For those who enjoy indulging in luxury gastronomic experiences, look no further than L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon.
The restaurant is owned by world-renowned chef Joël Robuchon, whose dining empire includes restaurants in Paris, Tokyo, and Monaco. Robuchon also has more Michelin stars than any other chef in the world – an impressive 28 in total.
Located in Leicester Square, L’Atelier was inspired by Robuchon’s culinary experiences and travels internationally, and features a Spanish tapas counter, Japanese sushi bar and a French bistro counter concept. The interior on the main floor is buzzy but elegant, mainly dressed in black decor with splashes of red.
Upon arrival the receptionist welcomed us in with a warming smile and offered us a pre-dinner drink at the bar. The cocktail menu has lots of varieties, but we decided to go with a recommendation from our charming barman, and opted for the Raspberry Chili Martini. It was simply delicious, not too sweet with a touch of spice. The best part of this bar is it doesn’t require reservations. You can pop in anytime to experience cocktails and tasty appetizers.
After 30 minutes, we were taken to L’Atelier, named the “workshop”, which serves Robuchon’s French haute cuisine in a Japanese-inspired environment. The eating counter surrounds the open kitchen on the ground floor, inviting diners to engage with the chefs whilst watching them prepare their meal.
We began our meal with 3 delightful starters. The portions were definitely not tapas sized and we would recommend 2-3 starters to share between two people. Our favourite was definitely was “Le Potiron”, a silky pumpkin velouté with sweet onion foam. “Le Foie Gras” was also exceptionally delicious.
We accompanied various wines with our starters. The exquisite sommelier, Jordán, assisted us with his beautiful selection. Luigi Bosca, 2011 made for a divine combination with our Le Foie Gras.
For our main course we thoroughly enjoyed “L’Œuf De Poule”, a delectable, crispy rice batter served with beautifully placed egg inside.
Finally the sweetest bit, the deserts; the choice is quite a selection. As chocolate fanatics, we went for “Le Souffle”, which to our delight was served with delicious Sicilian pistachio ice cream.
At the end of our exquisite encounter we were lucky enough to meet with the head chef, Xavier Boyer and had a quick chat with him. He was very attentive and very involved with every masterpiece his sous chefs were creating. “The food brings you friends, it is a generosity! It is the best sense ever…” he asserted. Boyer spoke fondly about collecting food memories that he experiences all around the world and adding them to his creations. It was refreshing to see how much passion he had for his job and working environment. He went on to tell us, “I love working here, the interaction here is incredible. The open floor in L’Atelier enables us to see the reaction on customers’ faces straight away, to me this is the most satisfactory feeling.”
Though we would love to be selfish and keep L’Atelier all to ourselves, the work of art that chefs Xavier and Aurélie are creating with their team is too good not to recommend. It is definitely one of the finest places in town to dine.
Le Foie Gras, duck foie gras terrine with country bread.Le Truffle Noire, crispy soft poached egg served with black truffle and parmesan foam and caviar on topLe Potiron, silky pumpkin velvet with sweet onion foamLe Souffle, warm Guanaco chocolate souffle and Silicon pistachio ice cream