Awarded the title of 'Chef of the Century' by the Gault Millau, the name Joel Robuchon is not unfamiliar to gastronomes.
Although he has one restaurant in Singapore, I don't think many of us would feel comfortable for the extravagant (I would use exorbitant but it seems mean haha) price. Many of the other celebrity chef restaurants are overpriced as well...I've heard of a friend commenting on how he and 2 other friends spent $2k on dinner and drinks at a certain celebrity restaurant in MBS. That's like someone's monthly pay! Madness.
Needless to say, when I visited Macau, I jumped at the opportunity to try out an establishment flying the Robuchon banner.
Located in the Grand Lisboa, I actually tried walking in for lunch, but was rejected because they were full (possibly because I was in berms as well. Even Evisu berms can't get you in here!).
I promptly made a reservation for the next day, and lucky for me and The Wife, they were able to accommodate us.
On the 39th floor of the Grand Lisboa, the reception desk of the restaurant is fronted by an automatic door which looks closed...do walk nearer for it to activate!
The hostess made a quick check of our reservation and showed us to the lift (again?) to get to the actual restaurant.
The first thing I noticed was the wine display in the corridor. It could be a
nice feature to have in my own place in the future...though I don't
drink LOL!
The hostess left us bewildered when she told us to take the lift up.
Both myself and The Wife looked at each other and went 'WTF?' Entering
the restaurant's own lift, we found out that the restaurant is actually 4
levels above the reception. Adds a sense of mystery to the place!
From the dark corridor, the lift opened to a brightly lit place looking like a scene from 'Marie Antoinette'.
The roof is glass, which allows the sunlight in and a (probably great) view of the city at night. Also probably where the place gets it's name from.
The table setting is typical of fine-dining restaurants, but I especially like the plate and glass, very fancy.
Look at the cutlery.
Look CLOSELY. Totally blown away. If you guys have no idea, Christofle is like a Rolls Royce in the cutlery world. Just take a trip to their boutique in Hilton or Takashimaya and see for yourself. The Wife obviously had no idea why I was beside myself and trying not to make a commotion!
While browsing through the menu, the wait staff wheeled out 2 blocks of pure butter, 1 salted and 1 unsalted. We chose the salted butter and they carved out 1 piece nicely for us. Felt damn atas.
Then came the bread basket. It was just normal for me, but The Wife liked the herb focaccia. I thought the bread could have been warmed slightly more. There was one that was stuffed with ham, I found that to be the best of the lot. But hey, bread is still bread. No way bread is gonna be as delicious as what is portrayed in anime 'Yakitate Japan'!
Just after the bread, they served their complimentary appetizer, bubbling with dry ice.
Sweet Corn Veloute. (Had to check with the wait staff for this.
She mentioned basil sauce as well but none of it came through taste wise)
The Wife got her first taste of molecular gastronomy. She wasn't used to the foamy texture but every mouthful quickly warmed her to it. The sweet corn veloute tasted exactly what it was supposed to be. Sweet corn. The distinct taste of corn with the texture of the foam made it an interesting experience. The lemon jelly at the bottom provided a citrusy twist, contrasting well with the taste of sweet corn.
The popcorn on the top was probably more for garnishing though. That was my thought, as I ate it separately instead of as part of the dish!
Oh, I forgot to mention the menu. The set lunch had 3 options, 4, 5 or 6-courses. The Wife ordered the 4-course option while the 6-course was a no-brainer for me! The first dish that was served was an appetizer for me -
Le moules de Bouchots.
In layman's terms : mussels in leek cream lah! The red bits you see in the photos is saffron, making the dish slightly more upmarket.
Deconstructing the food again, the foam had a very buttery taste. This buttery taste was absorbed by the mussels, and it was good because the taste of mussels was still present, but it was still palatable to The Wife for has a very low tolerance for strong shellfish tastes. 2 thumbs up!
The Wife had her 'safe' choice -
Le champignon blanc.
Again in layman's terms : Mushroom soup lah!
In The Wife's words, SUPER CREAMY, DAMN TASTY. I have to agree. By far the best mushroom soup I've had. Very buttery yet the taste of mushroom still seeps through. There is also ravioli in there, might not be visible though. Just ravioli skin, no filling, but The Wife liked it.
(Just in case for those who don't know what ravioli is : Ravioli is like...er...wanton!)
I decided to be adventurous and I ordered
L’oseille.
That's sorrel broth, perfumed with dill. The peachy looking thing in the middle is salmon mousse. And I would assume the roe to be salmon roe!
Okay, while it was pretty interesting, it didn't quite hit the spot for me. The broth, as you can already tell, smells very 'green' and raw, but it was more on the savoury (salty) side. The smell and taste only tallies at the trailing ends. There is a faint taste of greens at the end, which I don't really fancy.
The salmon mousse doesn't have a strong taste initially, but the aftertaste hits like a truck. Even without looking at the menu you can tell that it's salmon.
The roe bursts with flavour, and contrasts with the savoury soup quite well.
Overall I would say this is a dish worth trying, but not something I would order twice.
After the soups, my first main came up -
La Noix de Saint-Jacques.
For us normal folks : Scallops “meunières” style with baby artichoke and tomato salsa flavored with basil and Piquillo emulsion.
The bacon is super crispy, just the way I like it! Unfortunately it's not the salty version, but instead it's pretty porky. Not up my alley.
Neither are the tomatoes, never did learn how to appreciate the taste of raw tomatoes. I do love ketchup though!
I have no idea what the white slices are, but they are crisp and I think they are quite similar to tapioca chips.
