16 December 2012

Hibiscus, London

We combined a Christmas shopping day on Saturday with a meal at Hibiscus. Set just off Regent Street, this is the London restaurant of Claude Bosi. There was a menu for lunch, or a choice of a la carte, which unlike anywhere else I've been offers a choice of 3, 6 or 8 courses, a selection of seasonal ingredients and that's about it. We went for 6 courses, one for a vegetarian, and one for me with no restrictions. We left the choices to the chef, and each course was a surprise  We had champagne to start, and a selection of wines to match each 2 of the courses.

An appetizer of cheese gougere's was wolfed down before a photo was remembered. These had an intense cheese flavour from the liquid centres and were a good start.  Bread was a choice of brown or white, we both went for the brown which had an exceptional crust.

Amuse bouche was the restaurants classic hibiscus and pineapple soda for my wife,


and an eggshell containing kedgeree for myself. A nice balance of smoked haddock, soft egg and a rather nice curry oil,. 



First course for my wife was a blue cheese ice cream, pumpkin seeds, spiced pumpkin and a pumpkin veloute. This was an unusual contrast of hot veloute and cold ice cream that worked really well.



I had Crab wrapped in turnip, turnip, ginger, olive oil cream, This was lovely, with excellent crab wrapped in a fresh strip of turnip, with the small turnip cubes and herbs matching the freshness of the crab perfectly.


Next we both had the Smoked potato and egg yolk ravioli, truffle sauce.  The pasta was perfectly done, not too thick and when broken the combination of egg yolk, truffle sauce and smoked potato were awesome. I ended up mopping up every single bit with some bread, it was too good to miss a single taste.


My wife then had Celeriac, fennel, pomelo risotto. The risotto was well flavoured with the celeriac and fennel, with a citrus aftertaste from the pomelo that was pleasant and unexpected.


Scallop, pink grapefruit, apple. A particularly fine, juicy, plump scallop was topped with a crumb of apple and came with a cream sauce and the grapefruit. I wasn't quite sure about the pink grapefruit jelly at first, even though it was gorgeous in isolation, but when a little bit of everything was put on the fork it worked albeit unusually.


My wife would never normally choose asparagus, but luckily the surprise nature of the menu handed her a fabulous course of White asparagus, pear and black truffle. The pear was exceptional and earned a few comments as so, and all elements matched each other fantastically.


I had Monkfish, savoy cabbage, horseradish cream, pickled cauliflower, coq au vin jus. A fabulous piece of perfectly cooked monkfish was matched by the classic flavours from the cabbage and salty sweetness of the jus and red wine reduction. with the horseradish cream intense without being overpowering. A really great fish course from the kitchen.


Our final savoury course was for my wife, Potato, jerusalem artichoke, sharon fruit, white onion puree, yuzu dressing. The potatoes were different to any I've had before, hollow pillows of potato, crisp and flavourful but I have no idea how they were made. The sharon fruit isn't as sweet as other fruit and matched the earthy artichoke and potatoes really well, with the yuzu dressing balancing it out really well.


I had Venison, potato, jerusalem artichoke, sharon fruit, white onion puree. Whilst more or less identical to my wife's dish, the addition of a simply fantastic piece of venison and jus made this a memorable main course. The venison was lightly dusted with a hint of oriental and winter spice which showcased the exceptional flavour of the venison.


Our pre-dessert was Melilot panna cotta, apple puree. It took a google search to finally translate the waitresses somewhat strong accent and understand what the melilot was, a floral, perfumed alpine flower and herb which went well with the panna cotta and apple. It was a most unusual taste and quite enjoyable.


Dessert was a Liquid chocolate cake tart, Indonesian basil ice cream. A warm tart, which oozed a literal lake of chocolate was a rich and luxurious end to the meal. The pastry was particularly well done, wafer thin yet intense with a dark chocolate taste and the sponge and liquid chocolate was fabulous. The ice cream cut through the richness of the chocolate perfectly, with the thai basil flavour working well with the dish.


Petit madeleines were presented with the coffee. These were almost hot, rather than warm, and gorgeous little mouthfuls of lemon, black pepper and cranberry.


Also provided were huge chunks of aerated 70% dark chocolate, white chocolate, and one other I know as Caramac but didn't catch what they called it, presented in a bowl of cocoa husks. These were incredibly light, so light the heat from your fingers melted them on the short journey from the plate to mouth, weighed almost nothing, like an edible Aerogel.  These were an absolute triumph of a petit four, the best from any restaurant yet.



