Junglefresh.'s review of L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon

I cannot opine on value for money – I was taken here to lunch. First the good news: the Spanish sommelier was an enthusiast who really knew how to tune into what wine we liked and made an excellent recommendation. Thank you. The ambience is all black lacquer with touches of crimson – felt smart and oriental, and I liked the raised tables and banquettes too. Here's the rub: this is a much hyped place to come to eat and I was expecting quite a lot from the experience. My host and I opted for the prix fixe £30 lunchtime menu. As this was a menu that was presented to us, I hoped it would be a chance to taste the cuisine without crippling my host (who I think made up for that on the delicious wines ordered). The starter was fine, I thought, though less than a week later I have diificulty in recalling it. The main course I chose was chicken sliced over vegetables and lentils (I think they were lentils !). The chicken was RAW and served as such in spite of being sliced ! Well, sometimes things go wrong and I didn't want to be horrid, so I apologised but asked for it to be cooked through… when the Maitre D' brought it back to me he said words along the lines of: “The chef has now cooked it through but asked me to point out to you that it is our recipe to serve the chicken under-done”. What does that say for arrogance and lack of respect for the customer, how stupid do they think their customers are ? I have to say that I would have had words – rather than laughed and suggested they should read-up on Salmonella, but I was a guest, and I lunch with my host is not a frequent event, I did not wish to cause him any embarrasment and we had serious bonding to achieve, so I let it go. Actually, the food was wonderfully seasoned and tasted just right. We had a good time and we achieved what we needed to. However, Joel, please come in sometime to give the chef and Maitre who represent you in your establishment a real good kicking. Don't take your customers for ignorant fools and don't serve chicken raw (or call raw chicken “under-done”, and on purpose).