The star of the dish has to be the scallops. There is a faint hint of ginger, and it feels Asian-inspired.
Not a bad main, but I think the rest are probably a better choice.
Another one of my mains - Le mini burger.
Plain English : Wagyu beef and foie gras mini burgers with lightly caramelized bell peppers and potatoes soufflés.
The soufflés are very airy and light, and the skin is extremely thin. Doesn't have much else going for it though. Might be good for a snack but it loses all dimension when paired with such a taste-heavy burger.
Ok I have to admit, I didn't eat the burger the chefs intended. I took out all the peppers after my first bite. Too heavy for me! You can see them sticking out at the bottom.
The foie gras and peppers overpower my favourite part of burgers, the beef. I couldn't make out the beefiness, but I could feel a spurt with each bite. Super juicy!
I would highly recommend eating together with the BBQ sauce provided if you don't have a high tolerance for peppers!
For some strange reason, The Wife stubbornly wants to try the prawn dishes when we go to new restaurants, and so I present her main course - Les crevettes Crystal Blue.
English again : Cristal blue prawns cooked on a bed of spring vegetable pearls with spelt risotto and crustacean emulsion.
The mash potato underneath the pile was awesome! It was smooth, creamy and buttery all at once.
Beside the mash, the entire dish was blanketed by the flavour of the prawns. Even the risotto tasted like prawns. It was all evenly spread out though, so The Wife was still able to finish it all without getting sick of the dish.
The prawns were fresh and juicy, and they had a faint hint of pepper. It's hard to go wrong when you have fresh produce. Quality ingredients = quality taste. Divine.
There were slices of sausage in there, which I later found out was avocado sausage. But like I mentioned earlier, the prawn flavour was present even here, so this was more for a different texture I guess.
Once we were done with the mains, the dessert trolley wheeled to us. Boy did everything look good or what! Our hostess was extremely gracious, she told us that normally guests only got to choose 2 items each, but she would give us unlimited choices.
She wasn't kidding as they did wheel it around earlier and I noticed the neighbouring table only getting 2 choices each. She sure made us feel special, and even The Wife said that she liked the hostess (trust me, that seldom happens)!
But we didn't want to take advantage of her kindness, and we opted for only 3 choices each. I initially only had 2 choices, but The Wife wanted to try something else so I got it as well hehe. These are the Wife's choices!
Napoleon - Signature dessert! Must try! The pastry is similar to our Ritz Apple Strudel, but like...5 times better. No joke. The vanilla cream is very fragrant, you can probably make out the vanilla pods if you look a little harder. Signature for good reason!
Lemon cheesecake - I would have preferred it more cheesy, but The Wife liked it just the way it was. Nonetheless, it was still at least a 7.5/10 in my book. Perfect for those who love lighter cheesecakes. The biscuit base was crunchy and had good bite to it as well.
Banana cake with chocolate hazelnut - Banana and chocolate will hardly go wrong. A classic combo which is given new life with the additional nuttiness of hazelnut. Pretty nice.
My dessert of choice - Rum Baba. Oh my god. The sponge cake with soaked to the core with rum. Soaked I tell you! It's almost like drinking rum! But somehow the cake is not mushy, it still retains the soft texture of sponge cake! Sublime. I would order this again. And again. And again.
Coffee puff - Er...The coffee taste here is very strong, but duh it was a coffee puff so what the hell was I expecting? This was actually ordered for The Wife though so I only tried 1 bite. Good for coffee-lovers! Not too sweet!
My last dessert choice because it looked damn interesting - îles flottantes, or floating island. They had a giant version on the cart but that was for display only. Mine was this mini version. Pretty neat, can't say I've ever seen this done in Singapore. The caramelized nuts were excellent, complementing the soft and puffy egg white perfectly. The tonka bean base might be an acquired taste though. I've rarely seen it used in Singapore because it's probably hard to source for. I liked the taste, but don't come after me if you dislike it!
Oh? That wasn't the end of it! They have ANOTHER sweets cart! Probably a child's wonderland, it's filled with sweets, chocolates and such.
We were stuffed by then so we only opted to have a few items. Again our hostess was kind enough to offer us any number of our choice. Hats off to the nice lady.
Gingerbread - Would fit well as a Christmas dinner! A traditional classic.
Fruit marshmellows - I think these are made inhouse? It's not like any marshmellow I've ever eaten. They have a QQ texture instead of being soft and fluffy. Quite special, do try it.
Pistachio...something. I didn't try this but The Wife's eyes lit up when she ate it and that speaks volumes.
Vanilla toffee - Not as sweet as I would have liked, but my preferred level of sweetness will probably put 80% of other patrons off :p
Didn't like it sticking to my teeth, but then again, it's toffee!
Tea/Coffee is also served at the end of the meal. Check out the selection of accompaniments to our drinks. Warm milk, cold milk, and even caramel! I've said this before, it's the details that make a 3 Michelin-starred restaurant, and this enforces that. Now that I think about it, the difference between the milk is likely more than warm/cold. Maybe skimmed,pasteurized or whatever other types there are!
The Wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our meal here, and we will come back again if we get the chance!
You should too! But do remember to make a reservation, and dress appropriately!
Price : Conservatively, $90 per pax for lunch
Address : 43/F Grand Lisboa Hotel, Macau
Tel : (853) 8803 7878
Signing off,
The Lunatic
The Lunatic writes this entry in memory of his beloved uncle, who departed on 17/11/14. He was probably the best chef The Lunatic ever knew. We will miss you dearly Uncle J.
