the master

This evening, Malc & I were enjoying the return of our favourite TV show, Iron Chef on SBS. The challenger chef this time was from France and trained under Joël Robuchon. A brief interview with Joël Robuchon was shown where he was tagged as the Master of French cuisine. Monsieur Robuchon retired in 1996, but couldn't stay away from the kitchen and came back to open L'Atelier in Roppongi Hills, Tokyo in 2003.

On our last trip to Tokyo, Monsieur Robuchon's restaurant La Table (Yebisu Garden Place, 1-13-1 Mita, Tokyo, ph +81(3) 5424-1338) was right next to our hotel. Ambling around Ebisu at lunch time, we passed by the French-style villa where the restaurant is, we casually browsed the menu and were suprised that the price for lunch sets start at Y2,800 (A$28). So, we gleefully ventured in, and even without a reservation, we were politely and hurriedly ushered to an empty table . . . ah fantastic Japanese service.

The menu was fantastic, in Japanese & French. Malc was excitedly reading the menu in one of his mother tongues and happily explaining what the dishes are, tres chic. We decided on a 3 courses. For our entrees I had crab with green tomato jelly. It was so sublime, with thinly shredded crab meat resting on a layer of sweet-sour green tomato jelly.


Malc had a carpaccio of scallops with endive and mushrooms. Malc ate his entree slowly, savouring each single morsel. Malc enjoyed the delicate texture of the sea-sweet scallops.



For our mains, I had foie gras on risotto. This is the first time I had foie gras as a main meal and it was lovely. The foie gras was pan fried makint it firm to slice, but melts nicely in the mouth. The parmesan risotto perfectly complemented the foie gras.



Malc had fish (St Jacques, I think). He said "the skin was wonderfully seared."







Lastly, for dessert I had the chocolate dessert. It was my kind of dessert, it was not so sweet and combining with the pistachio ice-cream it was just so heavenly.




Malc had yuzu sorbet and the presentation was so pretty. It was the first time Malc had yuzu and the dessert overwhelmed his expections.



The meals also came with coffee or tea and petite fours. All in all the our bill was about the same as our regular dinners-out in Sydney. And, after tasting such exquisite, world-class dishes, Malc and I were absolutely (and happily) spellbound.

So to the master, Joël Robuchon, thank you for coming out of retirement!