Birthday Dinner @ L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon

I've been dying to eat at Joël Robuchon's ever since I heard that it was opening at RWS. I wanted to try out the restaurant when I was in Tokyo but didn't manage to as it was a bit out of the way for me. Finally decided to use my birthday as an excuse to splurge on a meal at the restaurant and it was worth every penny!

Once we were seated at the counter, we ordered a mocktail each. I think this was something like a mojito, but with mango juice instead of rum.

Bread basket. I didn't try much of it though, cos I was going to have the Discovery Menu and didn't want to be too full!

A photo while waiting for the food to arrive... you can see the chefs are hard at work behind us. I loved that we could watch the chefs preparing the dishes, IMO L'Atelier is preferable to the fine dining option.

First up: L'Amuse-Bouche - Foie gras custard with red wine and parmesan foam. Very rich and flavorful, an excellent first dish! And they served this to both my mum & sis even though I was the only one who ordered the discovery menu, which was super nice of them :D

L'Hamachi - Yellowtail fish tartare with tomato coulis. I've never had fish tartare, except the raw fish you find on sushi, and this was so good! The fish was super fresh and it went along very well with the tomato coulis. And the thin thing is actually a piece of toast! I can't believe they could slice it so thinly!

La Langoustine - Langoustine a la plancha with vegetables & lemongrass oil. This was also great, very fresh and cooked to perfection.

Le Foie Gras - Seared duck foie gras, candied apricot & fresh almonds. My favourite thing to order in a French restaurant. This one was perfect. My mouth is watering just looking at this.

Le Navet - Daikon veloute flavoured with citrus oil. This was very thick and creamy but apparently no cream was used to make it! I liked this one, I think it would make for great comfort food.

Le Barbue - Brill with herbs & spring sprouts. Someone commented that this tastes like a Chinese dish and I agree! Although it was good, it seemed a bit out of place with the other dishes.

Le Boeuf - French-style hanger steak with fried shallots. This was the main course. You could either choose this or La Caille. I picked this since my mum ordered La Caille from the a la carte menu. It was cooked just right. One of my favourite dishes of the evening.

My mum's order: La Caille - Foie gras-filled free-range quail with Robuchon's famous mashed potatoes. We each had a serving of the mashed potato, it's really worthy of the rave reviews it gets.

My sis' order: Le Cochon De Lait - Milk fed suckling pig. Sis' review: Ya it's very nice, it's like the fat you know like not oily and the crispy skin is like crispy and it's like the cabbage underneath and it's like also very nice. /quote

Back to my discovery menu, we're on to desserts! Le Multivitamine - Red berries spiced coulis, Victoria pineapple sorbet. This was a bit sour to me. But the milk chocolate helped balance it out a bit.

I was halfway through my Le Multivitamine when suddenly half of the restaurant staff suddenly burst into song. I thought it was some mid meal entertainment or something lol but then I realized they were singing Happy Birthday in French and they were walking towards me! I was really surprised and touched! The manager took this photo for us. The staff were really so sweet!

Birthday tarts!!! Omg this made me so happy! I loved them, I wish I could take that miniature Eiffel Tower home.

My sis ordered a souffle. Since it would take about 15 minutes before it could be served, she was given a coconut sorbet to enjoy while waiting. It was very good!

Le Cube - Roasted hazelnut Dacquoise, creamy Caribbean chocolate.

Le Souffle - Yuzu souffle served with raspberry sorbet. I loved the souffle, it was light and fluffy and a great way to end dinner!

Just when we thought the night couldn't get any better, we were actually invited to go into the kitchen to take a look! Wow I was in disbelief tbh. I never thought I would actually get invited although I admit I did so wanted to be. So now I can say, I have been into Joël Robuchon's kitchen and it was awesome!

My mum is not in this pic cos she suddenly had to go to the bathroom at that time lol.

I had the most wonderful and memorable birthday ever here, and it was all thanks to the chefs for making the delicious food, the servers for being so patient with us, seeing as it was the first time we were dining there, and the managers for being so thoughtful and generous!