I really enjoyed the concept of having courses brought without knowing what was next, and them being seasonal and dictated by the availability of the market, and every course and element of the meal were fantastically done, even the volume of food was well balanced. Despite 6 courses, an amuse bouche and pre-dessert even though I was well fed and satisfied with the long lunch, I wasn't overfull or bloated and we went on to do an afternoons shopping afterwards. The bill was £365, a little more than usual but this was due to me having some wine, something I rarely do and in line with any other tasting menu in the West End.

Hibiscus

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Square Meal

20 August 2012

The Square, London

We celebrated our anniversary at The Square in Mayfair, London. The Square is the restaurant of Phil Howard, and well established with an excellent reputation. Large tables in a spacious well appointed room awaited us.

We started with rather good bread, brown for my wife and raisin and walnut for me. The amuse bouche was a mozzarella ball, chilli and pepper oil, biscuit, the mozarella was lovely, and complimented by the intense oil and a pastry of I believe olive and mushroom.


After much deliberation, the menu being packed with great sounding starters, I chose the Tasting of Cornish Mackerel with Oysters and Caviar, which was the Great British Menu Winner in their 2012 season.  The first element came under an impressive dome of hickory smoke. An oyster topped with caviar resting on an English muffin. The oyster was fine, salty with caviar and juice, which was balanced out by the sweet mackerel below, with a perfectly light muffin providing a delicious mouthful.


The second plate was a rich, creamy veloutte of mackerel, a wonderfully fresh parcel of raw mackerel topped with a breaded fried oyster, and roasted mackerel on a bed of cucumber with a spherified caviar. The last element was cooked to perfection, and balanced really nicely with the cucumber and caviar.  It was great to try one of the dishes I've seen on the Great British Menu, each element an absolute pleasure and I'm glad I picked it over the lobster or scallops, dishes I will have to save for another visit!


My wife had a starter of gnocchi, mushroom, onion, the gnocchi being more like fluffy potato cakes and went exceedingly well with the mushroom, seaweed and some crispy shallot rings.


My main was the Breast of Grouse with Turnip and Celeriac and a Croustillant of the Leg with Onion and Pancetta.  I've not had grouse before, and it was served was pink, and delicately flavoured, and a pleasure I will wish to repeat. The croustilliant  was stuffed with the leg and was rich and intense. The celeriac and white onion puree's were creamy and well flavoured, and went perfectly with the grouse and leg. One breast was served on a buttery carrot and turnip mash, the other on a lovely piece of cabbage.


My wife's main was Aubergine, piperade, coco beans. She enjoyed it, but it was quite a small portion, and eclipsed by the starter and dessert.


For my dessert I had the Soup of White Peach with Raspberry Ripple Ice Cream. A bowl of mysterious gel spheres, peach and ice cream were presented, and the soup poured on. The spheres were a puree of peach and a liquid cream made using spherification which burst in the mouth. The peach was beautifully flavoured, as was the intense and alcoholic peach soup, the raspberry ripple providing a creamy counter note to the peach.  I adored the spheres, the fun they added,  and how they worked with the soup and peaches, and every part of the dessert was perfectly done. This has to be one of the best summer desserts anywhere.


My wife had the Apricot and Vanilla Soufflé with Camomile Ice Cream. Rising to the sky, an enormous souffle was presented and the waiter then added the ice cream and poured in an apricot sauce.  Fantastic in both execution and flavour, it provided a perfect finish to her lunch.


Nougat came with coffee and was a fine example of its kind, pretty as a picture too.


The bill came to about 300, and included a glass of rose champagne to start, 2 glasses of wine for my wife, and a few bottles of water.  I really enjoyed the meal at The Square, especially the theatrics of the starter and the spherified dessert. Surroundings and service were first rate too.

The Square

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Square Meal

17 August 2012

Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, London

We had an incredible lunch at Dinner, Heston Blumenthals London restaurant based at the Mandarin Oriental in London.

Upon arrival we were seated at a great table, right next to the glass walled kitchen and pineapple spit. The waiters explained the concept of the restaurant and assisted my wife in choosing vegetarian dishes. I had already decided what to have before I left home, due to Heston's TV programmes and the many reviews found online raving about certain dishes.

