L'atelier de Joel Robuchon, Paris *2 Michelin Stars*

It has been countless time that we dined here but we will never have enuff of this place. As many times as we came here, we actually never try his restaurant as in Joel Robuchon Restaurant.

L'Atelier translated to workshop from French
so this is like a incubator for young chefs under the wings of Monsieur Robuchon himself.

The dining format here is casual - though it has got 2 Michelin stars. All L'Atelier around the world were expedited in this format. From Monaco, London, Vegas, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore to Taipei.

*off topic*
YES!!! we are finally going to Taipei. Sorry I've never been there except transited at their airport which doesn't count.
 
at any L'Atelier, u sit on a high stool and dine over the bar counter with an open kitchen. So u see it's really fun casual and we usually hang out with the rest of the diners midway through dinner especially after a few drinks.



The restaurant is an extension outta Hotel Pont Royal in Saint Germain
Pont = Bridge

The only reservation that they accept for dinner is at 6.30pm. After that timing, u'll just need to come and leave your names and wait to be called upon. First come first served basis.
Oh well we are Asians, we don't mind doing dinner at 6.30pm


As for lunch they accept many seatings/timings from 11.30am, 12pm, 12.30pm, 2.00pm, 2.30pm, 3.00pm and finally 3.30pm.


Monkey, I Ching, Prince C and French lady who used to worked with Air France
we shared good travel stories, food and wines :)))) she was pretty impressed that Malaysians are so well traveled and spoke good english plus some basic french. Hahahahaha.....no we no longer live on trees!!!!


thinly sliced jamon ham - Le Jambon, Iberico de Bellota

my companions alwiz relied on Monkey to order at L'Atelier, which is good bcoz I'll definitely get to order 100% of wat I wanna chomp down :))))


the entire LEG of the Jambon ham
it takes a lot of knife skill to cut it so thinly off its leg with a special knife :)))



accompanied by a Toast served with sweet crushed tomatoes and basil
really refreshing and balanced the fattiness and saltiness of jamon ham
this is like the must-have for us each and everytime here


Dish of the day - carpaccio of fish with special olive oil and chives
I wanted the carpaccio with sea urchin but they don't have it on that day
this proved to be so good that Monkey ordered one portion for each of us....no sharing. Coz the rest of the dishes we shared.

Next of the must-have was Les Anchois
anchovies with sweet capsicum, pickled baby onions, and grilled aubergines at the bottom
SOOOOO good
it's a different type of white anchovies...fat juicy with balanced saltiness fr the sea

I m gonna get JS to emulate this soon at home :)))))
but first, he needs to import in some of these white anchovies

all these petite portion of starters were paired with a bottle of Haut-Brion
oh well after visiting the chateau we must appreciate it even more :)))

the sommelier - Benjamin who's really professional and shared so much of wine knowledge with us. He was born in Bordeaux and attended 4 years of courses to be a professional sommelier. We were just telling him, his hometown is really beautiful and we will definitely visit again.




the next plate of petite appetizer was this another must-have in Monkey's list
La Langoustine
a huge chunk of crunchy fresh langoustine is wrapped in thin ravioli, topped with black truffle buttery sauce. Actually this dish comes with 2 pieces of ravioli but bcoz it's a sharing portion, we've only ordered 2 plates to be shared.

By this time, we've moved on to Red wines

I was never a fan of wines from Nuits Saint-Georges for its particular nose that puts me off. But not these days.....guess I've changed a lot in terms of palate. Either u can make urself like something or soon evolved to like something that u hate? :P

Our last petite appetizers was this Burger called Le Burger in its menu
what so special???
when it was presented on the counter...Prince C and I Ching was like huh??? U ordered burgers????
oh well it's only small bite...with really yummy crispy fries and vegetable chips
heeeeeee I guess if u put the trust to me on ordering food then u got to trust me :))))

Soon everyone fell in love with this really yummy rich burger with a generous piece of foie gras inside. The aromatique sweet sour spicy ketchup was served on the side.

Not only we were craving for more....those diners on our left-right saw these babies and ordered the same :P Soon they were checking on our food and ordered the same....hahahahaha I should have charged them for consultancy fees :P


Le Black Angus
Main course for Prince C. It was char-grilled to pinkish preparation, with more charred sweet french shallots on top....oh yumms...

Monkey did not order any main course for herself coz she knew....after all the petite appetizers she's really full. I don't have a huge tummy as u all perceived me to be OK? I rather put more wines into my tank...hohohohohohoh


JS the carbo man wanted some carbs and they prepared him a special Morel capellini.
Hellooooo pasta in France???


I Ching had a superb butter grilled Sole fish
French really knows how to prepare their sole fish....lurve it!!!!
it's crispy on every sides!!!! with moist sweetness on the inside...it wasn't even fried...just grilled!!!

Morey St. Denis is my favourite  village for burgundy wines producer....
problem is we don't have many bottles at home....JS been piling up on HIS favourite wines and I need to save money to buy MY favourite wines too. WAHHHH I've been selling kidneys livers and everything....I seriously need part-time job to accommodate my cravings for good things in life :))))

The other solution is...make myself like JS's kinda wines so I get to share his stash but then I have yet to arrive to that extend - to compromise on my palate just for free stuffs :P I'm not that cheap OK?

Monkey's special salad...this isn't in the menu...but u can order this.
3 years ago when we were dining here....we wanted some greens and they prepared this...so we requested for the same....the hearts of lettuce with extra green virgin olive oil.

The olive oil tasted as good as green apples!!!!
I guess the best thing is to document everything that u ate everywhere like wat I'm doin here. Coz sometimes when I can't name it nor describe it....Monkey will just flash the pic of the food that I wanted onto the face of the waitress :P 

Told ya a picture speaks a thousand words. Especially places like Hong Kong where I can't even remember the name of the dish nor describe it in my super broken cantonese. Just flash my iPhone and he'll get it :P

JS was pretty happy with the stash of wines L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon has
it's not a big wine list and everything is pretty young here but we still managed to order some pretty decent wines :))))

and now he's presenting I Ching
guess he's pretty tipsy then :P hahahahahaha
eppy ppl with red faces :)))))))))))

They loved this place so much that both of them came back 2 more times the following week
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Le Fruit de la Passion is a beautiful mini souffle served with passion fruit sorbet
very refreshing after a good meal :)))

Le Chocolate Tendance is pretty funky too
a chocolate dessert with bits of oreo biscuits and high quality Araguani chocolates :))))

Monkey is happy stealing food from others and her usual must have after each meal....COFFEE!!!
hahahaha even at home, I can never sleep with a cup of decaff macchiato :)))
Yes I make my own macchiato :))))

Mini Madeleines!!!!
LURVE!!!!!! all the time :))))
now I am sourcing for mini madeleine pans in KL
yeah I know should have bought it in Paris but too many things to buy I forgot.

L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon
5 Rue de Montalembert,
75007 Paris.
Tel: +33 01 4222 5656
www.joel-robuchon.net