I figured whilst we were on the subject of food I would share the final meal of the holiday. The restaurant was Atelier Joel Robuchon in Paris. Two little problems with that meal - firstly I was in the midst of the head cold from hell that day so my taste buds were fast asleep and secondly, the restaurant was FULL of Australians. The guest list had all the diversity of a Vegemite appreciation day.
Rather than sitting at tables, every seat in the restaurant is at a bar facing the kitchen that wraps around the entire room. Every diner in the place (by my count the place only sat about 40-50 people) had a front row seat to watch the chefs at work.
We opted for the tasting menu (who wouldn't?), and it was all kicked off with an amuse bouche of...something. We never did find out what exactly was in this dish. Whilst tasty, the best part by far was it gave me the opportunity to say "amuse bouche" over and over again on an endless loop.
How pretty are the plates? Next up was a cold gazpacho with a sorbet made from mustard (wonder if it came from nearby Dijon...). The bonus of this was that the mustard sorbet was strong enough to cut through the cold and flu germs.
Then there was a ceviche. Again, this had enough bite that I could actually taste something. It is making me realise that with this cold an Indian restaurant would have been a smarter choice than French...
I am racking my brain trying to recall what this next dish was. From memory I think it was supposed to be a play on mac and cheese. Just supersized. Clearly didn't have anything with heat in it because I don't really recall what it tasted like. The picture however reminds me that there were mushrooms...
This next dish was essentially really tasty bacon in a really tasty sauce. I suspect it had a fancy name, and more ingredients than those I recall, but I do remember that my cold let me taste the bacon, which was a much appreciated concession. And foam, because it's not really a French restaurant without foam... (p.s. I find foam the wankiest ingredient in the food world).
Now the next dish comes with a warning - vegetarians might want to look away. It is just what you come to France for - grilled foie gras with roasted cherries. The white bits were raw almonds, which have a very difference flavour and texture to the kind you normally get.
Next up was the fish course, complete with a few little clams.
This was quickly followed by a meat course. I opted for the baby lamb. Yes, I know lambs are babies, but the menu actually said "baby lamb". There is nothing in the picture for scale unfortunately but these lamb cutlets were about the size of an (Australian) 50 cent piece. The best part was the mash - it was basically pure butter. Thankfully we were not limited to the little bit on the plate, they provided a whole bowl of it (each) as a "side".
The end of the savory dishes was followed by a palette cleanser. It was rhubarb, a citrisy sorbet and gold flakes. Actual gold. That might have been why the bill was so high.
The it was time for dessert, and by this point I was as stuffed as the liver of the goose who provided the foie gras course. Dessert was basically death by chocolate. The waiter described it as being chocolate of many textures, and that sums it up well. It was essentially layers of chocolate (like a trifle) with each layer giving a different texture. It was incredibly rich. I am not ashamed to say I wasn't able to eat the whole thing.
All in all a much nicer meal than the 15th best restaurant in the world back in Vienna (I say 15th and not 16th because to my surprise it got promoted when the new list was released a few days back).
More Paris to come in the next post.
Rather than sitting at tables, every seat in the restaurant is at a bar facing the kitchen that wraps around the entire room. Every diner in the place (by my count the place only sat about 40-50 people) had a front row seat to watch the chefs at work.
We opted for the tasting menu (who wouldn't?), and it was all kicked off with an amuse bouche of...something. We never did find out what exactly was in this dish. Whilst tasty, the best part by far was it gave me the opportunity to say "amuse bouche" over and over again on an endless loop.
How pretty are the plates? Next up was a cold gazpacho with a sorbet made from mustard (wonder if it came from nearby Dijon...). The bonus of this was that the mustard sorbet was strong enough to cut through the cold and flu germs.
Then there was a ceviche. Again, this had enough bite that I could actually taste something. It is making me realise that with this cold an Indian restaurant would have been a smarter choice than French...
I am racking my brain trying to recall what this next dish was. From memory I think it was supposed to be a play on mac and cheese. Just supersized. Clearly didn't have anything with heat in it because I don't really recall what it tasted like. The picture however reminds me that there were mushrooms...
This next dish was essentially really tasty bacon in a really tasty sauce. I suspect it had a fancy name, and more ingredients than those I recall, but I do remember that my cold let me taste the bacon, which was a much appreciated concession. And foam, because it's not really a French restaurant without foam... (p.s. I find foam the wankiest ingredient in the food world).
Now the next dish comes with a warning - vegetarians might want to look away. It is just what you come to France for - grilled foie gras with roasted cherries. The white bits were raw almonds, which have a very difference flavour and texture to the kind you normally get.
Next up was the fish course, complete with a few little clams.
The end of the savory dishes was followed by a palette cleanser. It was rhubarb, a citrisy sorbet and gold flakes. Actual gold. That might have been why the bill was so high.
The it was time for dessert, and by this point I was as stuffed as the liver of the goose who provided the foie gras course. Dessert was basically death by chocolate. The waiter described it as being chocolate of many textures, and that sums it up well. It was essentially layers of chocolate (like a trifle) with each layer giving a different texture. It was incredibly rich. I am not ashamed to say I wasn't able to eat the whole thing.
All in all a much nicer meal than the 15th best restaurant in the world back in Vienna (I say 15th and not 16th because to my surprise it got promoted when the new list was released a few days back).
More Paris to come in the next post.
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