Le Foie Gras – Shaved black truffles and potatoes with olive oil, topped with carpaccio of foie gras.  This was accompanied by a 2000 Mer Soleil Chardonnay from California.  A delicate dish, more so than it appeared, the thin sliced foie gras was very light.  The potatoes, olive oil, and herbs built up a little more flavor, and the black truffles added fuller flavors, but overall the dish remained refined and delicate.  It was a combination I have not had before.  When tasting the wine with the sauce created by the olive oil and herbs, they blended as if they were one, so good!  In a classic pairing success, the chardonnay went very well with the dish and was the way I like it, oaky and full-bodied, but not enough to overpower the food.  This particular wine is one of my favorites and I am always happy to see it being poured for me.

Le Caviar Oscietre – Jelly of caviar with cauliflower cream, caviar in thin slices of warm scallops with lime zest, soft inside crispy outside egg and Oscietra caviar. This dish was served on an oval mirror, and on the left bottom was a gold rimmed China plate with the egg and Oscietra caviar and above that some green plants from the bottom of the sea with a little star fish and a shell on top.  Central bottom was a small white bowl with round cauliflower cream cover with a circle of green dots made from a sauce and a little leaf in the center, which covered the jelly of caviar.  Below this on the mirror were 2 green reeds and above was a red rose petal.  Right bottom had a mother-of-pearl scallop shell with the slices of warm scallops with lime zest in it, and above that an arrangement of grey and white pearls.  Also scattered on the mirror were green and blue glass jewels. 

Going back to the Champagne for this course, Morgan explained that I should eat it by starting in the middle, then to the left and to the right.  Not used to seeing inedible decorations on my plate, I joked with Morgan that I should be careful not to eat the decorations, which looked so beautiful.  So, starting in the middle, underneath the cream cover was the jelly of caviar, which was salty and very good with the Champagne, as were the egg and caviar and the sliced scallops covered with foam of lime zest.  I happily ate these 3 combinations in the order prescribed.

Les Cuisses de Grenouille – Crispy French frog’s legs with parsley and garlic sauce.  Served on a curved white plate were 3 little frog’s leg tops on the left and the parsley puree arranged to look like a green stem with leaves and the garlic sauce looking like a white flower.  I picked up each frog’s leg by the little bone and smeared it through the garlic sauce and parsley puree.  Popping it in my mouth resulted in a burst of garlic flavor with the lightly fried frog leg, which combined well with the Mer Soleil Chardonnay.  Also on the plate were a couple of crisps of garlic, which were real flavor bombs and as I like a lot of flavor this really pleased me.  Unfortunately, while I was still chewing my last frog’s leg and looking forward to finishing the garlic sauce with some bread, one of the waiters tried to take my plate, which I rejected.  Disappointed to see this at a Robuchon restaurant, I call this “attack service” and I discussed it with Morgan.

Les Crustaces – Truffled langoustine ravioli with cabbage, lemon grass roasted lobster with vegetable couscous, sea urchin in royal and fennel reduction.  This course of 3 small dishes was served on a square black plate with gold leaf spots in it and decorated with some fish net, pussy willow and shells. Each dish was in it’s own smaller plate; square, pointed oval, and shell style bowl.  I had a lot of fun enjoying the artistic presentation of each course throughout the evening.  Served with this course was a 2007 Chardonnay by Cova Da Ursa of Portugal.  Fresh, mineral, a little fruity, light and floral, it was quite different than the last Chardonnay and it was well suited to these flavor combinations.  I particularly enjoyed the lobster, which was cooked with a stalk of lemon grass through it.  The burst of lemon grass flavor when biting into the lobster was a real treat for me.  I also enjoyed the scampi like truffled langoustine ravioli with cabbage as well with the crisp and acidic Chardonnay; mild flavors with the complex wine.  The ravioli was topped with shredded black truffle in julienne fashion, which I busted up and it fell down all over the top of the ravioli and on to the plate.  It was a nice way to add black truffle and contributed a lot of color and texture to the dish while spreading the flavor of the truffle evenly.  Often when sliced truffle is added to a dish, you get bursts of truffle flavor, but here the flavor was more evenly applied and I liked having the option to spread the truffle flavor more evenly.  Normally cabbage is cabbage, but this was one of the best preparations I have had and nothing was left on this plate.  Although sea urchin is not one of my normal picks (probably due to my ignorance of it) baked with fennel this example was quite pleasing to me with big flavors and an excellent sauce.  We are all learning, right?  I liked it.

La Chataigne – Light cream of chestnuts with bacon on top of delicate celery foam.  This was served on a black rectangular sectioned plate.  Morgan explained that the Mer Soleil Chardonnay was perfect with this dish.  With a base of foie gras and bacon, the chestnut soup would blend together perfectly with the wine.  On top of the soup was celery foam with black truffle and chestnut crisp with flavors of cheese and bacon.  The bacon was not what we normally find in America, thin and crispy.  Here it was thicker, a real piece of meat.  There were cubes of bacon and foie gras in the chestnut soup and each cube, when eaten with the soup, was another flavor burst.  There were also chunks of chestnut in the blended chestnut soup.  On the plate was what looked like a little piece of pizza with many of the ingredients mentioned baked into it, which you could break up and put in the soup, or eat it with the soup.  I chose to take a bite of it and follow it with the soup.  It was great.

