L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon

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Item: L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon
Rating: 5
Author: SoFood.hk

4.5

341 Reviews

Taste

Decor

Service

Hygiene

Value

33433

Central

Above $801

French Fine Dining

268

SoFood.hk

Level4

151

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*Warning: The Following review will be looooong. 😂*
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Before diving into the world of fine cuisine, you will be immersed into the modern but warm atmosphore that surrounding you with black and red color. The elevator at the front door brought you into another world that is completely different from the Landmark. As sitting at the bar table, you can see the open kitchen that all chefs are having their own designated positions and focusing on their tasks, grilling, pan-searing, carefully plating, and let the Sous Chef(I guess?) checking the quality and eventually the staff would bring ur dishes in front of you.
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Based on the previous experience, we thought we wouldn't be able to finish the full tasting menu and therefore we ordered à la carte instead. Eventually we ordered 5 small tasting portion items and a full portion pasta and to be shared by 2 people. Tbh, it was quite full at the end already which I would recommend you guys do the same, but of course, the CP value of ordering from tasting menu would be higher.
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▪️𝑩𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝑩𝒂𝒔𝒌𝒆𝒕
11 types of bread were put into this basket. Don't think anyone can finish all of them, so the staff would help you to pack the unfinished ones at the end. A few I would suggest to eat when it's fresh include the Braided Bacon (The bacon umami blended into the whole dough so well), Mini Croissant (Surprised that such airiness, fuffiness and crispiness could be shown in a thumb sized croissant), Chestnut Bread(chestnut pasta inside was rich and not too sweet), the Cheese Roll (also super rich in cheese) and the Baguette (Like heaven when you have it with the butter, crunchy on the outside but soft inside).
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▪️𝑨𝒎𝒖𝒔𝒆-𝑩𝒐𝒖𝒄𝒉𝒆
ᴘᴜᴍᴘᴋɪɴ ɪᴄᴇᴄʀᴇᴀᴍ . ᴍᴜsʜʀᴏᴏᴍ . ʟɪᴍᴇ ᴢᴇsᴛ . ʙʟᴀᴄᴋ sᴇsᴀᴍᴇ ᴏɪʟ
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The dish definitely gave the autumn vibe and stimulate the appetite so well. All the flavors were coordinating perfectly like an orchestra in your mouth. You would first taste the sweetness from the pumpkin and the freshness of lime zest, then the subtle black sesame oil aroma would appear and give the deep and nutty flavour. Love its creativeness and not feel like forcing different ingredients to merge together.
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▪️𝑳𝒆 𝑪𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒂𝒓 𝑰𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒏𝒆 $600
sᴏʟᴏɢɴᴇ ɪᴍᴘᴇʀɪᴀʟ ᴄᴀᴠɪᴀʀ . ʟᴏʙsᴛᴇʀ ᴊᴇʟʟʏ . ᴄᴀᴜʟɪғʟᴏᴡᴇʀ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴍ
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One of their signature dishes. Various version of plating has been created. This one is more simple and clean that the lobster jelly and caviar were hidden underneath the cauliflower cream and you have to dig into it to find those gold and black pearls. The lobster jelly was like the concentrate of 100 lobsters together and made you feel like you have jumped into the ocean. However, that was also the reason I felt the main character was the lobster instead of the precious caviar. The chef was generous with caviar, so I would say the CP value of this dish is much higher than it seems. By the way, the cauliflower cream is can simply be replaced by any other type of cream as the cauliflower flavour could not be expressed in this dish. Overall, this is still the must try since the condensed lobster flavour in jelly is the best I've ever found.
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▪️𝑳𝒂 𝑺𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕-𝑱𝒂𝒄𝒒𝒖𝒆𝒔 $360
ʜᴏᴋᴋᴀɪᴅᴏ sᴄᴀʟʟᴏᴘ . ᴋᴀᴍǫᴜᴀᴛ ʀᴇᴅᴜᴄᴛɪᴏɴ . sᴏʟᴏɢɴᴇ ᴄᴀᴠɪᴀʀ
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Can tell the scallop is pan-seared to the perfect state just by its look. The staff would pour in the Kamquat sauce in front of you, and the kamquat aroma didn't override the flavor of scallop which was good to simply giving a bit freshness to the dish. I also personally like how they paired the caviar with leek.
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▪️𝑳𝒆 𝑩𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝑪𝒐𝒅 $320
ʙʟᴀᴄᴋ ᴄᴏᴅ . ᴍᴀʟᴀʙᴀʀ ʙʟᴀᴄᴋ ᴘᴇᴘᴘᴇʀ sᴀᴜᴄᴇ . sʜᴀɴɢʜᴀɪ ᴘᴀᴋ ᴄʜᴏɪ
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Tbh, this is my fav dish among the whole night! The taste may not be something surprising but the texture of the black cod was soooo perfect. Can feel like the fish is like the silky cream that could slide into ur throat. The sauce was not too strong and gave the right saltiness and aroma to accompany the natural fish flavor. I would definitely come back for this dish.
