This post was written in 2006. Shop details and prices may have changed since then.
I went to La Table de Joël Robuchon, the casual dining restaurant of Taillevent & Robuchon, the restaurant
that French three-star chef Joël Robuchon opened in Japan. The lunch menu was listed cheap at 3,000 yen, which seemed like a ridiculous price,
so I thought I absolutely had to go, but it turned out there was a bit of a catch to that price..
Here’s a photo of the restaurant at Garden Place in Ebisu.
Well.. the building alone wins you over. The crowd at the bottom left is a photo crew. Looked like some kind of photo shoot or fashion thing,
and if you look closely you might spot a model..
We had a reservation, so the table was already set the moment we walked in. The tableware gives off some kind of aura. The interior and the atmosphere were something else..
Ah.. so this is what three stars means, I thought.
Sparkling wine. The name was.. what was it.. Not a well-known one, but a high-end wine all the same, and they poured about a third of a glass and charged 1,400 yen.
Yes.. half the price of the lunch course. Still, you can’t really enjoy a course without a wine to match the food, so I had no choice
but to order it.
My companion ordered a cola. Sure enough, the glass is a work of art.
The knot in the napkin is a work of art.
It was tied so carefully that it seemed a shame to undo it, so I took a shot before untying it.
Olive oil and butter.
Before the main dishes, the bread comes out first.
Even the bread has some kind of aura.. It was good, but not sweet. My companion said it was ordinary..
The starter. I vaguely remember it being a cracker topped with pork.
Up to this point the flavours were ordinary.
The mains coming up from here are less dishes than works of art.
Duck terrine with a sweet-and-sour orange confit
Art starts with the plate. Every dish came out in tableware made for it. It doesn’t just lift the mood,
it plays a big part in bringing out the flavour too. I was moved for a moment, wondering if all top restaurants are like this.
The second main is marinated shellfish with tangy vegetables, flavoured with coriander.
French dish names, honestly -_-;; I’d have been in trouble if I hadn’t taken a photo of the menu.
What I felt after one bite of this dish was that this restaurant uses only the finest ingredients and the finest cooking skills
to make its food. Even at Tsukiji you’d have a hard time finding shellfish this fresh.
What on earth does this place do to get ingredients like these, and to cook them so that 100% of the flavour comes through?
I got really curious..
The third main. Roast young chicken with a potato and cabbage embeurrée
The ingredient was just chicken, so I didn’t expect much, but when I tried it, it was no ordinary chicken.
(Good grief.. what on this menu could possibly not be delicious..) They warmed the plates so the food wouldn’t get cold
before bringing it out. The service is top-notch too.
The last main is foie gras. Its official name is poêlé of foie gras with Parmesan risotto
Well.. like all high-end foie gras, it tasted like chocolate melting on the tip of your tongue.
And that’s the end of the mains~ The portions felt a bit small, but every single dish was a precious experience.
This is a feature of the course here: if you want dessert, you have to pay extra. -_-;;
That’s the catch.. Once I ordered wine and dessert, one lunch easily came to over 5,000 yen..
But you can’t do something as foolish as coming to a French restaurant and not ordering dessert..
I ordered two.
The first dessert. Crêpe with a caramel banana compote and a chocolate crumble
I nearly cried eating this dessert. Can this really be a dessert made by human hands.. How can anything be this heavenly..
Several times more moving than the mains. If there was a problem, it was that the portion was a bit small.. With a dessert like this I could easily have eaten five plates..
Slowly cooked apple with a smooth cream and caramel ice cream
This one didn’t quite match the shock of the crêpe, but it was still a dreamy taste.
I stepped outside and took a shot of the entrance too. A meal here comes to over 5,000 yen, but even so, it’s a place worth visiting.
I also wanted to try the main restaurant, not the casual dining one, where you apparently have to wear a suit.. but I’ll hold back this time and aim for the next chance..