L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon
This was my second visit to the restaurant and both visits are within about 2 months of each other. I went there the first time on a Thursday evening and the again on a Friday evening. The number of guests on the Thursday night was far fewer (at the table seating) than that of the Friday evening (also table seating) and it seems this contributed to the difference in the service level.
On my first visit, I was thoroughly thrilled to have found such an delightful fine dining venue in Hong Kong. the ambience was excellent, the service was good, the staff attentive and the the food was exquisite and because we did not go for the degustation menu that time, we did not discover the many plastic cutlery they give you.
First let’s talk about the food. both times, we had the Steak Tartare because it was that good. The quail was another dish we had both times, again because it was just too good to be missed. Both times there were dishes (entrees and with the degustation menu) with black truffle and I couldn’t help but notice that the second time around the black truffle has lost quite a bit of its flavour. I am not familiar with how these are ordered but it tasted to me like it’s past its time. Perhaps because it’s technically out of season and other good restaurants aren’t serving them anymore?
The degustation menu was good but nothing especially caught my eyes. I would suggest ordering a la carte from the menu rather than the tasting menu. Desserts are a must. Very good wine list and the starting price is very reasonable.
In general, it really was a very good experience, but there are still a few things that I couldn’t help but mention. i know I’m being very pick here but for what I paid, i expected best and I have been to places where the service was better and they charged less. So bear with me for a while.
Things that they can improve on:
- the screeching of the chair legs when the chairs are being moved is extremely annoying. Less so when it’s not busy, very much when it’s a full house. I know 3M has a great product for that. Check it out.
- Aside from the pearl spoon used for the caviar, I see no reason why the other courses required that many plastic spoon to be used. And if it’s absolutely necessary as a culinary requirement to use plastic, please would you find something that doesn’t look and feel like a child’s cutlery.
- In general the staff were wonderful but if only they could pay a little more attention to when being signalled rather than the chair in front of them, it would be perfect.
-I ordered the wine by glass, in most restaurants I’ve been to, I still get to taste it before fully committing to it., which I am pretty sure was what happened the first time, but second time, nope, they showed me the bottle and then just poured a full glass straight. Two glasses as well. I was in a conversation and did not register this fact until she walked away. Didn’t want to make scene so I let it go. But decidedly very poor service in that regard.
- Serving time between courses were not very well timed. the first few courses came out really quickly, more quickly than a good evening of dining should be and then when it got busy, it got really slow. One of the courses we had to wait for a 20 minute break and another a 15 minute break where as earlier only it was bang, bang, bang, one straight after the other. So perhaps time management in the kitchen needs to be reviewed. IMHO.
I think that’s about it. I really don’t want to come across as being too harsh but I had such high expectation after the first dinner I went and booked the second night a month and a half in advance!
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