Little nugget is off to see his friends at Inspiration Lake this afternoon so I get the off-day that I have long been waiting for. Now that I don’t have to entertain my naughty son, I decided to be a good son myself by ringing mom up to see if she wants to have lunch together. (Of course she said yes to her favorite son.)
Since both of us have not been back to Joel Robuchon in 2020, I figured we should give that a go before the crappy year ends.
Every restaurant is putting in these tabletop partitions for social distancing and there will be no exception for three Michelin starred restaurants.
As usual, they started us off with a basket full of dough first. Mom absolutely loves the bread here. Interestingly, we were only offered one type of butter today (or was that always the case? I got mixed up.).
After serving us the basket of bread, our server went on to highlight a few changes on the menu for us. The a la carte menu is no longer available during the pandemic; nor the tasting menu so just one set menu for lunch that serves until 4pm. The revamped lunch menu has been beefed up with a number of signature dishes; thus the price has also been “beefed up” so to speak.
First up for us was our amuse bouche, smoked eel, salmon roes and crispy tuile served on a bed of vegetable purée. They added some gold foil on top for good measures.
Our amuse was immediately followed by what our server described as “the hottest dish on the menu”. An ordinary-looking (but perfectly executed) crispy onsen egg was matched with a delicately rich parmesan emulsion which has been infused with chicken stock.
Adding to the texture of the dish were crispy “pasta” and slices of 36-month dry-aged Iberico ham.
The perfectly melting yolk worked beautifully with the crispy pasta and Iberico ham. Yes, the original version with caviar and salmon definitely tasted better but this one wasn’t bad.
My main dish was slow-cooked French chicken, stuffed with silky smooth foie gras.
It was served with a deboned chicken wing, French potato confit, girolles mushrooms and parmesan chips, finished off wonderfully with a light parmesan cheese foam.
I thought this was almost as delicious as their signature pigeon dish which also came stuffed with foie gras in the middle. A brilliant dish with lot of exciting textures (crispy chicken skin, fat, flesh and of course the custardy foie gras) and flavors.
Of course, that won’t be complete without Joel Robuchon’s killer mash.
I just had enough room for a small dessert and it was indeed a diminutive chocolate tart with “Andoa” chocolate cream, sable and cocoa nib ice-cream.
Would much prefer a scoop of hazelnut ice-cream but cocoa nib wasn’t bad.
Mom was so happy to see her favorite Mont Blanc dessert on the menu. A slightly different interpretation this time with chocolate biscuits and meringue but the same satisfying results. She’s head over heels in love with it (she does for most chestnut desserts!).
Petite fours were mango cheesecake, cream puff and chocolate tart.
Since I had the entire afternoon off, I got to sit back and enjoy my English breakfast tea with the canapés.
2020 will always be remembered as a year that was stolen away from us but I believe we can still find some positives out of it. For me, it's all about cherishing what we have, especially the precious time spent with our love ones.
Food Rating: 8/10
Price: $$$$
Address: Shop 315 & 401, The Landmark, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Central
Tel: +852 2166-9000
Website: www.robuchon.hk
Opening Hours: 12:00pm - 2:00pm, 6:30pm - 10:30pm daily
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