White and brown bread were provided, the brown being the better of the two, with a particularly nice crust on it.

My first course was the famous Meat Fruit, a chicken liver and foie gras parfait with a mandarin jelly skin.  The parfait was incredibly light, almost like it was whipped, and beautifully flavoured. The mandarin skin provided perfect balance, and was rich with scent and flavour of mandarins, and balanced perfectly with the parfait.


My wife chose a variation of the nettle porridge, which usually comes with cod cheeks. The nettle porridge itself was earthy, savoury and well flavoured, with the smoked beetroot and fennel complimenting it perfectly.


For my main I had the Black Foot pork chop and sauce Robert. The huge pork chop was a supreme example of its kind, moist, and the salty, sweet coating and sauce rich with a barbecue smokiness. It came accompanied with cabbage and ham hock, and some rather fantastic crackling puffs, more like a rice crispy than crackling, they were so light you could literally blow them across the plate. I had a side of mashed potato, one of those 50% butter affairs found in Michelin kitchens around the world and was perfectly done.


My wife's main was "a made dish of Parmesan", thick slices of caramelised cauliflower, crispy wafer thin cauliflower pieces, a scotch egg made with a quails egg, horseradish and parmesan sauces. This was a well thought out and original vegetarian dish, and my wife believed it was one of the finest mains she has had recently.


For my dessert I had the Taffety Tart. Pretty as a picture, this was a apple and fennel on biscuit, with wafer thin pastry and cream layers. Topped with crystallised fennel and rose, it was accompanied with a tart citrus jelly, sugared rose petals and a vanilla ice cream. Although I think i might have liked to try the blackcurrant sorbet I've seen in other reviews instead of the ice cream, it still went well with the apple and citrus elements.  The unusual flavours, exquisite technical and presentational skills all added up to a memorable dessert and met my expectations completely.



My wife's Tipsy Cake was a wine soaked brioche served with spit roast pineapple. Although it looked rather heavy, it was a light and fluffy brioche, and was wet with the wine and syrup. The pineapple was amazing, caramelised and sweet, having lost the tartness you can get with pineapple and matched the brioche very well.


One last treat awaited us, we decided on an extra course, from the Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream trolley. The trolley was an impressive looking set up, custom made for Dinner. A custard was added to the bowl, and the liquid nitrogen poured in and hand whisked to get the right consistency. The ice cream was served a hand made cone of thin pastry, with strawberries added to the cone first. It was then rolled in a topping, and you could choose 2 from chocolate and hazelnuts, candied fennel seeds resembling hundreds and thousands, and the two we both chose, apple popping candy and freeze dried cherries.  It was certainly the best ice cream cone I've had, not just for the ice cream itself but the theatre of the trolley itself.


Liquid nitrogen ice cream, dried cherries, apple popping candy, my beautiful wife.


We also had coffee, served with a marvellous pot of earl grey and jasmine chocolate ganache and a caraway biscuit. The ganache was particularly fine, leaving a heady, perfumed after taste that was most pleasant.

I am glad with the hype around Dinner that the meal lived up to its reputation. We enjoyed every element of the meal, the service was friendly and knowledgeable, the staff describing the history and make up of the dishes with passion.

The meal came to just over 200, we also had a bottle of mineral water, a glass of champagne to start and my wife had a glass of Pinot Grigio.


Dinner By Heston Blumenthal 

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Square Meal

15 July 2012

Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley, London


My wife and I visited the esteemed Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley on Thursday. The Berkeley Hotel reception is surprisingly small, and you have to walk through the lounge area to get to the restaurant itself, thankfully a beautiful spacious and opulent area. At 1215, we were the first in, but it got busier by 1230. We were in the centre of the room and didn't take photo's as we felt a bit conspicuous.

There was a good selection of menus were available. Lunch, a la carte, Chef's and tasting menus were available for me, and vegetarian a la carte and tasting menus for my wife. We started with a very fine rose champagne from the trolley.

First up a canapé, a perfect mouthful of fish croquette and lime mayonnaise for me, and a delicious cheese brioche for my wife.

Breads were exceptional, a choice of sourdough, farmhouse, potato and onion. I had the onion bread, which had a excellent crisp and flavour. Best of all though, were the butters, one a creamy butter from Gloucester, and the other, a brown butter, a whipped butter made using caramelised creme fraiche. This was a revelation, I've not had anything similar, and made this the best bread and butter combination I've ever had.