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▪️𝑳𝒆𝒔 𝑺𝒑𝒂𝒈𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒊 $850
ᴍᴀɪɴᴇ ʟᴏʙsᴛᴇʀ . ɪᴍᴘᴇʀɪᴀʟ ᴄᴀᴠɪᴀʀ . ᴄᴏʀᴀʟ ᴇᴍᴜʟsɪᴏɴ
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Tho the name of this dish tells you the main character is the spaghetti but the lobster is actually the item that you would enjoy more in this dish. Not saying the pasta was not good, but it's a bit ordinary for me, as being al dente is the basic requirement for such high ranking restaurant and I guess it would taste better if it used fresh pasta instead which would add a bit of the egg flavor to the dish. On the other hand, the lobster is being cooked perfectly that all pieces of them achieved the same tenderness. The caviar acted as the natural seasoning to the lobster that these two ingredients did a better pair up than they were in the "Le Caviar".
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▪️𝑳'𝑨𝒈𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒖 $380
ʟᴀᴍʙ ᴄᴜᴛʟᴇᴛ . ᴇɢɢᴘʟᴀɴᴛ ᴄᴀɴɴᴇʟʟᴏɴɪ . ɢᴀʀʟɪᴄ ᴄᴏɴғʟɪᴄᴛ . ʜᴇʀʙs sᴀʟᴀᴅ
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Love that they served herbs salad instead of the mint jelly to accompany the lamb which gave more layering to both the flavor and texture. The lamb cutlet was tender, and it's a good choice for people who would enjoy the gamey taste of lamb like me. The eggplant was mixed with stronger seasoning and gave a bit of the spicy kick to this dish which helped balancing the oiliness.
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▪️𝑳𝒂 𝑪𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒆 $310
ғʀᴇᴇ ʀᴀɴɢᴇ ǫᴜᴀɪʟ . ғᴏɪᴇ ɢʀᴀs . ᴄʜᴇsᴛɴᴜᴛ . ᴍᴜsᴛᴀʀᴅ ᴄʀᴇss
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Simple but powerful combination of quail breast and foie gras. These two ingredients merged seamlessly so well that neither of them has stolen the show. At the same time, the quail legs was cooked in another method that amplified the dark meat flavor along with the crispy skin. The chestnut were both cooked and fried that added more textures and gave the mild sweetness to this dish. A cup of warm chicken soup was served together in case you find the meaty dish being too much for you and it's nice to have this during the recent temperature dropping weather.
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▪️𝑷𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆 𝑷𝒖𝒓é𝒆𝒔
Another signature dish from Mr. Joël Robuchon that many people tried to recreate but failed to do so. It's not a mystery of the ingredients of this simple meshed potato dish, just potato/ whole milk/ unsalted butter, but the more important secrets were the ratio, the type of potato(s?) they used and the technique used to achieve such silkiness. I would say it's an exquisite hot buttery potato flavor icecream that melt in your mouth but not making you feel guilty for craving for more.
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▪️𝑷𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆 𝑺𝒐𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒍é
The staff mentioned this puffed potato was achieved by frying the potato slice serveral times with different temp. Tho it was fried, no extra oil was left on the surface of the puff and the puff was not dried that you can still find a bit of fluffy potato inside of the crispy outer layer. Love how they developed the ultimate ways to espress the most simple and common ingredient.
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▪️𝑳𝒂 𝑹𝒐𝒔𝒆 $390
ʀᴀsᴘʙᴇʀʀʏ ᴍᴏᴜssᴇ . ʀᴏsᴇ ᴄʀᴇᴀᴍ . ʟʏᴄʜᴇᴇ
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Since we came here for Birthday celebration, a cake was reserved during the table reservation (Thank you🥰) and we didn't order dessert from the regular menu. The cake was presented on a silver tray with chocolate decorations for photo taking (A complimentary photo was given after), and then the staff would kindly ask the portion you want to eat and plate them decently. They did the perfect balancing of the taste, which was not too sweet, sour or floral. Easy to have a big piece of it even after all the fulfilling courses.
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▪️𝑷𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒕 𝑭𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔
ᴄᴏғғᴇᴇ ᴄʜᴏᴄᴏʟᴀᴛᴇ . ᴍᴀᴄᴀʀᴏɴ . ᴍɪɴɪ ᴍᴀᴅᴇʟᴇɪɴᴇ
▪️𝑮𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝑳𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆
(Reached the max. limit that I can't put its image here)
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Overall, this restaurant definitely deserves the Michelin Stars as per their perfect skills of cooking diverse ingradients which brings out the best elements of each of them. Also want to give a shout out to the staff there as for their hospitality and attentiveness ( But the senior waiter may have to try to hide his impatience toward the junior staff🙊). However, the dish design was relatively traditional and direct that may be lack of creative flavor layering (Except for the amuse-bouche). Still, would love to revisit this place for exploring the other dishes.
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Thank you for those who finished reading this essay, opps sorry, I mean review. Hahaha.👏