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2011-11-09
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It has been a while since I went to Hotel Lisboa, and that was well before the new hotel opened. My recollection on that visit was not what I saw today. I was thus taken aback upon entry to find it totally different. It took us a good while to find the correct set of lifts, only after meandering through the 2-star shopping mall filled with punters and ladies of the night (even though it was lunch time!)We were greeted at the door, shown to our table without delay. The whole atmosphere was pu
We were greeted at the door, shown to our table without delay. The whole atmosphere was purely old time elegance - the decor, the etiquette of the staff, everything smelled of old money and none of the nouveau riche of the new Macau.
Dining here is an experience itself, an experience that the restaurant wants you to enjoy at a leisurely pace - a pace with no haste to go back to work, to go to the casino or to catch a ferry back to Hong Kong.
For lunch, there are 3 set menus, priced according to the number of dishes one’s stomach can afford. There is also a little section for the house wines which are carefully selected by the sommelier to compliment each dish of the meal.
One of the waitresses then brought round a trolley with two huge columns of salt, one salted and the other one not. Each of us was given a scoop of our choice, delicately done to perfection. The basket of bread was something to die for, with or without the butter.
I started off with a crabmeat ravioli, followed by a mushroom soup then a grilled cod fish. The ravioli was a little strange to my liking as the freshness of the crab meat was overwhelmed by the other ingredients inside the ravioli. The mushroom soup with thinly sliced foie gras was simply exquisite. The cod was nicely grilled but a little too salty for me. To finish off, I had 2 scoops of homemade ice cream, vanilla and orange, both very impressive but, by this time, their creaminess was a little too much for me.
My wife had a foie gras as appetizer followed by a grilled rumpsteak as the main course. The foie gras melted once put in the mouth while the steak was done to perfection. She ended her meal with a chocolate ice cream as well as a slice of Napoleon - no faults there.
The meal wouldn't be complete without a coffee, and here lies the difference between a very good restaurant and a good one. For Robuchon, the coffee says it all - aromatic, full of flavour - just delightful.
On the negative side, there were a few things I noticed in the patrons’ etiquette that really bothered me:
1) No dress code - some come in jeans, tee shirts and sneakers;
2) Unscrupulous use of mobile phones;
3) Photo-taking - while I have no objection of people silently taking a photo of the dish in front of them (with no flash), I take offence in them taking multiple pictures of themselves holding a glass of wine.
Apart from the disagreeable mannerism exhibited by some patrons, this restaurant speaks volumes of what fine dining is all about.
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