I tried to set up a dinner for the weekend, but October 10, 2010 turned out to be a special day and I couldn’t get a booking anywhere. Almost every fine-dining restaurant in the city was fully booked for wedding receptions. I couldn’t change the date either, so I had no choice but to book this place. After all, no couple is going to hold their reception at a counter.
L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon is the casual restaurant that sits somewhere in the middle of the Joël Robuchon line-up, after the Château Restaurant Joël Robuchon and La Table de Joël Robuchon. It’s in Roppongi Hills, and its reputation is that the vibe is cool, but the prices are high and it lacks the artistic flair you’d expect from Robuchon.
Napkin
Casual, but it doesn’t lose its sense of luxury. Anyone who knows the place knows this already, but here you sit at a counter like at a sushi bar and eat facing the server. Unlike a sushi bar, the chef doesn’t just hand you things as he sees fit, but a dedicated server guides you through, so it’s a comfortable meal. It’s a system Robuchon introduced when he came to Japan. And I think this unconventional setup is actually the secret of the place’s popularity (otherwise I really can’t understand the high prices..). The server looking after us that day knew a bit about Korean dramas and could speak a few words of Korean. She said she’d enjoyed Goong and Coffee Prince.. I suppose she was making an effort because I’m Korean. I was with company so we couldn’t chat for long, but this is the kind of service you’d expect from a top restaurant.
Glass
They’d already put up the autumn decorations.. I hadn’t even noticed autumn had arrived.. That day I went for the tasting menu. It’s lots of small dishes, but by the end the amount is – by normal standards – quite a lot. I should have skipped a few and kept it light so we could go on somewhere else afterwards, but I overate and couldn’t. I should have thought harder about the menu, but when you’re hungry you just don’t have the headspace for that.
Inside the kitchen
It’s an open kitchen, and they’ve clearly put a lot of thought into the interior. Most open kitchens are just open, with no decoration at all..
The staff are busy at work inside..
Business seemed especially good that day. I guess everyone who couldn’t get a booking elsewhere, like me, ended up here.
Koshu wine
A Japanese wine. Personally I prefer Burgundy, but for the price it’s high quality.
Ibérico jamón
Very good quality, but this is really a drinking snack.. It didn’t go that well with the Koshu wine. Then again, you can’t order a red right from the start.. A bit awkward.
This is how the bread comes
Their baguette is one of the best in Tokyo… The other breads were just so-so for me, but that’s because my standards are high; I think most people would be perfectly happy.
Salmon tartare with shiso flowers, topped with caviar
The thing at the front is the shiso flower; you pull off a bit and put it on top as you eat. The dry-ice show was quite something. Honestly I don’t like playful dishes like this, but plenty of people love a show, so I guess it works. The intense fragrance of the shiso flowers was lovely. It did a great job as a starter to whet the appetite. The only thing that bothered me was that it was a little too strongly seasoned for a starter. And is caviar really that delicious?.. Someday I’d like to try some truly great caviar.
Mushroom royale with parsley coulis and an accent of Ibérico ham
A nicely balanced flavour.. The mushrooms were good, the ingredients were good, but this glass.. awkward to eat from.. Using a glass cup for a hot dish just didn’t make sense to me.. At another restaurant I’d have said wow, amazing, but for Joël Robuchon it clearly falls short. It seems they put too much effort into the presentation.. I guess that’s just the Roppongi vibe. I found myself thinking I should have gone somewhere calmer.
Timbale of French grenouille with a light cream
This was probably the most problematic dish of the night. It’s frog’s legs, but the flavour was nothing special. You could call it a very tiny chicken, I suppose.. I’d like to give them credit for using an unusual ingredient, but it’s a bit much when the taste isn’t special. Inside were frog’s legs shaped like beans, and mushrooms. On its own it was fine, but I had serious doubts whether it lived up to the Joël Robuchon name.
Langoustine ravioli with foie gras sauce and étuvée of cabbage
It tasted like Chinese dim sum. The prawn inside was plump and bouncy. But it didn’t taste very French.
Scallop topped with seaweed butter, mi-cuit
This was also a pretty ordinary scallop dish. I kept thinking it was all style and no substance. It didn’t taste bad, but the Joël Robuchon I’ve eaten before was never at this level.
Wild suzuki (sea bass) a la plancha with artichoke and barigoule sauce
Suzuki is sea bass. But I get plenty of chances to eat wild sea bass near home, so it didn’t particularly excite me. The ensemble with the other ingredients was lovely, it looked like a lot of work had gone into it, and it didn’t taste bad at all.
Wagyu bavette cooked medium rare, with herb salad and potato purée
The potato purée is said to be the signature dish, so I tried it, and it was incredibly smooth. Who could call this mashed potato? I asked whether they used Echire butter, and they said no. I’d vaguely heard a rumour that the main restaurant does, so maybe it’s because this is L’Atelier. The meat was cooked just right. It tasted good too. But medium rare really isn’t easy to cut. I thought maybe next time I should ask for medium. But medium and medium rare are completely different dishes, so that would be pointless too. Medium rare was just right, after all..
Petit dessert
I remember it being an ice cream with basil. It’s meant to cleanse the palate, but I’d expected several dessert courses and it was far too modest.. It’s just this and the main dessert, and that’s it. A bit disappointing. It hurt to think that for this money this is all the dessert you get.
A dessert with figs and a complicated name
The standard is very high, but this too is so casual you wonder if it’s really Joël Robuchon. Tonight nothing but dishes that betray my expectations. For this money, going to the Château Restaurant Joël Robuchon for lunch would be far better value.. Well, dinner is dinner and lunch is lunch, so there’s not much you can do.
Soufflé
But a huge twist was waiting at the very end. I have never in my life seen a soufflé this delicious. This one dish turned around my whole impression of the evening. Wobbly and sweet, a texture that makes you want to jump into the middle of the soufflé and flail around. Then you open up the centre and pour in the pistachio ice cream, adding an incredibly refreshing accent. It was the moment when every soufflé I’d eaten before stopped counting as a soufflé. It would be worth coming here just for this one thing. I think it’s about 1,500 yen on its own, so if you time it right you could probably pop in just for the soufflé (though maybe not). If I come here again, that’s what I’ll do.. Ah, it’s really so good. It felt like floating on cloud nine.
Petits fours
Orange chocolates, cookies and soft caramels. There was a little jelly inside the orange chocolate, so refreshing that I thought it was mint. But apparently it tastes like that because they use orange peel. The accented chocolates were so good that I asked if they sold them separately, but they said no, as they’re an original menu item.. The caramels also had a rich flavour on a completely different level from the ones sold at the boutique, but again, they said they’re only served in the restaurant..
Overall, I ate well and went home full. Thanks to the show it might be fantastic for a date, but for this money I could have gone somewhere with tastier food. If I go again, I’d like to just order a few desserts à la carte and leave.. at a quiet time..