Anniversary Weekend Part Four: L' Atelier de Joël Robuchon

On Sunday morning, I woke up super excited. M had been refusing to tell me for weeks where we were going for lunch today and I was dying to know. Three hints had been let slip:
1) It had two Michelin stars
2) It was 'kind of french-asian fusion'
3) It was in Cambridge Circus
Okay, I'm sure if I'd done a bit of googling, those clues should have turned up something, but I'll admit, I was excited for the surprise.

Anyway, at one o'clock, I found my self outside L' Atelier de Joël Robuchon  and I couldn't wait to see what was on the menu!

The restaurant is beautiful. All the furnishings are in a dark shiny wood, detailing picked out in red. There's an amazing feature wall made of cascading green leaves and the seating is centered around the kitchen, at a bar. This is great as not only does it allow you to watch the chefs hard at work, but also allows for ease of service- for some reason I loved the lack of a waiter looming my shoulder, but rather popping up from behind the bar instead. Moreover, this makes it easy to peer down the length of the table top at other peoples' dishes while merely looking like you're conversing with your dining partner- the perfect way to suss out which dish you want to arrive in front of you!

And then the food. How to put this? The food was magnificent! Every bite was mouthwatering and each plate was presented as if it were a work of art- every bit as much a feast for the eyes as a feast for the stomach. We ended up eating four courses (and a scrumptious amuse bouche to start us off- foie gras parfait with a port reduction and topped with parmesan foam) and each was more exquisite than the last. I couldn't pick a favouite dish- they were all spectacular and I thoroughly enjoyed every one!

The service was also delightful- the waiters were willing to answer questions and to make sure the food was to our liking.

I'd had high expectations for this lunch date (weeks of anticipation will do that to a person) and L' Atelier filled every one- I can't wait to return!

Our visit to L' Atelier concluded our anniversary celebrations and couldn't have left them on a better note. All that remained for us to do now was to go home for a snuggle with happy memories of the weekend and high hopes for the year ahead.