L'Atelier brand of Joel Robuchon returns to London and former Comptoir site.

11th April 2024

This is my second visit to re-birthed Joel Robuchon restaurant in London and for details of the brand, please see my previous review and I am delighted to report that this was a much better visit and impact from dishes. The amuse bouche had changed to a white asparagus panna cotta, with spicy tomato coulis, tumeric and squid ink tuile. This had fresh asparagus, good texture and nice warmth running through it. I opted for two starters, the first being Le Velouté, made of a green asparagus velouté, goat’s cheese ravioli. This was quite bland, but the cheese filling was fantastic. The breads were utterly superb again: mixes of comte, squid ink and bacon and mustard, baguette which was exquisite. The second starter was L’oeuf de Poule – a crispy poached egg, Parmesan, and Iberico ham which had superb flavour, although my ordered mash was forgotten about and as I wanted to have this with the egg, the egg was colder than hoped when it came time to actually eating as I wanted both together – not an unreadable ask. Thankfully the mash was absolutely back to its former glory from my last visit’s thickening disappointment. The parmesan was superb on the ouef starter, it had lovely egg and foam, but sadly with crispy potato was more chewy than expected. Overall, this was pleasant meal and a lot better than last time, but another slip is a little difficult to pull off when I counted only 5 other diners in the restaurant. I do love the brand for the food, but I do simply hope there are no slips ups on the next visit – hopefully, third time lucky.

Food Grade: 71%

L’Atelier Robuchon is the reincarnation of the brand in London having closed in West Street (Soho area), reconstituted as Comptoir Robuchon on Clarges Street (just off Piccadilly) which has now as of late ’23 returned as an official L’Atelier with its distinctive red and black decor as they are across the globe. I was exceedingly happy to see the return of a Joel Robuchon L’Atelier in London as regular readers of mine will know how much I enjoy the its winning formula as a favourite (yet not best). Rather disappointingly, this visit showed it is not yet at the level of its contemporaries which I have enjoyed in Hong Kong, Macau, Tokyo, both Paris branches and Las Vegas. Whilst I concede most of those listed are actually 3 Michelin starred, I know the brand and the mash well enough to say with certainty that this was not up to par and I was most disappointed as a result and can only hope it is still within its ‘finding feet’ stage. It pains me to write this, but I outline in the expansion area the reasons why in detail as usual.

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Firstly, the service here was very good and the decor looks great, much more in keeping with its brand. It does have the distinctive counter dining option, complete with snack menu, but this seemingly does not have the pre-theatre menu anymore and are only just a few snack options. Once one steps inside and seated in its lovely setting, the champagne trolly soon wheels up towards you and was lovely to have this as the familiar opening.

What was a little shame was having to wait a good 2o minutes for the just the bread as all at the table were hungry and very ready for food. Once arrived, it was frankly wonderful – from the sausage bread and croissant twirls, to the mini cheese baguettes, and squid ink milk breads, all warm and served with wonderful butter. A great start once it arrived.

The opening amuse bouche was a replacement (to the usual foie gras cream, cranberry gel and parmesan foam) and was a ‘Mushroom Royale’, made with cep, parsley puree, chopped grilled mushroom and diced crouton. The custard texture of the cep and general lightness of the amuse bouche was pleasing but sadly this had no inherent flavour and was therefore a major let down from the fabled shot glass of foie gras cream that has worked so well for so many years. Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of innovation and new ideas which are utterly necessary, but when they are absolutely a notch downwards to the original, there is literally no point in changing for the worse.

The cheese soufflés arrived which I was eager to try having never had the Robuchon version of and I had high expectations. Sadly, these were short lived as the general density of the soufflé was no where near the iconic levels of that served at Gavroche and certainly not comparable to Martin Wishart’s version in Leith, as well as being without much depth of cheese flavour. Above all they were stone cold, which was a surprise as the cheese sauce would have had to be heated to be melted and served. The manager on hearing this kindly removed the soufflés off the bill as it was not explained that this is the way the kitchen intends them to be served which I was very grateful for – had I known, I don’t think I would have ordered and I honestly can’t order again as this was the way ‘in which it is intended’. I would honestly love to teleport the kitchen team to the above two restaurants I’ve mentioned and ask them to try those versions to show how I think it honestly works better, but c’est la vie.

I was similarly hoping for comfort with the famous mini burgers as has been a long time since we have had these, but I was genuinely stumped on how completely bland the meat patties were. Not only slightly dry, there was not enough seasoning and the beef was only so so in flavour. There also seemed to be less foie gras on top of the mini burger than had on previous visits when the Atelier was in West Street and the chips were so thin that the majority of them were almost crisp-like rather than with inner potato. Again, these use dot be crinkle cut which had lovely, fluffy potato with just enough inside, with a lovely, crisp coating – these were in danger of being plain sticks, albeit served with a pleasant, ginger and aromatic BBQ ketchup.

Speaking of potato, the highlight of any Robuchon visit, whether one star, no stars or three stars is the fabled Robuchon mash which is a staple in the global food arena. It was therefore a huge shock that this was far thicker and less indulgent as is the norm. You may think by now that I have it in for this branch, but I assure you this is not the case – I have just had this very item in the Michelin starred L’Atlier in Paris at its second (of two) branches and there it was puree like, as it has been on all my visits. I have no idea why this version is served differently and I was frankly gutted at this stage. It was good to see the customary style of the foie gras quail dish, but somewhow even this was unflattering in flavour to past examples enjoyed.

So, in summary I have no option other than to write this was actually a huge let down and it is not a good sign when the highlight of a meal is the bread which, was the case on this visit. I have no doubt the dishes can reclaim their former glory, but when the bill is £324 for four just for some small plates to share, I have to ask myself when the right / safe time to try again may be. I hope it is better for whenever I do give another go.

Food Grade: 62%