So my brother came back for one of his not-so-frequent visits to Hong Kong, and since he owed me a now very belated birthday meal he told me to make the arrangements. During the time leading up to his visit, he did suggest that we could go to Macau for the weekend and have lunch at Robuchon Au Dome, but since I had just come back from a trip, I wanted to stay in Hong Kong so I just told him to go the Robuchon here since he had not tried it either. And of course, being the good brother he is, he indulged my whims, but honestly I think he just wanted me to stop annoying him haha...
So last Saturday found us at a 12:45pm seating for lunch at L'Atelier. My brother is the more casual kind of personality so the bar was the ideal place for him to sit rather than inside at Le Jardin.
The manager came to greet us a few minutes after we were perusing the menu and rather than listening to my brother who stubbornly kept insisting he wanted to order from the lunch set menu, the manager just asked politely what kind of food preferences he has and took it in his hands to compose something for us.
The bread basket as usual exceeded expectations, and my brother like me on my first visit went and indulged himself on the baguettes, sourdough, brioche, mini croissants, cheese baguettes, apricot and almond rolls and bacon and cheese baguettes.. despite my warning of the meal to come.
The current amuse bouche was served in two parts. A parsnip custard topped with smoked duck breast and a sprinkle of red pepper, paired with a zucchini veloute with a parmesean espuma foam. It was suggested that we had the zucchini veloute first and it was creamy and smooth with the foam giving a subtle cheesy flavour. The parsnip custard was of a nicely set creme caramel texture, but I was not partial to the strong daikon-like taste.
For appetisers I had my requested Le Fois Gras which consisted of 'Chioggia' yellow and purple beetroot salad with fois gras rolls and beef jelly. The presentation of the dish was very pretty, artistic in a way with the curled shavings of fois gras hiding among perfect circles of paper thin slices of beetroot. I was most interested in the beetroots, as normally we only ever see them as that gorgeously coloured dark purple-pink hue, but it was refreshing to see that they come in yellows and pinks too. The texture of the beetroots were crunchy and had a sweet-sour pickled taste which were a perfect foil to the richness of the buttery fois gras.
My brother was presented with their signature Le Caviar Imperial. Despite not being a seafood lover, he was surprised that he enjoyed this. He liked the soft texture of the caviar coupled with the crab meat layered at the bottom and found the brininess of the caviar to be pleasant but not overly fishy.
It was quite funny, as during this course, the chef came to greet us to see how we were enjoying the food. I was a little surprised, but it turned out that the manager had mentioned to him about my continuous praise on how much I enjoyed the lunch at another 3 star French establishment that he probably felt he needed to re-instill confidence in his cooking. No need to worry chef, not that my opinion counts much, but Robuchon is doing just fine~
Before the next dish arrived, I wanted to excuse myself to the ladies, but just as I hopped off the stool the manager intervened saying that I needed to remain seated as the next dish was about to be served and it needed to be eaten hot. Quite amused, I sat back down and stared in slight puzzlement at the large plate he placed between my brother and I. It was only until I caught the earthy aroma filling my senses that I snapped to and recognised truffles! White truffles to be exact. And that was exactly what the next dish would showcase.
Deemed the best way to enjoy white truffles, it was shaved generously over a shallow dish of creamy scrambled eggs. To be honest, I found the dish to be just so-so. The eggs looked very creamy, but was a little lumpy in texture and the truffles although so aromatic in smell, the fragrance did not carry over taste wise. Maybe it was just me, since my brother could not stop praising it, but it was interesting to try though.
Our soup courses were next. Butternut squash for him and chestnut for me. Just by seeing these two ingredients on the menu signified the welcoming of autumn and I absolutely loved the presentation of my brothers dish. A hollowed out white pumpkin shell contrasted sharply with the vibrant orange-yellow of the soup. The texture was nicely thick with the subtle sweetness of the butternut squash shining through and the crunchiness of the pumpkin seeds were pleasant with the roasting process intensifying its heady flavour.
My Les Chataignes was not as showy, but I enjoyed it more than the butternut soup since it was more savoury. The chestnut veloute was not quite as thick, but it was very tasty, made even more so by the addition of the smokey bacon mousse and the celeriac salad on the side helped refresh the palate.
Dining at Robuchon and not eating their beef tartare is definitely a crime, so I made sure my brother tried it. Since I have written about it previously, you are welcome to read about my views on it in my older posts, but I can say that my brother enjoyed it despite admitting that he would not have ordered it if it had not been suggested to him. He was also addicted to the accompanying fries and could not stop eating them until I took them away
For me, I was served Le Saint Jacques, a perfectly seared scallop crowned with caviar sitting in a bath of shellfish emulsion with fregula pasta. The scallop was very tender and I loved the chewiness of the pasta. However, I did find the emulsion to be quite salty and no I did not eat every bit of the gold foil either.
For main course, my brother was served the signature caramelised quail dish La Caille, while I had the teppanyaki lamb tenderloins L'Agneau. He found the quail to be very tender and enjoyed the richness the fois gras lent to the dish. I am fairly certain that the truffled mash potato captured his heart as he polished it off in no time.
My main was generously portioned with four strips of tenderloin cooked to a blushing medium rare sitting on a bed of creamy puree and diced turnips. The lamb was actually fairly gamey which I quite enjoyed for a change, but I think some Asian palates may find it overwhelming. Eating the lamb with the puree helped tone down the gaminess, but I prefer mine with mint jelly and the one offered at Robuchon was very very good~ Accompanying the lamb was a side dish of mash, originally I was going to ignore it and focus on my brothers truffled mash, but when the lid was lifted I was surprised to see that mine was also truffled too~! Very happy
Time for desserts~ The menu had just changed, so I was able to try their new item Mont Blanc and I was happy to see that the Paris Brest had returned so insisted my brother order that. The Mont Blanc was prepared in a deconstructed way where the base of meringue was sitting in a pool of cream and cassis sauce with a quenelle of chestnut ice-cream atop the meringue. Balancing on top was a thin disc of tempered milk chocolate with a smaller disc of meringue and chestnut cream. This version was significantly lighter with less cream and I liked the combination of the crunchy meringue with the creaminess of its counterparts.
The Paris Brest was just as good as before, bite sized balls of choux pastry with praline cream, like eating ferrero rocher and my brother really enjoyed the pear sorbet.
Before the menu changed, I had actually been looking forward to ordering the Le Pamplemousse for the raspberry mousse with the liquid centre, and I was a little disappointed when I saw it was not on the menu. So when this was set in front of me, I was quite touched that he remembered..
To end, my nicely made skim decaf latte with a kitty cat or bear bear face? hahaha... still cute though.. and petite fours with chestnut macarons~
Mashed Potato
Lychee Sober
Le Banane - Smooth banana cream with caramel chips and coconut sorbet. The caramel crunch at the button was a surprise, giving the dish an extra crunch texture. Shame that the coconut flavour of the sorbet was covered by the banana cream. 