L’Amadai – Amadai confit in spicy oil with endives and saffron broth.  A fish from Japan, it was prepared pan fried and crispy with dill and other herbs.  With this dish, we switched back to the crisper Chardonnay by Cova Da Ursa.  The fish was good and the flavor of the dill and other herbs came through clearly and gave the fish a lot of flavor that was good with the saffron broth.  The acidity of the wine cut through the multiple flavors of the herbs and the strong broth and gave a nice finish to each bite when followed with the wine.  At this point I had a nice talk with Chef Francky Semblat about my experience so far and how much I was enjoying all the food, the ambience, and the service.  I told him I was already looking forward to coming back for more!

La Cote de Veau – Sauteed veal chop with black truffle jelly jus, black truffle and braised pak-choy.  This was served with a 2001 Chateau Calon, a nice full bodied and balanced red wine from Saint-Emilion in Bordeaux, France.  The veal was presented like a small filet, a strip about a half-inch thick, an inch and a half wide, and 4 inches long.  I cut the first piece off and ate it with the sauce and thought it was the best piece of veal I have ever had.  It was very tender and perfectly cooked.  Lukas told me it was the best cut of the veal.  What I had before me was an absolutely delightful piece of meat, and the wine went very well with it as I suspected it would.  The black truffle jelly looked like a hard stick on the plate, 3 inches long and a quarter of an inch wide, but when I tapped it with my fork it was soft.  I ate half of it and it tasted like black truffle because it was made from powdered black truffle.  It was certainly different, and good.

La Nouille – Pearl pasta in smoked cream and crispy pork.  This was risotto style pasta served with crispy pork skin.  I looked at the dish and thought it looked really light, but I put a spoon of it in my mouth and it was powerful with big flavors from a small package.  It also went well with the same red wine, a good blend of flavors.

La Truffe Noire – Heart of Louis XIII Grande Champagne candy in ice black truffle surprise.  This looked like a chocolate ball, but was ice cream with powerded black truffle coating it with gold paper on top.  A little ball, it had a lot going on inside; sweet, offset by the black truffle on the outside, cool and refreshing, I really liked it.  This was served with a sweet dessert wine from Sauternes, France, which I saved until after the dessert.  Generally, I prefer a dry red wine with sweets and I love to follow that with a sweet dessert wine.

La Mangue – Mango with sake ice cream and grapefruit granite.  In a white bowl there was a wafer thin chocolate caramel layer across the top that looked like plastic, apparently held in place by 4 gold flakes, with a hole in the middle and a straw of white chocolate sticking out of the hole.  I broke the cover with the straw to expose the ice cream under it and then ate the straw. This was excellent and really power packed with flavors I’ve never had with mango ice cream.  This dish was served on an oval mirror with green painted designs underneath an arrangement of green and red ribbons on a square piece of glass placed in diamond formation with the bowl atop that.  The very creative inedible decorations on this and the other plates mentioned above were unprecedented in my experience in any restaurant and were a surprise and delight for me to behold.  They added another touch of elegance to my experience.  It was art in addition to the art in the food, which was truly unique and I never saw it before.

Le Café ou le The – Coffee or tea served with sweet temptation.  I chose to finish with my usual Irish Coffee which was perfectly made, strong and creamy the way I like it with double Irish whiskey.

In summary, I was really comfortable in this restaurant.  Looking across the expanse of the room and listening to piano by Chopin I loved the design; the beauty of the backlit yellow marble tapered columns, the dazzling stars in the ceiling glittering and twinkling above me, the consistency in the designs, the blue and gold theme, it was all so elegant.  As I have said before in another review of a French restaurant, sometimes I just have to do it French.  Looking at all this, it was indeed French.  Frankly, this night was near perfect and I was happy and it’s hard to beat that for me.  What can I say?  This restaurant has taken me over the top in some new areas and Robuchon a Galera did not let me down.  The image I had of what a Robuchon restaurant should be and how good it should be led me to demand that it be that good.  My expectations were met and indeed exceeded.  The food, wine, service, and the restaurant’s stunningly elegant interior design were all extraordinary.  I extend my sincerest gratitude to the Hostess Denny Liao, the wait staff (especially Eddy Chen, Selina Liu, Jessie Rui, and Lukas Song), Captain June Sun, Assistant Manager Morgan Lei, Manager Dives Chiu, Chef Francky Semblat and his kitchen staff, Joël Robuchon, and the owners of Hotel Lisboa for a wonderful dining experience.  Also thanks to Vienna Mak in the Front Office, and Eugenia Ip and Maggie Mui in Marketing for their organizational support.   Although this was my first visit to one of Joël Robuchon’s legendary establishments, it is only the beginning of my quest to experience his other fine restaurants around the world.  As they say, “It’s a tough job, but somebody has to do it”!  Over and out!

With Happiness, CHEERS!

My Best as Always,

Randy