although refreshing was only so-so for me. C and her sister had La Litchie Rose and Le Chocolate Sensation which again caused me food envy haha..
What Le Jardin offers which the bar does not, is the option of choosing desserts from their dessert trolley. It really was a pretty sight, when it was wheeled to our table and we were able to choose what we wanted. We ended up having a full selection from the trolley There was raspberry tart, opera cake, pistachio cake, toffee profiterole (stacked like a snowman), chocolate mousse cake, mango cream, rum baba and in the middle was a mixed fruit salad. Just by looking at them, it made me very cheerful. However, we were only able to have small tastes of each, since we were already past our stomach quota. I did like the opera though, a good mix of coffee and chocolate flavour.
Last, but not least were their petite fours. No matter how full you are, I really do recommend having the macaron which changes flavours each time. Vanilla was the flavour that night, fragrant vanilla cream sandwiched between a crisp chewy shell~Although there were hits and misses this time, I still enjoyed the experience at Le Jardin. The company definitely made a difference
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