The amuse bouche was a roasted cauliflower soup, with a parmesan foam and parmesan crunches. The soup, intense with a rich cauliflower flavour, went well with the parmesan.

My starter of quail was an unexpected delight. Presented in a bowl, the quail, with a crisp crumb laid upon hispi cabbage and micro herbs. A consomme was then poured in the bowl. I didn't expect an Asian influenced dish at all, and loved the suprise of Asian aromas from the consomme and quail. The quail was perfectly cooked, moist and packed with flavour, with a sweet aromatic skin, with the crisp crumb providing the flavours and crunch of a roasted skin. The consomme, rich with flavour yet perfectly clear was beautifully done, and the hispi cabbage was sweet and tender and the micro coriander providing the hit of coriander without being overpowering. An absolutely stunning start to the meal.

However, my wife did not miss out. Her starter, an elegant plate of burrata, onion, apple and cobnuts was delicious, with cobnuts and the top rate apple adding a wonderfully summery, light and refreshing touch to the excellent burrata.

My main was turbot, leek, sea purslane and madeira. The perfectly cooked turbot was on a bed of a very fine pea puree. Accompanying this was a tempura courgette flower, some  quality leeks, a sublime soft, buttery onion and sea purslane. A madeira sauce was then poured round. Dark, unctuous and velvety, the sauce was a fantastic addition to the dish and as good as a sauce can be.  All combined to make this a fish dish to remember, the only downside being some sauce left, and a niggling feeling that if i was in the private room I could have licked the plate.

My wife had the herb pappardelle. The herbs were pressed into the pappardelle, which was very attractive. A large quartered king oyster mushroom (my thanks to the waiter for finding out what it was) was included along with morels, some herbs and a generous shaving of truffle over the dish. I've not had king oyster mushrooms before, and tried some along with the pappardelle. It had a meaty, nutty flesh which was very juicy, and went very well with the dish. The pasta was done to perfection.

I never usually have cheese with lunch, but the portion on the previous dishes were just enough to leave us room to sample a selection. We shared a board of goats cheese from Devon, a Waterloo, Livarot, Lincolnshire Poacher, a wonderful sloppy pile of Munster and a Scottish goats cheese, which had blue veining but resembled a brie. Accompanying this was a fantastic chutney, and an impressive silver cracker barrel with water biscuits, oat biscuits and home made cheese and chive biscuits.  As  I was more or less sampling 5 of them for the first time, I thought the Livarot and Munster were my favourites, although all were delicious.

Pre-dessert was a lovely little glass of strawberry crema, topped with butter biscuit, strawberries in Prosecco and a tiny quenelle of strawberry sorbet. This was a great little taster, and the strawberries stood out as being particularly flavourful.

For dessert my wife had Horlicks, honey, whisky. A parfait based around horlicks stood on a base of whisky cream, with honey whisky jellies dotted around the side. The parfait had the subtle taste of horlicks, which accompanied the cream perfectly. The jellies were aromatic bursts of honey and whisky, and were particulary good.

My dessert was Apple, crispy cinnamon pastry, apple jelly. A mille feuille of impossibly thin, crisp, cinnamon pastry was layered with apple and a subtle cinnamon and cream. Poking out of the centre was a cone of apple jam. Accompanying this was discs of a beautiful crisp apple, with a flavourful smooth sorbet of apple on top. Jellies of apple and apple sauce decorated the plate with a sprinkle of cinnamon. This dish was a triumph, the mille fuille was of exquisite quality and technical perfection, the apple and sorbet cleaning the mouth ready for the next spoon of pastry and cream. The apple jellies were packed with flavour. Without a doubt this was one of the best desserts I've ever had, each mouthful accompanied with a chuckle of joy and a comment to my good wife on how wonderful it was.

We finished with a first rate coffee, and the choose the banana and salt caramel truffle, and the 70% square of dark chocolate and ganache from the impressive liquer and chocolate trolley. Both were excellent. The bill was presented with a bag of truffles for my wife, one of which was an awesome lemon meringue truffle, a thin shell of white chocolate surrounding a soft portion of meringue and a liquid lemon sauce.

Having seen a lot of Marcus and his cooking on the television and read alot of about his restaurant, I was also keen to try a high end London restaurant that wasn't purely French food, and every aspect of what I wanted was catered for. The start to end perfection of the meal, surroundings and service made this one of my most memorable meals.

