NYC: L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

I had eaten at Paris' L'Atelier when it first opened and remember not being very impressed with the EUR50 lunch I had there. So when MH & HB suggested checking it out, my reception to the idea was a bit lukewarm. Not to mention that it was difficult to get in. When I checked into the Four Seasons hotel, where the restaurant just opened, I had asked whether the front desk could make a reservation for me. The reply was: "Oh, you'll have to take your chances. They're not taking reservations yet and they're very popular". Basically, she couldn't help. Yesterday morning, I decided to try my luck and called the restaurant. Et voila! I got a reservation. They even asked me what time I would like the reservation for! I requested to sit at the counter, because that is where all the action takes place. While counter seating is not very social if the group is larger than 3-4 people, sitting at tables takes some of the drama, excitement and intimacy out of the whole L'Atelier dining experience. One way to solve the problem is to sit on the corner if you have more people.

The food turned out to be stunningly good. There was a sea urchin in gelee (we all agreed that was made from a lobster broth) with cauliflower cream and beautifully-dotted parsley cream. The flavours just burst in my mouth. While I couldn't eat the oysters, judging from the "mmms" and the wide-eyed looks on my friends' faces, it was a hit. The other hit, although sure to be a cardiac-arrest inducing one, was the signature mashed potatoes. I had just a taste and it was pure cream and butter, but absolutely delicious. It was a perfect compliment to my lamb. If I weren't on my low-fat diet, I would have ordered the quail stuffed with foie gras, seared toro tuna belly and wagyu beef. Actually, there were just so many dishes I wanted to taste! We were three diners and ended up ordering 11 tapas and there were still dishes we wanted to try (they also have regular-sized appetizer and mains, but the tapas makes it easier to share and taste more dishes). Then there were the desserts (we were joined by three more people for this, so we got to order three desserts). My grapefruit and white cranberries with yuzu foam (or was it jelly, can't remember), mint sorbet was a symphony of light, refreshing flavours.

We got to meet Yosuke Suga the executive chef. NK, who is Japanese and in the restaurant biz struck up a conversation with him. He's 29 years old, but looks not a day over 16 (apparently, that's when he started apprenticing under Joel Robuchon in Tokyo). There is a Japanese influence on the dishes, like the smoked foie gras and eel that we tried and the use of yuzu. Perhaps that's why I warmed to this version of the L'Atelier menu more.

I'm so glad I went. It's great food and one of those places where it would be fun to dine alone. The rest of the group have already made a booking for their next visit this weekend!