L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon

I've heard about this place for a while when we were living in New York as Joel Robuchon's empire includes restaurants in Paris, Las Vegas, Macao, Monaco, New York, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. It's no wonder that he has 18 Michelin stars (the most of any chef in the world) among those restaurnts. The London branch was just awarded two stars this past January so we (mostly I) were quite excited to dine at my first 'two michelin' starred restaurant.

The food at L'Atelier is modern European while the decor is more sleek Japanese looking. Pretty slick looking place with lots of red and black. One of the things that differentiates L'Atelier from its stuffier counterparts is that the dining here is less formal in that you sit at a bar and the open kitchen as well as all the service is done behind that bar.

Being that this was at a 'bar' we had to start off with some drinks! Yen had a mimosa (supposedly the best mimosa she's had in London) while I had a blueberry and basil caipirinha which was also very good. Its been tough getting good drinks in London as most places are very strict with the amount of alcohol they are allowed to pour in. One drink means one shot of liquor usually. Weak sauce!

On to the meal. We both started with a soft-poached egg held up by a radish ring, over thin slices of pickled beets. For the main, Yen had the monkfish with an assortment of vegetables and some foam... possibly one of the best fish dishes I've tasted before. I had hanger steak with carmelized onions and side of a layered potato thing. Apparently hanger steak is the rage nowadays in restaurants. Its supposedly the working man's steak as its a cheaper cut and therefore more chewy but is to have tons of flavor. And oh man was it chewy! Sorry hanger steak, you ain't got nothing on my main man, the rib eye.

Everything was nice overall. Good but not good enough considering the prices that we'd go again.

After another spanking large lunch we decided to grab some coffee in Soho. Chill out. Relax. Do some people watching.

After coffee we wandered the streets and ended up walking up to Princi! I'm sure Yen will talk more about it since its owned by her favorite restauranteur!