The bill was about £280 and included 2 glasses of wine for my wife and water.

Marcus Wareing At The Berkeley

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Square Meal

1 June 2012

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon - The vegetarian tasting menu

My first visit to L'Atelier was in February, and we went to celebrate my wife's birthday. L'Atelier is the London outpost of the esteemed Joel Robuchon, and follows the format and design of a number of these outposts from Paris to Tokyo. The restaurant is set up in 3 sections, a dining area based around the kitchen, a formal dining area and a bar/garden on the top floor. We sat at the bar area around the kitchen area, the best seats in the house as you can see all the dishes being cooked and assembled  As my wife is a vegetarian she chose the vegetarian tasting menu, and as it was her birthday, I chose it too so we could enjoy the same dishes together. My wife had wine to match. The sommelier gave a short description of the wine, together with its origin and reason why it matches the dish.

We were sat at the counter area, able to see the kitchen in action.  Unfortunately we did not take any photo's, so I only have notes based on a copy of the menu they were kind enough to provide us with.

The amuse bouche was a lemon jelly, with fennel foam and tapenade, and was offered the intense aniseed flavour and aromas of fennel, a hint of saltiness from the tapenade, whilst the lemon jelly was light and refreshing.

First course was La Nicoise, a lettuce heart garnished with crunchy vegetables. A flavourful dressing complimented the quality ingredients, and the lettuce stood out as a key ingredient and made this a full dish rather than just the salad it appeared on paper.

Next up was La Truffe Noire, a Fuji apple and chicory salad with black truffle. We watched the chef carefully assemble the dish with tweezers, placing perfectly cut pieces of chicory and a rather amazing looking Fuji apple in a ring, before dressing it in a truffle dressing and placing truffle slices on top, covering the perfect circle of chicory and apple. The truffle was fresh and highly fragrant, and went brilliantly with the exceedingly fine chicory and apple. I adored this dish, even going so far as to mop up every last bit of dressing with the last of my bread.

After this we were presented La Chataigne, an open bowl, with small cubes of celeriac and chestnuts placed within was placed in front of us. The waiters then poured over a chestnut veloute. The chestnuts were sweet and caramelised, yet delicately spiced, the celeriac providing a counter note, the veloute rich and absolutely packed with flavour. This dish blew us away, a perfect balance of sweetness, spiciness and richness.

The next course was L'Oeuf. A cocktail glass with an egg cocotte, topped with mushrooms and a wild mushroom cream. The very soft baked egg went perfectly with chopped mushrooms, and mushroom cream. My wife is not keen on very soft egg, but was surprised that the runny white and yolk worked so well.

Following this was meant to be Fregola Sarda, the toasted Sardinian pasta, but the fregola was not available. Instead we were given a bowl of vegetables with Parmesan foam and parsley foam. This dish was a revelation, with cavelo nero, and cute little crescents of swede and turnip covered in two types of intense foams. The disappointment of missing our on another truffle dish was forgotten as the vegetables were so delicious, each mouthful of fresh perfectly cooked vegetable coated in a rich buttery foam.

Lastly was Les Spaghetti. This was spaghetti with tomato sauce and cherry tomatoes. Possibly the weakest dish of the lunch, and whilst was one of the best spaghetti pomodoro's I've ever had, and flawlessly executed, it didn't quite blow me away compared with previous dishes.


Pre-dessert was a shot glass of vanilla panna cotta  topped with chestnut puree and a piece of gold leaf. I love the dish, it's only a few mouthfuls but the combination of creamy pana cotta and intense sweet chestnut works really well.


Finally a pear dessert. This was pears, chocolate mousse, pear mousse and a particularly marvellous pear sorbet. It's not as heavy as it might seem, and the pears were sweet and provided the texture with the chocolate and mousses.

Both desserts were fine ending to a spectacular meal.

With 3 standout dishes of La Truffe Noire, Le Chataigne and the vegetable dish, this tasting menu was probably one of the finest I've had, especially as it did not have any expensive ingredients like caviar and foie gras, but relied on the quality of vegetables and the terrific execution and design of the dishes themselves to raise some simple ingredients into a feast I will remember for a long time.

