Forum 4 Shopping: Joël Robuchon Restaurant @ Resorts World Sentosa

It's well know that diners love to travel to eat, and quite a few have travelled across the globe to try out the different restaurants operating under 26 Michelin stars chef Joël Robuchon.

Now, anyone in Singapore or Southeast Asia who wants to have a taste of Michelin stars fine dining need not travel far. The 5 stars Joël Robuchon Restaurant, together with sister restaurant L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon, have both opened at Singapore's Resort World Sentosa.

The main dining hall has the iconic chandelier and a modern yet luxurious setting. The moment you step into here, you know that this is really the First Class experience of dining.

Previously, we reviewed L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon. Now, the Joël Robuchon Restaurant is a classier restaurant which is suitable for a special occassion such as birthdays, wedding anniversaries etc. Of course, this is also the place to come to simply enjoy fine dining.

As we made prior reservation, which is a must, we were ushered to a quieter section which is next to the main dining area. Everything on the table is simply beautiful and are the best of the best, such as the beautiful Baccarat crystal candle stand which is designed by Philippe Starck. Most of their cutlery are by Christofle. And of course being a new restaurant, everything is brand new here.

The table is decorated by beautiful sparkling crystals which shimmer under the lights. The service here is warm and friendly. And it's quite a surprise that the 5 stars Joël Robuchon Restaurant actually serves tap water, although we did order still water (Evian - S$9.00 per bottle) to go with our dinner.

Opened half a bottle of Paillard Rose champagne (S$125) to start off our dinner. Our dinner was 2 sets of 7 courses set dinner (S$290 per set). I find this 7 courses dinner extremely value for money, given that each diners get to enjoy 2 main courses. That makes it 4 different main course if both diners share their main courses together. Included in this 7 course dinner are the cheese cart, desserts, soup, appetizers, and of course the excellent breads.

The breads the breads. Joël Robuchon Restaurant serves some of the finest breads in Singapore. We thought the breads we had at L'Atelier de Joël Robuchon were the best. But then, when we sink our teeth into the breads here, we know the breads here are actually the best in Singapore. More on their breads later.

Our amuse bouche for the night was this crab and lobster topped with caviar and gold flakes. It was served in a beautiful dry ice bowl.

As promised, the review on their breads. The service staff will first bring the entire basket of bread to your table. He or she will explain what each bread is, and you get to choose any of them, as much as you want throughout the entire meal. But the unique thing is they will bring the breads back to the kitchen to warm them up before serving each and every time. Service is excellent too as the staff will ask you what type of butter you want to go with your breads.

Some of them had cheese, some had bacon, some had rosemary. There was this bread with saffron which both of us felt wasn't as nice as the others. Our favourite was one of them with anchovy fillings. Really savoury and sweet.

The first appetizer was the Le King Crabe - King Crab and asparagus blancmange, medley of season vegetables. Doesn't this reminds you of spring? Beautiful colours all arranged on the plate. The generous chunks of king crabs were some of the sweetest we ever had, together with tomatoes and other sweet tasting vegetables.

Another of our favourites was this La Langoustine - truffled langoustine ravioli with chopped cabbage. In local context, this is wantons stuffed with large prawns topped with black truffles. Extremely addicitve and bursting with flavours.

More breads for us. The bread with the rosemary leaf sticking out is our favourite rosemary bun.

If there is something we didn't enjoy at this restaurant, it is their soups. In fact, both of their soups offered in the set dinner was definitely not the best we had. For example, this Les Petits Pois - Light Green Pea velouta, refreshed with peppermint on a sweet onion cloud, was full of pea flavours. I am not sure if there are much green pea fans around. There was too much green pea flavours in the soup.

We also didn't enjoy the Le Soja - Soy, cappuccino germs on a royal flickering of Shimeji. I think we are not used to the combination of soy and mushrooms together in the soup. Perhaps it would be better if Joël Robuchon Restaurant can serve traditional french creamy soups when they change their menu for the next season.

Fortunately, the rest of the courses were of excellent quality. Our first main course, the Le Turbot - Cooked in a casserole with jus of artichokes, was a delight. The Turbot, a flatfish, is cooked in a casserole together with the juice of the artichoke. Very fresh tasting and sweet, and the flesh is firm and smooth in texture.

The 2nd seafood main course we had was the Le Black Cod - Black cod with a yuzu radish velvet puree. The cod fish is what you expect it taste like. Sweet, smooth and creamy. The tiny radish above were a bit too raw tasting, but it did went well with everything.

I think we had too much bread over the entire dinner. So during our 3rd round, we only had 2 varieties. Of course, my favourite rosemary bun made a second appearance.

The 3rd and 4th main courses were all meat and poultry dishes. The Le Canard - Duck and seared foie gras with cherries and fresh almonds, was one of the signature dish here. The "all duck" dish had duck liver on one hand, and juicy tender duck breast on the other side. The foie gras was creamy and rich, while the duck meat was tender which we suspect was prepared using sous vide method for long hours.

Although the duck was good, but the L'Agneau - Lamb roasted, caufs offal and spicy flavours semolina, was even better. It was one of the best roast lamb we had in a long time. The meat was moist and not dry.

Of course, we were each served a portion of the famous Joël Robuchon's mashed potato, whcih is creamy and buttery. I think it's actually the same with the one we had next door.

Here comes the cheese. The Les Fromages (Cheese), which is part of the set dinner, allows diners to choose any cheese he or she desires from the cheese trolley. If you are unsure, simply ask the service staff for recommendations on the wide selection of cheese from soft to hard textures, and mild to sharp taste. They will give their valuable advise to you.

We selected a few different cheese. It was accompanied by nuts, dried fruits, honey and other sweet stuffs to compliment the creamy cheese.

We also ordered a glass of port - 10 years Taylor (S$20 per glass). It went well with the cheese.

We are already very very full at this point, but were more than happy to finish of the final course - desserts! Of all the different kinds of desserts, we adore French desserts the most. The Le Mikado - Orizaba chocolate, flower of salt crumble, coffee dome, was full of milky chocolate where the sweetness was brought out by the salt.

The other dessert we tried was this very beautiful Le Parfume des lles - Smooth passionfruit, rum granite, light coconut foam. It had a dramatic entrance due to the dry ice below it. Full of the flowery fragrant of passionfruit, this is definitely something you want to order after a heavy meal.

Ended our dinner wth a pot of TWG's Vanilla Bourbon Tea, which is our current favourite tea. Also ordered a pot of Earl Grey too.

As if they are worried that their diners are not full, even more petit four were served together with the tea. Although they were nice, but there is really so much the stomach could stuff. All I can remember is that the macaron with the gold paper was excellent.