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon

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Square Meal

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, London

My brother was over from Dubai at the beginning of May, and we met after work for a bite to eat. We originally planned something quick and informal, but decided something a little special was in order due to his infrequent visits, so we went to L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, London. L'Atelier is the London outpost of the esteemed Joel Robuchon, and follows the format and design of a number of these outposts from Paris to Tokyo. This was my second visit, having visited earlier in the year. The restaurant is set up in 3 sections, a dining area based around the kitchen, a formal dining area and a bar/garden on the top floor. We sat at the bar area around the kitchen area, the best seats in the house as you can see all the dishes being cooked and assembled. The restaurant offers tasting plates, a la carte and tasting menus.  We decided on spoiling ourselves, and chose the tasting menu.



The amuse bouche was a shot glass of foie gras royale, a port reduction and fennel foam. The port reduction cut contrasted with the foie gras perfectly, with the fennel foam being aromatic and flavourful.



First course was the reason I wanted to try the tasting menu, Robuchons signature Le Caviar dish. A tin was presented on a special dish labelled with Le Caviar par Joel Robuchon, along with a small mother of pearl spoon. Our waiters joked about if the chef was in a bad mood it might be boot polish! The lids were lifted to show a beautiful layer of caviar. Digging in revealed a base of crab and fennel cream. The saltiness of the caviar, the sweetness of crab and the delicate overlay of fennel was a surefire winner, and this might well be one of the my favourite dishes of all time.


Next up was the scallop. This was a single scallop presented in the shell, with a chive dressing. The scallop was perfectly cooked, plump and well flavoured, the dressing was a delicate Japanese like flavours.


Following this we were presented with a bowl, with small onions, peas and bacon. A pea veloute was then poured on top. The veloute was intense, and the bacon was quite amazing, offering just the right saltiness to match the peas. I could have eaten a whole dish of the bacon alone.


This was preceded by the foie gras dish. The foie gras was beautifully presented with 3 cherry liqueur soaked muscat grapes with a strip of ginger. The foie gras had caramelised, and its' richness was perfectly complimented with the cherry flavoured grapes and hint of ginger. Chef Oliver Limousin was on duty and we talked about the foie gras, with my brother showering compliments and saying it was the best he had ever had. It came from a small farm near the first restaurant he worked at. He said that whilst they were not the largest foie gras, they were certainly some of the best, and I could only agree.  As I struggle with too much foie gras my brother finished my piece off and was exceedingly grateful for the extra mouthful.


Following this was a fish dish, sea bass with lemon grass and fondue leeks. The fish was very delicate, and matched the aromatic lemon grass foam. The leeks were also of exceptional quality.



The main course was the signature dish of caramelised quail stuffed with foie gras, presented with a small amount of dill, and truffle mash topped with a shaving of truffle. I was a bit full by this point, and wish i had the appetite to finish it all off, as the quail was perfectly cooked and utterly delicious, and the truffle was fresh, fragrant and flavoursome. We also were given a portion of the famous Robuchon mash, 50% butter 50% potato, and well deserved of its' legendary status as the best mash about.

Even though I was pretty full by this stage, I've never been one for missing pudding. The desserts were the same as I have had previously, and whilst I wanted to try the pear dessert again, my brother isn't keen on pears and was offered a chocolate dessert instead.




However, first up was a shot glass of vanilla panacotta, topped with chestnut puree and a piece of gold leaf. I love the dish, its' only a few mouthfuls but the combination of creamy panacotta and intense sweet chestnut works really well.



I had the pear dessert. This is pears, chocolate mousse, pear mousse and a particularly marvellous pear sorbet. It's not as heavy as it might seem, and the pears were sweet and provided the texture with the chocolate and mousses.



My brother had the chocolate dessert, it comes with an attractive presentation, a disc of chocolate is decorated and sits on the dish, with chocolate mousse, sauce and crunchy pieces within.  Another winner.

Coffee and petit four completed the meal. The petit four were a chocolate, a caramel and an intriguing square of soft meringue.

We split the bill, coming to about 160 GBP each.

I really enjoy the experience at Robuchon, not only for the food and service, but also in being able to witness zen like calm and group-mind organisation from the 6-7 guys in the kitchen and prep area in front of you. You see all the dishes go out,  making you want to try all the dishes on the menu, and the choreography of the chefs as they all come together to assemble a dish is an impressive sight. It was also a pleasure to talk to Chef Limousin about some of the dishes, and he also came out to reception when we left to thank us for eating.

L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon

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